Cold Open: This is a declassified Central Intelligence Agency memorandum titled Warning Assessment: East Asia, dated January twenty‑eighth, nineteen eighty‑one. The document records the analytical judgments of the intelligence community on political and security developments in China, Indochina, and South Korea, and it offers insight into U.S. strategic concerns at the height of the early Reagan administration. The record is hosted by The Black Vault. Provenance: The memorandum was released to the public through The Black Vault archive, which obtained the file under a Freedom of Information Act request. The release date listed by the archive is January twenty‑second, twenty twenty‑two, and the declassification authority is the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of Information Management. The Document: The memorandum is headed “The Director of Central Intelligence, Washington, D.C., 20505,” and addressed to the Director of Central Intelligence, the Deputy Director of Central Intellige