← The Soviet-Led Invasion of Czechoslovakia, 1968

The United States observed indicators of Soviet military preparation and read them as pressure rather than preparation.

corroboratedconfidence: high

The troop movements are attested by the CIA's own historical study, by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs after the fact, and by the President's own defence to the Cabinet.

Supporting and corroborating evidence

1. We did not assume there would be no military intervention. 2. There was massing of troops on the borders. 3. Thompson said they would go to any length to push Czechs back to pre-January site.

President Lyndon Johnson — FRUS 1964-68 v17 D84, White House, 1968-08-22 · source ↗

They had command post exercise during a period from August 13–20 in which they went through all the necessary planning and practicing… Their actual intervention followed rather precisely the pattern of those command post exercises.

Earle Wheeler — FRUS 1964-68 v17 D85, White House, 1968-08-23 · source ↗

In the final analysis intelligence coverage of this crisis was adequate up to the point of the decision to invade Czechoslovakia.

CIA-RDP80B01495R001300130019-7, CIA / Intelligence Community Staff, 1968-11-22 · source ↗

There were any number of observations by Western sources of the Soviet troops along the Czechoslovak border, and the start of the massive movement into Poland in late July of troops from the Baltic and Belorussian Military Districts was fortuitously witnessed and promptly reported to the US Embassy by several US tourists and other travelers.

Cynthia M. Grabo — CIA-CSI-GRABO-14-1, CIA Center for the Study of Intelligence, 1970-01-01 · source ↗