Greece - US Department of State

314. National Intelligence Estimate 1
Greece 783
NIE 29.1/71 Washington, June 7, 1971.
[Omitted here are a table of contents and picture of key junta
leaders.]
PROSPECTS FOR GREECE
Conclusions
A. The military junta appears firmly in control. The leaders show
great cohesion; opposition groups are weak and fragmented. The
junta’s decisive base of power lies in the Greek Armed Forces, purged
of potential opponents and awarded new perquisites.
B. The regime claims that its mission is to purify the nation’s political
and social life. But its reforms have been few, and it remains a
military dictatorship, though a more permissive one than in its early
days.
C. The government has promulgated a new constitution, but refuses
to put into effect such key provisions as parliamentary elections
and guarantees of civil liberties. Partly in response to foreign pressures,
the leaders are likely, over time, to decree new measures giving the appearance
of greater liberalization. They will probably not, however, do
anything which they believe might lead to their loss of their ultimate
political authority.
D. Thanks both to favorable outside developments and to reasonably
good domestic management, the Greek economy is booming.
Formerly difficult balance of payments problems have been eased; foreign
investment, tourism, and exports increased.
E. Sporadically attempting to mollify its foreign critics, the regime
still seeks the best possible working relations with its NATO allies, and
especially with the US. Foreign criticism continues, though it appears
at the moment to have lost momentum. The regime’s leaders calculate
that the US and NATO need Greece as much as Greece needs them,
and probably see their present relations with the US and the larger
NATO powers as satisfactory.
1 Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1265,
Saunders Subject Files, Greece, 9/1/71–12/31/71. Secret. The CIA and the intelligence
organizations of the Departments of State and Defense, and the NSA prepared this estimate.
All members of the USIB concurred with it with the exception of the representatives
of the AEC and FBI who abstained on the grounds that it was outside their jurisdiction.