US embassy cable - 04COLOMBO1502

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 COLOMBO 001502 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
 
DS FOR DS/IP/ITA AND DS/IP/SA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: X6 
TAGS: ASEC, PTER, MIssion Security 
SUBJECT: SECURITY ENVIRONMENT PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE (SEPQ) 
RESPONSES FOR COLOMBO AND IRANAWILLA 
 
REF: SECSTATE 185263 
 
Classified By: RSO Alex Moore - Reason: 1.4(d).  Exempt from declassifi 
cation - Reason: 1.6(X6). 
 
(U) Embassy Colombo convened an EAC on 09/07/04 to discuss 
and approve responses to questions posed in Reftel.  The 
responses below are keyed to the format provided in Reftel. 
 
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POLITICAL VIOLENCE 
------------------ 
 
1. (SBU) DEMONSTRATIONS 
 
A.  YES - There are communities in Sri Lanka capable of 
conducting anti-US demonstrations. 
 
B.  NO - There have been no anti-US demonstrations in the 
past 12 months. 
 
C.  YES - Other forms of demonstrations have taken place 
outside USG facilities. 
 
D.  Demonstrations usually average 350 people. 
 
E.  YES - Anti-American demonstrations in the past have been 
triggered by U.S. foreign policy initiatives and/or military 
action. 
 
F.  Demonstrations are generally non-violent but can be 
unruly.  On March 28, 2003, a demonstration involving up to 
2,000 left-wing JVP members and Muslims became unruly and 
police used tear gas when the crowd overran the designated 
boundaries. 
 
G.  NO damage to USG property. 
 
H.  No penetrations of US facility perimeter. 
 
I.  Yes, there have been anti-SLG demonstrations in the past 
12 months, none were violent. 
 
J.  YES - Demonstrations have taken place near USG facilities. 
 
K.  Average size is in hundreds, but can be as low as 30 and 
as high as 10,000. 
 
L.  Anti-Government demonstrations are generally non-violent 
but can at times become unruly.  The last serious incident of 
political disturbance was Oct 2002, when Muslim/Sinhalese 
rioting lasted for two days in extreme northern Colombo near 
the airport, resulting in a government-imposed three day 
curfew.  A number of private homes were burned in the 
rioting, including the home of a locally employed staff 
member. The Embassy Warden System was activated during this 
period. 
 
M.   No damage to USG property. 
 
 
2. (SBU)  MACRO CONFLICT CONDITIONS 
 
 
A.  Intrastate conflict exists, however the 18-year 
insurgency by the Tamil minority LTTE against the Sinhalese 
majority government has been under a cease-fire agreement 
since February 2002.  In 2004, eastern LTTE leader Karuna 
broke away from central LTTE leadership, leading to 
LTTE-on-LTTE violence throughout Sri Lanka.  That conflict is 
still ongoing. 
 
B.  When the insurgency was active and ongoing, fighting took 
place primarily in the north and eastern provinces, although 
LTTE conducted multiple operations in Colombo, primarily 
suicide bombers.  Now, the internal LTTE violence promarily 
has taken place in the East, but has recently moved into 
Colombo. 
 
C.  N/A 
 
D.  Yes, one political party, the left-wing Sinhalese Janatha 
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has historically expressed an 
anti-western and anti-American orientation.  The JVP was 
brought into an alliance with the President's party in the 
April 2004 national election called by the President. 
 
 
3. (C/NOFORN)   HOST COUNTRY CAPABILITIES 
A.  Local law enforcement is moderately capable in certain 
police matters such as crowd control, anti-insurgency 
actions, bomb disposal, and some major crime investigative 
matters.  Capabilities in other areas such as lower-level 
criminal investigations and forensics are limited.  Responses 
to residential crime and traffic control are severely 
limited.   Political interference in police matters greatly 
erodes police effectiveness. 
 
B.  A limited number of Sri Lankan police officers have been 
trained through INL and ATA funded training programs, but ATA 
training has been curtailed since 2002.  Police have 
responded well in certain areas of training, such as VIP 
Protection, bomb disposal and post-blast investigation. 
Because of constant turnover at the senior police level due 
to political interference, however, much of the other ATA 
training has been lost to attrition.  In one notable example 
of police training deficiencies, a July 7 suicide bomber was 
suspected by the police to in fact be a bomber, but the 
suspect was never handcuffed when she was taken into custody. 
 As a result, the suspect was able to manually detonate 
herself inside the police station, located across the street 
from the Chancery, killing herself and four police officers. 
INL monies have been identified this year for narcotics 
interdiction and community policing.  UK, Sweden, China and 
Japan have conducted some police training. 
 
C.  YES - Corruption within the police is a problem. 
 
D.  The principal intelligence service in Sri Lanka is the 
Directorate of Internal Intelligence (DII).  This service is 
moderately competent within Sri Lanka using human collectors. 
 However, intelligence gathering directly related to the LTTE 
is limited, and done mostly through the Directorate of 
Military Intelligence (DMI), which has limited HUMINT and 
SIGINT capabilities.  Technical capabilities of the DII are 
believed to be limited, but RSO has used DII telephone 
information in the past.  The other intelligence 
organization, the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence (DFI), 
focuses on the international community.  The DFI is 
underfunded, understaffed, and is believed to have very 
limited human and technical capabilities. 
 
E.  YES - The intelligence services are cooperative, within 
limits of their capabilities. 
 
F.  YES - LTTE suicide bombings have been significantly 
reduced, and counter-insurgency operations have been 
effective in isolated instances.  A true evaluation of 
counter-insurgency successes is difficult given the ceasefire 
that has been in effect since Feb 2002. 
 
G.  YES - A new police unit has been created specifically for 
embassy security.  The police were very responsive by 
providing residential security during the Iraq War.  Police 
are very responsive to Embassy requests for VIP Protection. 
 
H.  GOOD - Since the Colombo Airport was attacked by the LTTE 
in July 2001, airport security has been enhanced 
significantly. 
 
I.  Immigration and Customs controls are generally considered 
to be ineffective. 
 
J.  Sri Lanka is an island, and maritime security forces are 
generally considered to be ineffective, particularly against 
the LTTE "Sea Tigers." 
 
 
-------------------- 
INDIGENOUS TERRORISM 
-------------------- 
 
 
4. (SBU) ANTI-AMERICAN TERRORIST GROUPS 
 
A. It is possible there are indigenous, anti-American 
terrorist groups in Sri Lanka, but we have no specific 
information concerning their existence. 
 
B. N/A 
 
C. No anti-American attack has occurred in the last 12 months. 
 
D.  N/A 
 
E.  N/A 
F.  N/A 
 
G.  N/A 
 
H.  N/A 
 
5. (SBU) OTHER INDIGENOUS TERRORIST GROUPS 
 
A.  Yes, there are other indigenous terrorist groups (not 
anti-American) in Sri Lanka. 
 
B.  The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). 
 
C.  Yes, the LTTE carries out indiscriminate attacks 
throughout the country, including a July 7 suicide bomber 
within one block of the US Embassy.  Since the ceasefire in 
2002, however, the LTTE has focused on specific 
assassinations of its political rivals and government 
informants.  PolOff reports that 32 such attacks took place 
during one six week period between July-August 2004; while 
only 36 attacks were reported for the entire year in 2003. 
 
D.  The attacks are most always lethal and American 
bystanders have been injured in past attacks. 
 
E.  Americans have been injured as bystanders but not killed 
in LTTE attacks. 
 
 
----------------------- 
TRANSNATIONAL TERRORISM 
----------------------- 
 
 
6. (C/NOFORN)   TRANSNATIONAL TERRORIST INDICATORS 
 
A.  Embassy Colombo knows of no foreign terrorist groups that 
have a presence in Sri Lanka, aside from the LTTE, which is 
recognized as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. 
 
B.  EAC has assessed that, absent any new information, 
current conditions in Sri Lanka would make a terrorist 
operation by an outside group difficult to implement.  This 
assessment is based on several factors, including the active 
intelligence capabilities of the Sri Lankan security services 
and a relatively small Muslim population (8 percent) that has 
demonstrated little capability or inclination to support 
Muslim extremist activities.  Embassy Colombo is aware of no 
firm link between LTTE and Al-Qaida, nor does the EAC believe 
the LTTE would allow any Muslim militant group to operate in 
areas that are under LTTE control. 
 
C.  The SLG has demonstrated no sympathies for any 
transnational terrorist group. 
 
D.  Embassy Colombo reported a list of NGOs that might have 
links to a transnational terrorist group in 04 Colombo 0950. 
 
E.  There could possibly be small ethnic or religious 
communities that are sympathetic to transnational terrorist 
groups such as Al-Qaida, but they are not considered 
significant at this point.  That said, the hoax anthrax 
letter that resulted in the closure of the Embassy for three 
days in August was authored by someone making reference to 
Muslims killed in Iraq and signed, "Al-Qaida Sri Lanka." 
 
F.  Hostile intelligence services connected to foreign 
embassies most likely exist in Sri Lanka, including Iraq (now 
closed), Iran, Libya, China, Cuba, Palestine, and Russia. 
Aside from occasional reports of possible surveillance 
activity, Embassy Colombo has no information that connects 
any of these services to anti-American attacks. 
 
G.  Due to Sri Lanka's 20-year insurgency with the LTTE, 
weapons and explosives are readily available.  Several 
thousand deserters maintain control of their military-issued 
weapons.  Breakaway LTTE rebel leader Karuna abandoned large 
amounts of weapons when his forces fled the East in March, 
many of which are believed to have been acquired by organized 
crime and possibly sold to Sri Lankan Muslim groups seeking 
to defend themselves against the LTTE.  On the black market, 
T-56 fully automatic rifles can be purchased for USD 120-180, 
and hand grenades cost USD 6.  The LTTE produces highly 
sophisticated Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), and uses 
high quality explosives to make anti-personnel mines or 
armored vehicle mines. 
7. Embassy Colombo POC is RSO Alex Moore (94-11-244-8007). 
ENTWISTLE