“No record was kept of how many soft pretzels were eaten.”

An October 17, 1975 edition of the Central Intelligence Agency’s “Staff Notes” publication, formerly classified SECRET, offered regional specialists with the latest intelligence from Western Europe. While some of the topics covered warrant the hush-hush nature of the classification, such as this still-redacted briefing on “Possibilities for Confrontation in Northern Portugal” …

this briefing on attendance at the 1975 Munich Oktoberfest is less convincing.

One would think that such a matter of national security would merit some effort to determine the number of soft pretzels eaten.

Also of note in the same report is a briefing on the lead-up to the Third Cod War …

Which, if nothing else, contains a rare example of a classified pun.

Read the full report embedded below.

Image by Heribert Pohl via Wikimedia Commons and is licensed by CC BY-SA 2.0