US embassy cable - 05ATHENS629

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000629 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2015 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, GR, TU, INTERNAL 
SUBJECT: GREECE: NEW SECURITY POLICY, BUT LITTLE CHANGE IN 
TURKEY-FIRST DEFENSE STRATEGY 
 
 
Classified By: POL/MIL CHIEF DAVE RANK FOR REASONS 1.4 (B/D) 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  An updated Greek national security 
strategy appears to suggest that Athens' concern about a 
military threat from Turkey may be diminishing.  Initial 
discussions with senior- and mid-level defense and national 
security officials offer little evidence of such a change, 
however.  Post will continue to look for signs of any real 
shift in Greek defense policy, and will encourage any signals 
that the country is moving away from its unproductive focus 
on its eastern neighbor.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (U)  On March 1, the Greek government Council for Foreign 
Affairs and Defense (know by its Greek acronym, KYSEA), 
chaired by PM Karamanlis,  ratified a new version of the 
country,s defense and national security policy.  A Ministry 
of Defense announcement concerning the new policy emphasized 
the rising importance of asymetrical threats such as 
terrorism, illegal immigration, drug smuggling and general 
instability from the north of Greece,s borders.  The MOD 
statement named these asymmetrical threats ahead of the 
traditional focal point of Greek defense policy, Turkey, and 
commented on the improvement in Greece-Turkey relations. 
 
3.  (C)  On one level, there was little new in this policy 
statement, the first of its kind by the Karamanlis 
government.  As early as September, 2001 (immediately after 
the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and 
Pennsylvania), then-Defense Minister Akis Tsohatzopoulos 
called for a new defense doctrine to deal with terrorism and 
other asymmetrical threats.  What seems to be new is the 
emphasis the government,s statement puts on them.  The 
government must have known it would cause comment by giving 
pride of place to non-traditional threats, rather than to the 
traditional bogeyman from Turkey.  The point was not missed 
by the Greek media, nor by military officials with whom 
emboffs spoke.  At least some of the generals in the Greek 
Pentagon expressed concern that such a shift in priorities 
(if real) would endanger Greek security (and Greek defense 
spending - already under threat from the government,s 
austerity campaign). 
 
4.  (C)  Comment.  Certainly, if there has been a shift in 
perspective at the top of the Greek government, it has yet to 
trickle down very far.  In a January informal conversation 
with PolCouns, MOD Spiliotopoulos was adamant about the 
continued danger posed by the Turkish military.  Similarly, 
in a recent briefing for embassy DATT personnel (organized to 
discuss asymmetric threats to Greece), Greek military 
intelligence officers clearly identified Turkey as their 
country,s number one threat.  Nevertheless, we will 
encourage this fledgling reorientation of Greece,s military 
doctrine.  The more Greece shifts its focus to asymmetrical 
threats, and away from Turkey, the more capable its armed 
forces should be in coping with the new threats facing the 
NATO Alliance and the more comfortable its leaders will be in 
letting them take on jobs beyond territorial defense.  End 
Comment. 
RIES