US embassy cable - 05BRATISLAVA198

UNCLAS  BRATISLAVA 000198 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR NP/ECC - PVANSON, ACHURCH, JOHN COFFEY 
DEPT FOR EUR/ACE - DMARTIN 
CBP/INA FOR PWARKER, BPICKETT 
USDOE/NNSA FOR TPERRY 
DOC FOR PETERSEN-BEARD 
PRAGUE FOR MARK CANNING 
VIENNA FOR KENNY MACDONALD 
BUDAPEST FOR JEFFREY IZZO 
WARSAW FOR THOMAS YEAGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC, MNUC, PARM, PREL, KSTC, KNNP, ETTC, PREL, LO 
SUBJECT: EXBS: SLOVAKIA ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE 
- FEBRUARY 2005 
 
1.   BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY 
   MANAGERS. 
   None. 
 
2.  COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD. 
 
A.   SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS DURING REPORTING 
    PERIOD. 
 
  1.   February 1, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor met with Mr. 
     Paul Van Son, Director Department of State, Non- 
     Proliferation Programs - Export Control Cooperation 
     (NPP-ECC) and Mr. Jason McClellan from the same 
     department, in Bratislava, Slovakia.  Mr. Van Son 
     advised that NPP-ECC is planning to close down the EXBS 
     Office in Bratislava effective March 17, 2005, 
     concurrent with the end of the current Advisor's PSC 
     contract.  Mr. Van Son told the U.S. Embassy's Charge 
     d'Affaires that the EXBS Advisor who will soon be 
     opening an office in Zagreb, Croatia, would then handle 
     Slovakia's EXBS Program.  The EXBS Advisor and Mr. Van 
     Son also met with the Director, Slovak Border and Alien 
     Police and the Deputy Director General of the Slovak 
     Customs Directorate to update them on planned changes 
     to the EXBS Program here in Slovakia. 
 
  2.   February 6, 2005 - Slovakia EXBS Advisor traveled 
     to Warsaw, Poland.  The purpose of this trip was to 
     accompany Mr. Cassady Craft and Mr. Blake Prichard from 
     the Center for International Trade and Security, 
     University of Georgia (CITS/UGA) in meetings with 
     officials from various ministries of the Polish 
     government.   CITS/UGA has been contracted by the State 
     Department (NPP-ECC) to conduct export control 
     assessments of countries that receive EXBRS support. 
     The EXBS Advisor accompanied the team in the role of 
     Customs expert. 
 
  3. February 7, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA 
     team met with the Director General of the Polish 
     Customs Directorate, the Deputy Director of the 
     Security Policy Department, Ministry of Foreign 
     Affairs, the Director and Deputy Director of the 
     Export Control Department of the Ministry of 
     Economy and three export policy experts 
     (munitions) from the Military Intelligence 
     Services, Ministry of Defense.  These meetings 
     were packed with information necessary for the 
     CITS/UGA team to gain a better understanding of 
     the export control procedures in place in Poland 
     and for the team to assess the strengths and 
     weaknesses of their program. 
 
     The team also met with Witold Kowalczyk, Deputy 
     head of the Customs Office at Warsaw's Okecie 
     International Airport.  There we toured the Air 
     Cargo facility and learned how exports and 
     strategic goods are processed in the airport 
     environment. 
 
  4. February 8, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA 
     team drove to the Port of Kuznica on the Polish 
     border with Belarus.  There we met with Dariusz 
     Muszynski, Deputy Director of Bialystok Customs 
     Chamber and the Director for the Kuznica border 
     station.  These gentlemen answered our questions 
     regarding their handling of exports and strategic 
     goods and then provided us with a tour of their 
     border station. 
 
     It should be noted that this station is only a 
     little over one year old.  It is a model port, 
     with the most advanced equipment available in 
     Poland.  In fact, this border station is "state of 
     the art" and is better designed and equipped than 
     many border ports found in the United States.  All 
     passenger vehicles, buses and trucks 
     entering/exiting the country must pass through 
     portal monitors (gamma detectable only).  This 
     station's cargo facility has an import lot that 
     will hold 80 trucks and an export lot that will 
     hold 70 trucks.  Each lot has its own enclosed 
     truck inspection facility and its own stationary 
     VACIS manufactured by "Heimann", a German company. 
     The station has a security system that includes 
     150 digital cameras and a central control 
     monitoring room.  DVD recordings can be made from 
     any of the 150 cameras and stored for a 30 day 
     period.  I would highly recommend that any CBP 
     officials visiting Poland in an official capacity 
     should add a trip to this border station to their 
     itinerary. 
 
  5. February 9, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA 
     team 
     drove to the Port of Bezledy on the Polish border 
     with Russia (Kalingrad District).  Here the team 
     met with Deputy Director Dariusz Postek of the 
     Olsztyn Customs Chamber and the Director of the 
     Bezledy border station.  They gave us a very 
     informative presentation on their border station 
     and answered all of questions regarding export 
     control procedures and strategic goods processing. 
 
     This is the largest and busiest border station on 
     the Polish/Russian border.  About 90% of all 
     traffic is outbound (export).  For outbound 
     trucks, only animals and perishables and strategic 
     goods are cleared at the border station.  All 
     other exports are cleared at the inland Customs 
     office.  All strategic goods exportations require 
     a 100% physical exam.  Each border station has a 
     Strategic Goods Coordinator and a team of well- 
     trained inspectors for handling strategic goods. 
     There are normally two strategic goods trained 
     officers on each shift.  This border station is in 
     the beginning stages of a seventeen-month, $4 
     million process to rebuild, enlarge and up-grade 
     the current station.  The cargo facility has a 
     VACIS manufactured by Heimann of Germany.  All 
     vehicles pass through portal monitors (gamma 
     detectable only). 
 
  6. February 10, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA 
     team visited the Gdansk seaport and met with 
     Deputy Director of the Gdansk Customs Chamber 
     Jaroslaw Lipski, Tomasz Wegiel, Head of Legal 
     Organization Department of the Gdansk Customs 
     Chamber, and several other Customs managers from 
     the Gdansk Customs Chamber and the Gdansk Seaport. 
     They gave us an excellent presentation on the 
     activities and staffing of the Customs Chamber and 
     the Gdansk Seaport.  We also received an excellent 
     presentation from the Strategic Goods and Dual Use 
     Goods Coordinator. 
 
     We then toured the seaport where we visited the 
     Seaport Customs Office and met with the Seaport 
     Director and his Deputy.  They explained the 
     paperwork flow for imports and exports and told 
     about their computerized risk analysis system. 
 
  7. February 11, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and CITS/UGA 
     team visited the Gdynia seaport and met with 
     Seaport Director Mieczyslaw Swarcewicz and several 
     other members of his Customs staff.  They provided 
     us with excellent briefings on their seaport 
     operations, statistics, staffing and procedures 
     related to the export of strategic and dual use 
     goods.  We also received an excellent presentation 
     on the automated cargo system used by Polish 
     Customs called "CELINA" and their automated cargo 
     transit system "ISTAR".  We then met with Mr. 
     Julian Karaszewski, Managing Director of Baltic 
     Container Terminal (BCT), Gdynia.  Mr. Karaszewski 
     gave us a very interesting briefing on the BCT 
     terminal layout, statistical data, and their 
     cooperation shared with both the Polish Customs 
     and Border Guards. 
 
  8. February 14, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor and EXBS 
     Program Assistant spent the day working with 
     Customs at Bratislava Airport.  We learned how 
     Slovak Customs processes air cargo entries, how 
     their automated cargo data system (ASYCUDA ++) and 
     risk analysis sub-system works, how their In- 
     Transit system (ISHTAR) works, and how passengers 
     (both arriving and departing) are processed by 
     Customs.  A full assessment report of this visit 
     has been forwarded to CBP, INA headquarters. 
 
  9. February 17, 2005 - EXBS Advisor traveled to 
     Budapest, Hungary to attended a media event with 
     U.S. Ambassador George Walker.  The purpose of the 
     media event was to cover the donation of a new 
     Mercedes-Benz X-Ray Autovan, from the EXBS Program 
     to the Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard. 
     Ambassador Walker thanked the government of 
     Hungary for the cooperation they have given the 
     United States and congratulated the Hungarian 
     Customs and Finance Guard for their efforts to 
     secure their country's borders.  He then presented 
     the key to the vehicle to Major General Dr. Jnos 
     Nagy, Commissioner of the National Directorate of 
     Hungarian Customs and Finance Guard.  The event 
     received excellent media coverage from local 
     Television stations, radio stations and 
     newspapers. 
 
 10. February 18-24, 2005 - The EXBS Advisor assisted 
     the embassy staff during the POTUS visit by 
     volunteering to serve in the Embassy Control Room. 
     During this period the EXBS Advisor was also on- 
     call as the Embassy Duty Officer. 
 
 
 11. February 28, 2005 - EXBS Advisor met with Mr. 
     Roman Moravec, Head of the Division of 
     Prohibitions, Restrictions and CAP, Customs 
     Directorate, to discuss the upcoming visit of the 
     DOE X-Ray Maintenance/Repair Team on March 9-11, 
     2005.  Mr. Moravec has instructed members of the 
     Control Division in Poprad, Slovakia to deliver 
     the x-ray van to Bratislava on March 8, 2005, so 
     that it can undergo its semi-annual maintenance. 
 
B.   TRAINING CONDUCTED DURING REPORTING PERIOD. 
 
     None 
 
C.   EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING REPORTING 
 
     None. 
 
D.   IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE. 
 
    The DOE X-Ray Maintenance/Repair Team will be in 
    Hungary March 5-7, Slovakia March 8-10 and the 
    Czech Republic March 11-16, 2005. 
 
E.  SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS, 
NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY. 
 
     None. 
 
3.  RED FLAG ISSUES. 
 
     None. 
 
Questions regarding this report can be directed to 
Larry Adkins, EXBS Senior Advisor, at AmEmbassy 
Bratislava at telephone no.: 421-2-5922-3375, fax: 421- 
2-5922-3497 or through email at adkinslh@state.gov. 
 
THAYER 
 
 
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