US embassy cable - 05LJUBLJANA136

UNCLAS  LJUBLJANA 000136 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR, SI 
SUBJECT:  SLOVENIA SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES REPORT, 
FEBRUARY 2005 
 
1.  SUMMARY.  Slovenia's proposed changes to the 
Slovene translation of ACSA were forwarded to EUCOM/J4- 
ID.  TAG from Colorado will visit Slovenia in March. 
 
2. POLITICAL-MILITARY 
 
A.  DEPLOYMENTS.  The third rotation of Slovenian 
soldiers left Slovenia in February to participate in 
the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan. 
 
B.  According to the Prime Minister, Slovenia will 
contribute to the stabilization of Iraq just like other 
NATO members.  Slovenia will train Iraqi security 
forces, give the Iraqi army 15,000 pieces of light 
arms, and will contribute 100,000 euros in cash for the 
mission there (for NATO's fund for training Iraqi 
security forces).  The PM further said that whether 
Slovenian instructors train Iraqi security forces in a 
third country or in Iraq depends on the situation in 
Iraq; the instructors may be civilians, not soldiers. 
 
C.  According to a survey released in February, the 
"new" government and its leading party, the Slovenian 
Democrats (SDS), enjoy high public support, almost 
three months after establishing the government; and the 
Prime Minister (and SDS leader) remains by far the most 
popular politician.  Also of note, in March the (new) 
Defense Minister is expected to present this year's 
defense priorities. 
 
3.  KEY ISSUES AND SIGNIFICANT EVENTS 
 
A. FMF CASES 
 
1) ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING (S3-D-TAC, $650,194) 
- There are 36 Slovenian students in elementary English 
classes, 48 in intermediate classes, and 13 in an 
advanced class, all of which will continue until June. 
- A 3-week Peace Support Operations English course 
started on 21 Feb.  There are 10 Slovenian military 
personnel attending the course. 
 
2) BLANKET TRAINING (S3-B-OAC, $102,500) 
The first group (four students) of the four groups 
planned in total, will attend the Primary Leadership 
Development Course at 7th Army NCO Academy in 
Grafenwoehr, from 6 April to 6 May 2005. 
 
3) DRILL INSTRUCTOR (S3-B-OAB, $153,522) 
The drill instructor will be here until 2 Apr, at 
Vipava Training Center observing Slovenia's basic 
training and will suggest improvements.  The Commander 
of USASATMO, Col Helfer, and two others, will visit 
Georgia in March and will stop in Slovenia to visit the 
ODC and the Drill Instructor. 
 
4) BELL 412 RADIO and IFF (S3-B-UAJ/UAK) 
Installation of the radios (UAJ) is proceeding but was 
delayed which will cause a delay in the IFF 
installation (UAK).  Schedules for both upgrades are 
currently being reviewed. 
 
5) DEFENSE PLANNING SYSTEM (S3-B-UAS, $111,126) 
An additional class on Defense Planning will be added 
as an amendment to the case.  NDU will conduct the 
training.  ODC provided NDU an outline of the desired 
course this month. 
 
6) VIDEOCONFERENCE (S3-B-UAU). Pricing and LOA for this 
case should be available within 60 days. 
 
7) Air Sovereignty Operations Center (ASOC) (S3-D-QAA) 
The Slovene MOD requested that this case be amended to 
include an additional 36 months of modernization and 
sustainment support.  The official letter of request 
was sent in September 2004 and is expected to cost 
$1,650,000 ($550,000 per year for three years).  The 
Slovenes requested that this case be funded with FMF 
funds instead of national funds.  The LOA for this case 
depends on input from several countries and should be 
available shortly. 
 
B. DCS/CONTRACTOR. 
 
GPS.  The Slovenes asked for an official explanation of 
 
 
the US approval process to obtain P-codes.  ODC sent a 
message to EUCOM requesting an explanation of the 
process and received an email response from the J6 
action officer but no official response yet. 
 
D. IMET 
 
1) Funding for FY05 IMET was approved and Slovenia 
received the expected $950K. 
 
2) Six students were processed for various courses in 
the CONUS including Squadron Officer School and 
International Defense Management Course. 
 
3) Slovenia has accepted invitations to nominate 
students for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff 
College (CGSC) and the Air Force Command and Staff 
College (ACSC).  The ODC requested a rank waiver for 
ACSC as the nominated officer is a captain rather than 
requested rank of major.  The waiver was approved by 
ACSC command section. 
 
4) An ECL test was administered to 14 students in 
February, all candidates for various FY05 IMET and FMS 
S3-B-OAC. 
 
5) Slovenia also received one of the fall-out slots for 
Academic year 2005-06 at the US Army Sergeant Major 
Academy.  As Slovenia is still developing its 
professional NCO corps, a slot at such a prestigious 
institution is very valuable for the Slovene Armed 
Forces and should contribute to its growing 
professionalism. 
 
E. COUNTERTERRORISM FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (CTFP) 
 
For the first time the ODC submitted a request for 
funding from the Counterterrorism Fellowship Program, 
for FY06.  While no terrorist organizations are known 
to be active in Slovenia, its central location, the 
proximity to the Balkan crisis areas and short Adriatic 
coastline make it an attractive potential transit 
country for trafficking in drugs, persons, and weapons 
of mass destruction (WMD) by criminal and terrorist 
organizations. These are the facts that contribute to a 
higher threat profile.  It is therefore in the U.S. 
interest to provide training assistance and equipment, 
and to engage the Slovenian law enforcement community 
in efforts to detect, interdict, prosecute, and convict 
those involved in transnational criminal and terrorist 
activities.  The SAF expressed an interest in hosting a 
regional conference on responses to terrorism in South- 
East Europe, which we hope to fund with the CTFP. 
 
F. MARSHALL CENTER. 
 
1) Two (2) participants from the Slovene Police are 
currently attending the "Program in Advanced Security 
Studies"(PASS 05-1). 
 
2) An Assistant Professor from the Faculty of Social 
Science is attending the "Program on Terrorism and 
Security Studies" (PTSS 05-2). 
 
G. MIL-TO-MIL/BILATERAL AFFAIRS 
 
1) The Adjutant General from the Colorado National 
Guard, MG Whitney, will visit Slovenia following the 
TAG Conference in Garmisch, Germany.  A schedule is 
being finalized with the Ministry of Defense for the 
General's visit.  One of the interesting topics may be 
the connection that Colorado has with Jordan since 
Slovenia has talked about providing five instructors to 
train Iraqi police in Jordan.  Colorado has a 
partnership with Jordan that has been gaining momentum 
over the last couple of months. 
 
2) A meeting was held with Slovenia's FORSCOM, G-9, and 
J-7 to discuss and agree upon the mil-to-mil event 
approval process.  This meeting went well and all 
parties are under agreement regarding the process for 
developing, approving, and modifying mil-to-mil events. 
 
3) A mil-to-mil event, Military Decision Making 
Process, was scheduled for 28 Feb - 5 Mar with five 
 
 
participants; however, one of them was hospitalized 
with pneumonia the day before departing.  To minimize 
the impact, the plane ticket was cancelled as well as 
the hotel reservations. 
 
4) The Small Unit Event Initial Planning Conference 
between Slovenia's 17th BVP (MP) and the Colorado 
National Guard's 220th MP CO was conducted 8 - 11 Feb. 
The planning conference went well and the following 
things were accomplished: draft letter of intent was 
developed, a visit to four of the proposed training 
sites, as well as the lodging and mess facilities.  The 
Small Unit Event is being used as the pre-deployment 
training for a Company of the 17th BVP before they go 
to KFOR on 30 Sep. 
 
5) It was finally decided that WIF Funding is not 
available for Slovenia. 
 
6) The ODC is now online with the SCIP portal.  All 
members of the ODC, to include the FSNs, have received 
their passwords or tokens.  Our contact in MoD is also 
getting access to SCIP. 
 
7) Slovenia still intends to send one logistics officer 
to the Berlin Staff Ride in April. 
 
4.  PERSONNEL/RESOURCES/LOGISTICS 
 
A.  PERSONNEL: 
 
1) PERSPECTIVE GAINS: None 
2) PERSPECTIVE LOSSES: None 
3) ATTACHED PERSONNEL: 
- Mary Jo Villalobos, Language Center Coordinator 
- Kristin Pedroja, Test Developer, one year contract 
- Kathy Lance, English Teacher, one year contract 
- John Stephens, English Teacher, one year contract 
- Helen Prevost, English Teacher, one year contract 
- Terry Jenkins, English teacher, TDY 14 Jan - 25 Mar 
- Sgt Garfield Lyons, S3-B-OAB, TDY 3 Jan - 2 Apr 05 
4) ODC CHIEF APPROVED TDY/LEAVE: None 
5) RATING SCHEME CHANGES: None 
6) EXTENSIONS/CURTAILMENTS: None 
 
B.  RESOURCES. Vehicles and ADP equipment are 100% 
operational. 
 
C.  ICASS. No issues. 
 
D. LOGISTICS. 
 
1) The personal services contract for the BAO driver 
has been resolved after a couple of meetings with the 
embassy management office.  A PSA Limited contract has 
been identified as being the contract mechanism that 
will meet the embassy guidelines.  This contract limits 
us to 30 days of work within a calendar year.  The 
contract is being finalized by the embassy contracting 
office and should be ready within the next few weeks. 
 
2) The BAO office is waiting for approval to proctor 
the EUCOM Driver's exam for individuals that need to 
drive the BAO vehicle. Apparently there has been a hold 
up at USAREUR.  This affects our BAO Driver since he 
has not been given this test. 
 
3) Approval for the BAO van repairs has been received. 
The repairs will be made once the embassy contracting 
officer has completed the negotiation process. 
 
4) The BAO has been added back into the Total Army 
Personnel Database thanks to the diligent work of SMG 
Franke. 
 
5. CHIEF COMMENTS: 
 
ACSA.  The MOD, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs input, 
provided ODC with the new wording for the Slovene 
translation of the ACSA (the English version remains 
the same).  The document was forwarded to EUCOM/J4-ID 
who will discuss with EUCOM lawyers and determine if 
the document needs to be signed again. 
 
6. POC is Lt Col Margaret Claytor at +386-1-471-2873, 
 
 
FAX 471-1577, or email mclaytor@san.osd.mil. 
REGARDS. 
ROBERTSON 
 
 
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 2005LJUBLJ00136 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED 


 
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