US embassy cable - 04BRUSSELS4664

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 004664 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2014 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, KTFN, EUN, USEU BRUSSELS 
SUBJECT: OCTOBER 15 US-EU COTER TROIKA REVIEWS COMMON GOALS 
AND JOINT ACTIONS 
 
REF: A. USEU 4475 
 
     B. STATE 221188 
     C. STATE 218685 
 
Classified By: USEU Poloff Van Reidhead for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (C) SUMMARY: The October 15 U.S.-EU COTER counterterrorism 
(CT) Troika focused on EU plans to identify priority 
countries for CT assistance. Dutch CT Coordinator and COTER 
Chair Ambassador Mollinger reviewed recent visits to Saudia 
Arabia, Algeria, Morocco and Indonesia.  S/CT Director for 
Regional Affairs and U.S. Chairman Hartley welcomed the COTER 
initiative, agreed in principle to seek to coordinate CT 
assistance programs, but urged that, once the COTER has 
identified areas of assistance, coordination take place among 
embassies in the capitals concerned.  EU officials reviewed 
implementation of the EU CT work plan, including efforts to 
mainstream CT policy in EU external relations, streamline the 
production of threat assessments, harmonize national CT 
policies, and implement the March Declaration.  The two sides 
also reviewed global CT developments, agreed to consider a 
second round of joint demarches to encourage countries that 
have not already done so to ratify the 12 UN CT conventions 
and protocols, discussed the draft Council of Europe CT 
conventions, and exchanged views on terrorist recruitment. 
The U.S. raised the libyan arms embargo issue and Hizballah. 
The Luxembourg representative outlined his government,s 
plans for COTER during its spring 2005 EU Presidency. 
Delegations agreed in principle to meet early in 2005, with 
the exact date to be determined.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------- 
EU FOCUSES ON PRIORITY COUNTRIES 
-------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Dutch CT Coordinator and COTER Chair Ambassador Ronald 
Mollinger noted that the implementation of the EU Action Plan 
on terrorism has encouraged the EU to look more "toward 
external policies and less toward internal procedures."  Two 
resulting actions have been the focus on seven priority 
countries (Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, 
Pakistan, Tunisia and Kenya), and greater cooperation between 
external and internal affairs (Second and Third "Pillar") 
experts within the EU COTER framework. Mollinger said that he 
and EU CT Coordinator Gijs de Vries had recently visited 
Morocco, and that he (Mollinger) had also visited Saudi 
Arabia, Algeria and Indonesia, to discuss EU technical 
assistance, intelligence sharing, and political support for 
CT cooperation with the EU.  He said each of the countries 
had welcomed the prospect of greater CT cooperation with the 
EU (although Algeria complained that the EU had not helped 
more at an earlier stage).  The COTER group is trying to 
identify three more priority countries to round out their 
list at ten and solicited U.s. views. 
 
3. (C) Consistent with Ref C, Hartley welcomed the COTER 
initiative, agreed in principle to seek to coordinate CT 
assistance programs, but urged that, once the COTER has 
identified areas of assistance, coordination take place among 
embassies in the capitals concerned.  Citing the U.s. G-8 
Presidency experience, he said U.S. Embassies in several of 
the priority countries identified by the EU were already 
working with other donors to coordinate and deconflict CT 
assistance programs.  Coordination at the embassy level would 
take advantage of embassies familiarity with the assistance 
already in train, deeper understanding of the local political 
context, and an appreciation of the unique challenges in each 
country regarding program implementation.  He noted a  number 
of countries in East Asia, South Asia, the Near East and 
Africa that would be logical candidates to fill out the EU 
top ten list.  The EU side agreed that cooperation in the 
field is the most effective venue for coordination. 
 
------------------------------ 
EU VISITS TO PRIORITY COUNTRIES 
------------------------------ 
 
4. (C) Mollinger provided detailed read-outs on his visits to 
Morocco, Algeria, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia: 
 
MOROCCO:  Morocco had a mixed response to the EU, with few 
officials making specific requests.  Moroccan officials 
viewed AQ as an ideological inspiration and not a direct 
threat to Morocco.  During the discussion, it emerged that 
Morocco had requested EU assistance with border controls even 
as the U.S. is moving forward to implement the Terrorist 
Interdiction Program (TIP) to assist GOM establishment of a 
computerized port-of-entry name check system.. 
 
SAUDI ARABIA:  The Commission noted that Saudi Arabia's 
wealth made the country ineligible for Commission assistance. 
 EU officials relayed Saudi concerns about the potential 
influx of jihadists back into the country once Iraq is 
stabilized.  Hartley acknoweldged that this could be a 
problem, but pointed out that the Saudis were making 
important gains in their CT capabilities and that coalition 
forces were working hard to ensure that such jihadists would 
be apprehended or killed before they have the chance to leave 
Iraq. 
 
ALGERIA:  Algeria was enthusiastic about receiving technical 
assistance from the EU, but also vocal in its grievances 
about what it saw as passive EU involvement until now.  The 
EU reminded us that the Association Agreement with Algeria 
contains a terrorism clause, but Algeria has not yet ratified 
the agreement. 
 
INDONESIA:  Indonesia told the EU visitors "they are fed up 
with fact finding missions" and hoped instead for some real 
assistance.  Hartley noted ongoing USG CT capacity-building 
assistance and recent developments, in particular the recent 
election of President Yudhoyono, who has given positive 
signals on CT cooperation. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
NEW THREAT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES CENTRALIZE COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
5. (C) EU officials related their developing approach to 
threat assessments. Instead of drawing on individual member 
state intelligence service reports on particular countries 
and themes, COTER has asked the EU Situation Centre (SitCen) 
to synthesize all available information, including from 
Europol, and present coordinated assessments to the COTER 
group.  The Dutch hope to have eleven foreign intelligence 
and internal security services pooling information at SitCen 
by the end of December (the number is currently at seven). 
 
6. (SBU) The EU is also working on a peer review process to 
identify and universalize best practices in CT policies 
throughout the 25 member states.  A report on best practices 
for CT from this evaluation will be released during the 
December JHA European Council meeting. The new member states 
will participate in the evaluation venture at a later date. 
 
 
7. (SBU) EU Counter-terrorism coordinator Gijs de Vries' 
Deputy, Patricia Holland, said that the EU is engaging in a 
larger effort to "mainstream" CT concerns throughout all EU 
policy areas.  On terrorism financing, Holland said the EU 
would soon release an overview paper on terrorist financing 
policies in the EU. 
 
----------------- 
TERRORISM FINANCE 
----------------- 
 
8. (SBU) Both the US and the EU noted the productive 
discussion on terrorism finance that had taken place on 
September 23 and reported on the four key areas for our 
future work:  (1) a meeting with prosecutors, investigators 
and designation authorities to be held before the end of the 
year to share experience and best practices; (2) enhanced 
US-EU cooperation in FATF especially on non-profits and cash 
couriers; (3) continuation of the informal dialogue and (4) 
cooperation on CTF technical assistance. 
 
------------ 
OTHER ISSUES 
------------ 
 
9. (C) The two sides also discussed the following topics: 
 
-- Global Trends:  Hartley reviewed global developments, 
noting the progress made to date to defeat al-Qaida and 
associated terrorist groups but underscoring the continuing 
threat.  Acknowledging that international efforts to identify 
and neutralize AQ cells worldwide had made  significant 
progress, Dutch Internal Security Service officer Willem van 
Sluys said that the EU remained very worried about the 
ongoing capabilities and recruitment skills of AQ cells, 
especially in Europe.  The EU was also concerned that AQ was 
evolving into more of an ideology with a declining need for a 
base, which added new challenges for CT officials. 
 
-- Joint Demarches:  The two sides agreed to consider a 
second round of joint demarches, begun under the Italian EU 
Presidency, to urge third countries to ratify and implement 
the twelve UN CT conventions and protocols.  The U.S. side 
undertook to propose next steps. 
 
-- Council of Europe Draft CT Convention: USEU DOJ Attache 
Mark Richard said he understood a draft comprehensive CT 
convention had been tabled at the Council of Europe, despite 
a prior understanding that the largely redundant proposal had 
been dropped.  Troika officials confirmed that the EU did not 
have a common position on the draft and that several 
prominent EU member states oppose it.  The Luxembourg Rep 
read a statement from an EU coordination meeting in New York 
in which member states agreed that any new convention should 
focus on filling existing gaps and should not seek to reframe 
existing conventions. 
 
-- Terrorist Recruitment: Hartley described USG concerns 
about terrorist recruitment in US prisons and among military 
chaplains.  Dutch internal security service official van 
Sluys said the EU remained concerned about recruitment from 
within immigrant communities.  While EU member states had 
taken aggressive action to halt recruitment in places such as 
schools and mosques, more needed to be done to engage Muslim 
moderates to provide an alternative to radicalization.  He 
offered to share an EU Action Plan for combating terrorist 
recruitment, which should be finished by December. 
 
-- Libya:  Hartley also delivered US concerns (Ref B) 
regarding the EU decision to lift its arms embargo on Libya 
(details in Ref A). 
 
-- Hizballah: Hartley raised ongoing U.S. concerns regarding 
lack of EU consensus  on designating Hizballah and 
Hamas-linked charities as terrorist organizations.  The EU 
side indicated that movement on either front was not likely 
in the near term. 
 
-------------------------------- 
LUXEMBOURG PRESIDENCY PRIORITIES 
-------------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Luxembourg Rep Tom Berend highlighted five COTER 
priorities for Luxembourg's EU Presidency (January 1-June 30, 
2005): enhancing CT assistance to third countries; building 
on the Dutch efforts to tackle terrorism finance; preparing 
for ministerials; and having productive troikas with third 
countries.  The fifth priority will be "thematic" but has not 
yet been agreed. 
 
------------ 
NEXT MEETING 
------------ 
 
11. (SBU) The two sides agreed in principle to meet again 
early in the new year (date to be determined). 
 
-------------------- 
12. (U) PARTICIPANTS 
-------------------- 
 
U.S. Delegation: 
Brent Hartley, S/CT Director for Regional Affairs 
Kimber Shearer, EUR/ERA 
Mark Richard, Department of Justice Counselor, USEU 
Frank Kerber, Narcotics and Law Enforcement Counselor, USEU 
Van Reidhead, Political Officer, USEU 
Jennifer Underwood, Economic Officer, USEU 
Sean Kimball, Intern, USEU 
 
Dutch Presidency Delegation: 
Ambassador Ronald Mollinger, MFA (COTER Chair) 
Wouter Jurgens, MFA 
Nadine van Loon, MFA 
Willem van Sluys, Internal Security Service 
 
European Commission: 
Lars-Erik Lundin, DG External Relations 
Andrew Denison, DG External Relations 
Diederick Paalman, DG JHA 
 
Luxembourg: 
Robert Rollinger, MFA 
Stephane Aumer, MFA 
Taru Berend, MFA 
 
Council Secretariat: 
Patricia Holland, Advisor to EU CT Coordinator 
Margarita Comomala, USA Desk 
Allessandra Baldi, USA/CT Desk 
Juan de Luis, CT Desk 
 
13. (U) This message has been cleared by S/CT Hartley and 
EUR/ERA Shearer. 
 
Schnabel