1962 was the year of the northeast in Thailand. The course of public affairs was dominated by the shifting winds to the east in the successor states to French Indochiina. Within these affairs the possibility of profound changes in both the internal and external politics of the kingdom may be perceived. The authoritarian regime of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat, established in early 1959, continued to maintain firm control over the country. The tendency to centralize many of the important institutions of information, propaganda, education and control under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister continued. The sum effect was to hold political conflict in a state of suspense. The deliberations of the appointed constituent assembly proceeded at a measured pace and it is only by the logic of passing time that a new permanent constitution drew any nearer. Internal Security The alarm of friends collapsing in Laos aroused considerable concern in the Thai government about the problem of internal security. The concern was centered principally on the question of the susceptibility of the population in the northeast region to Conimunist-directed subversion. The conception of the threat was that of a build-up of a cadre structure for the organization of a guerrilla war against the government. The leadership of this effort was presumed to be based in areas of Laos controlled by the Pathet Lao. The fundamental appeal of the subversive movement is alleged to be a call to separate the northeastern provinces from Thailand and join them to Laos. A case lending substance to these fears was the arrest of Ruam Wongphan and others in Suphanburi Province during February. The men were said to be leading cadres in the Communist organization of the country. The matter was sufficiently alarming to lead to the summary execution of Ruam under Field Marshal Sarit's emergency authority. Evidence captured with these men, together with that found in 1961 in a similar case in the northeast, was said to document the fact that Communist efforts have shifted from urban groups such as workers, students, and intellectuals to farmers. Such a shift would indicate an effort aimed toward rural rebellion. The response to this has been the formulation of plans designed to tighten the relationship between the people and the government, to improve police techniques, and especially to secure the border areas of the north and along the Mlekhong River. An attempt to make the rural population