US embassy cable - 05PARIS6735

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 006735 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/WE; EB/ESC/TFS FOR JEAN CLARK 
S/CT FOR TODD KUSHNER 
INL/C/CP FOR STEVEN PETERSON 
IO/PSC FOR BETSY FITZGERALD 
TREASURY/OFAC FOR PAUL LURIE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2015 
TAGS: KTFN, KVPR, PTER, EFIN, ETTC, PREL, FR 
SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE COORDINATION OFFICER (TFCO) 
 
REF: SECSTATE 175637 
 
Classified By: Classified by DCM Karl W. Hofmann, Reason 1.4B/D 
 
 1.  (SBU) Embassy Paris' Terrorist Financing Coordinating 
Officer (TFCO) is Otto H Van Maerssen, Unit Chief for 
Financial Affairs in the Economic Section.  (E-mail: 
vanmaerssenOH@state.gov.  Tel: 33-43-12-24-33 and Fax: 
33-43-12-20-22 ). 
 
2.  (SBU) Deputy TFCO is Political Officer Peter Kujawinski 
(kujawinskipi@state.gov, Tel: 33-43-12-27-25, Fax: 
33-43-12-26-63). 
 
3.  (C) Embassy DCM chairs a Law Enforcement, Counter 
Terrorism and Terrorist Financing Working Group in which TFCO 
and representatives from other Embassy entities dealing with 
terrorism finance participate.  TFCO works with other 
relevant agencies at post to ensure coordinated approach to 
terrorist finance issues.  Embassy political section works 
closely with French MFA S/CT equivalent (which makes 
decisions on listing entities that do not have to go through 
the EU clearinghouse procedure) to exchange information and 
request action.  Embassy economic section coordinates with 
the Finance Ministry, which is the agency in charge of 
implementing decisions made by the Foreign Ministry or the EU 
clearinghouse. The Ambassador, DCM, and Political and 
Economic Minister-Counselors interact with other GOF entities 
and senior officials as required. 
 
4.  (SBU) Per ref request, we suggest coordination can be 
improved among TFCOs by first developing and then sharing a 
list, divided by regional bureaus for ease of use, of TFCOs. 
A regional conference would be an excellent next step, and 
Embassy Paris would be happy to help arrange such a 
conference should funds be made available from the 
Department.  At such an event, it might make the most sense 
to include a public diplomacy segment targeted at financial 
sector representatives, to explain the sources of public 
information available from the USG and perhaps other 
governments, that can enable the finance industry to better 
engage in the CT effort. 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
STAPLETON