US embassy cable - 03THEHAGUE2576

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 002576 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) 
NSC FOR CHUPA 
WINPAC FOR FOLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM, PREL, EIND, ETTC, CWC 
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC):  DELINEATION OF 
INDUSTRY PLANTS AND PLANT SITES 
 
 This is CWC-101-03. 
 
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Delineation of Industry Plants and Plant Sites 
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1.  On 2 October 2003, Larry Denyer, Department of Commerce, 
presented the U.S. practice on plant and plant site 
delineation that is used to support the declarations and 
inspections of industry facilities under the Chemical Weapons 
Convention (CWC).  This issue underlies many of the past 
difficulties and treaty interpretation miscommunications 
encountered during U.S. industry inspections.  While all such 
problems have been resolved via subsequent inspections in the 
U.S., the TS inspection teams continue to have inconsistent 
approaches to plant/plant site delineation during industry 
inspections.  In the interest of assisting the TS in 
developing a common-approach, the U.S. offered to share its 
presentation on plant/plant site delineation routinely 
provided to U.S. industry during advance preparation 
activities to TS policy and inspection personnel.  The 
presentation was not a policy discussion on this subject but 
rather a presentation of U.S. practice regarding this issue, 
and it included discussions on treaty definitional issues, 
interpretation and implementation issues, and common 
practices meant to avoid a number of declaration and 
inspection pitfalls.  In attendance from the TS were the 
majority of the Inspection Team Leaders, Per Runn (Deputy 
Director, Verification Division), Faiza Patel-King 
(Verification Division), Mohammed Doudi (Verification 
Division), and other staff.  Other Del members in attendance 
were Brandon Williams, Tom Underwood, and Lisa Benthien. 
 
 
2.  The U.S. message was well received.  In addition to a 
number of specific questions, TS staff presented a number of 
hypothetical plant site scenarios for discussion.  Given that 
the U.S. sees the application of this methodology as a 
successful approach to inspection management over the past 
2-plus years, the TS questioned whether the U.S. would be 
comfortable if other States Parties used the same approach. 
The Del assured the TS that it would be and pointed out that 
such consistency on all parts could lead to smoother 
inspection execution.  From the discussions, it is clear that 
the TS remains fractured on their understanding of plant site 
delineation.  While some of the team leaders retained 
positions that fencelines should in all cases be the starting 
point for plant site delineation regardless of ownership or 
operational control issues, other team leaders offered 
support for the U.S. delineation process.  Much of the 
misunderstandings appear to be related to U.S. legal and 
constitutional processes (e.g., limitations on USG in 
querying companies on submitted declarations and warrants, 
holdings and 'search and seizure' issues).  Much explanation 
of how the U.S. establishes the requirements for, solicits, 
collects and analyzes declarations and the impact of this 
process on advance and host team activities was provided. 
The TS expressed appreciation for the U.S. initiative in 
discussing this issue. 
 
3.  Javits sends. 
 
SOBEL