US embassy cable - 05ABUDHABI1858

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ABU DHABI 001858 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR S/CT, L/LEI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/26/2020 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, ASEC, ETTC, TC, KJAN 
SUBJECT: COUNTERTERRORISM ACTION GROUP - EMBASSY ABU DHABI 
 
REF: ABU DHABI 1331 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: The British DCM convened the Abu Dhabi G-8 
Counter-Terrorism Action Group (CTAG) on March 23. CTAG 
members discussed their perspectives of the threat 
environment in the UAE, and their observations of the UAE 
response to the recent theater bombing in Doha.  Each country 
detailed counter-terrorism (CT) training and assistance in 
the UAE and discussed the uneven status of legal cooperation 
between their countries and the UAEG.  In addition to G-8 
Embassies, the UK also invited representatives from 
Switzerland, Australia, the Netherlands, and Spain. End 
summary. 
 
 
Terrorist Threat in the UAE 
--------------------------- 
2. (C) Less than a week after the theater bombing in Doha, 
the meeting began with a discussion of the current threat 
environment in the region, and specifically in the UAE.  The 
consensus was that the UAE remains vulnerable to an attack 
like the one that happened in Qatar, but no specific threat 
information points to planned attacks in the UAE.  None of 
the Missions raised their threat level or revised their 
travel advisories as a result of the bombing, but the UK and 
Canadian Embassies issued warden messages urging their 
citizens to remain vigilant.  Turning to a discussion of the 
UAEG response to the Doha theater bombing (reftel), the 
French DCM characterized UAE security officials as "serene" 
in their confidence that nothing would happen in the UAE.  He 
observed that the UAEG had reinforced and tightened its 
security presense at their Embassy and at the French schools. 
 The Canadian political chief noted that UAE officials 
believe they are more vulnerable to an attack like the 
bombing in Doha, as opposed to the type of extremist activity 
that occured in Kuwait in January.  The French DCM (protect) 
revealed that his country is helping the UAEG monitor and 
track the activity of French citizens of Arab origin who have 
settled in the northern Emirates and are Islamic 
fundamentalists. 
 
 
Country Presentations 
--------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) UK: The British DCM summarized his country's CT 
efforts with the UAE by highlighting four activities.  First, 
the UK is currently providing training to federal and Dubai 
customs officials on intercepting cash couriers.  Second, the 
UK has plans to offer training to federal authorities on 
forensics and crime scene management.  Third, the UK is 
making arrangements with the Ministries of Interior and 
Justice and the Central Bank to offer a seminar on counter 
terror finance.  Finally, a UK advisor will begin working in 
the UAE Central Bank sometime in the next few months.  The 
advisor's mission is to examine the implementation of 
anti-money laundering and terror finance legislation.  The 
DCM also noted that the UK has aviation officials based in 
Dubai who are assessing the security and safetly of the Dubai 
and Abu Dhabi airports.  In particular, the team is 
conducting a risk assessment to determe the airports' 
vulnerability to MANPAD attacks. 
 
4. (SBU) Canada: The Canadian political chief outlined 
Canada's two new initiatives with the UAE.  First, Canada has 
offered to train regional federal police on money laundering. 
 Second, the UAE's National Anti-Money Laundering Committee 
will travel to Ottowa and Montreal April 30 through May 6 to 
learn about how Canada implements the FATF recomendations on 
anti-money laundering and terror finance. 
 
5. (SBU) Australia: The Australians are engaged in 
discussions with the UAEG about offering customs training. 
Additionally, there is an Australian police officer based in 
Dubai who serves as a liaison with the Australian police. 
 
6. (SBU) France: France is focused on bilateral police 
cooperation.  In the next year, they plan to organize 40 
training sessions -- ten of which will be devoted to 
counter-terrorism and crisis management.  The French DCM said 
that he will brief the Ministry of Justice on how France has 
organized the anti-terrorism legal system.  France is hosting 
a seminar in Paris in April titled, "From the Gulf: 
Challenges to Security and Cooperation."  The UAE Directorate 
of Military Intelligence has been invited to attend. 
 
7. (SBU) Italy: Italy is providing training to the Abu Dhabi 
Police and the UAE military on unspecified CT training. 
 
8. (SBU) Spain: Spain had no new training programs to report. 
 
9. (SBU) Germany: The Germans are offering training to police 
officers, and although the training does not focus 
specifically on counter-terrorism, CT elements are covered in 
the training programs. 
10. (SBU) Switzerland:  There are no specific CT training 
programs or cooperation.  As an aside, the Swiss DCM stated 
that Switzerland has designated the Dubai airport as an 
"unsafe airport" due to the prevalence of false documents. 
Anytime a plane arrives from Dubai, the Swiss have police do 
thorough passport checks as passengers disembark.  (Note: he 
said this is mostly an immigration, and not a CT problem.) 
 
11. (SBU) The Netherlands: The Dutch are not engaged in any 
bilateral CT cooperation, in part, because they believe it 
would be overkill.  The DCM said his country believes that 
the CTAG countries should coordinate their efforts, so as to 
not duplicate efforts or over saturate the Emiratis. 
 
12. (SBU) Japan:  Japanese counter-terrorism assistance is 
mainly focused on South East Asia, but there are some areas 
of Japanese/UAEG bilateral cooperation.  The UAE is 
interested in Japan's community policing system.  The UAE 
recently sent a delegation to Japan to see how the system is 
designed and implemented, and police officials in Dubai and 
Abu Dhabi are consiering adopting a similar approach to 
police patrols in their respective cities.  Experts from a 
cyber terrorism department in Japan planned to conduct a 
workshop in early April with the Abu Dhabi and Dubai police 
departments. 
 
13. (SBU) Russia: Russia does not have any specific CT 
training programs or cooperation. 
 
 
Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties and Extradition 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
14. (SBU) In light of the recent log-jam in legal cooperation 
between the U.S. and the UAEG, the DCM querried CTAG members 
about the status of their bilateral judicial and legal 
cooperation, and whether any of the countries had Mutual 
Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAT) or Extradition Treaties. 
None of the CTAG countries have extradition treaties with the 
UAEG.  France and the UAEG began simultaneous negotiations 
for an MLAT, an extradition treaty, and a prisoner transfer 
treaty six years ago, but none of the treaties have been 
finalzed, and negotiations are still ongoing.  Like the U.S., 
the UK has agreed in principle to discuss negotiating an 
extradition treaty in an effort to encourage movement on 
negotiations for an MLAT, but the UK has not made the 
decision to actually begin negotiations.  Australia is the 
only country with an MLAT in place, but the Australian 
representative noted that the process for legal cooperation 
is still slow.  Russia and Spain noted that anytime their 
countries make a request, the UAEG states that an MLAT is a 
pre-condition for responding.  The UK, Russia, Italy, and 
Canada are engaging in negotiations to conclude MLATs with 
the UAEG.  The Russian political chief noted that cooperation 
increased once they began MLAT negotiations.  Across the 
board, all CTAG countries reported that the UAEG does not 
cooperate on letters rogatory.  The Spanish DCM described the 
process as a "black hole."  The French and Canadian 
delegates, however, noted that the UAEG has responded 
favorably to the handful of deportation requests from their 
countries. 
 
 
Next Steps 
---------- 
 
15. (SBU) By the end of April, the British Embassy will 
circulate to CTAG memebrs an updated list of each country's 
bilateral counter-terrorism training and cooperation efforts. 
 
 
SISON