ITALY ON WASSENAAR HOS: NOT TO WORRY

UNCLAS ROME 001548 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR T, PM/DCT, NP/ECNP, PM/RSAT DOD FOR OSD, PDASD/S&TR, DUSD/TSP, DIRDTSA/ST AND DTRSA/STP DOD ALSO FOR USD (A&T)/ODUSD(I&CP) AND USD(A&T)/IDA USDOC FOR BXA/EA/OAS AND BXA/EA/OSTFPC NSC FOR TUCKER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC IT KSTC PARM EUN SUBJECT: ITALY ON WASSENAAR HOS: NOT TO WORRY UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 02 ROME 01548 270942Z REF: (A) MCBRIDE-VANSON 3/22 E-MAIL (B) VIENNA 449 ¶1. (U) ITALY SEES NO REMAINING SUBSTANTIVE WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT HEAD OF SECRETARIAT SUCCESSION ISSUE, MFA'S NONPROLIFERATION COORDINATOR UGO DE MOHR TOLD ECONOFF ON MARCH 22. ITALY ACCEPTS THAT THE SWEDISH CANDIDATE, AMBASSADOR DANIELSSON, WILL BE THE NEXT HOS, AND DE MOHR SAID ITALY IS FULLY SUPPORTIVE. ¶2. (SBU) DE MOHR ALLOWED THAT THERE MAY HAVE BEEN SOME RECENT "MISCOMMUNICATION" ABOUT ITALY'S POSITION ON THE HOS SALARY QUESTION. ITALY AGREES THAT THE NEXT HOS SHOULD HAVE A COMPENSATION PACKAGE EQUIVALENT TO A D2 RANK ON THE UNITED NATIONS PERSONNEL SCALE. DE MOHR, HOWEVER, INSISTS THAT NO REFERENCE BE MADE TO A D2 RANK IN THE FORMAL LETTER OF APPOINTMENT OF THE HOS BECAUSE (1) WASSENAAR IS NOT PART OF THE UN SYSTEM AND (2) REFERENCE TO A D2 RANK WOULD SEEM TO THE WORLD TO BE A DOWNGRADING OF THE POSITION. HE POINTED OUT THAT THE LETTER OF APPOINTMENT PRESENTED FOUR YEAR AGO TO INCUMBENT HOS LAURIOLA MADE NO REFERENCE TO RANK. LAURIOLA, LIKE DANIELSSON, CARRIES THE PERSONAL RANK OF AMBASSADOR, A RANK DE MOHR BELIEVES LENDS USEFUL PRESTIGE TO THE HOS POSITION. ECONOFF COUNTERED THAT, IF THE POSITION CARRIED NO EXPRESS RANK WHEN AMBASSADOR LAURIOLA OCCUPIED IT, IT COULD HARDLY BE "DOWNGRADED" NOW. ¶3. (SBU) REPEATEDLY CHARACTERIZING THE HOS COMPENSATION PACKAGE AS A MINOR ISSUE THAT SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO INTERFERE WITH THE ENHANCED IMPORTANCE OF WASSENAAR IN THE POST 9-11 WORLD, DE MOHR NEVERTHELESS BELABORED THE MATTER. UNCLASSIFIED PAGE 03 ROME 01548 270942Z HE COMPLAINED THAT THE TURKISH AND UKRAINIAN PLENARY CHAIRS HAD NOT CIRCULATED A GOI LETTER OBJECTING TO THE DOWNGRADING OF THE HOS POSITION. ("THE TURKS," HE SAID, "LIED TO THE UKRAINIANS FOR REASONS I WON'T GO INTO.") HE ALLEGED THAT THE DRAFT COMPENSATION PACKAGE HAD IMPROPERLY BEEN SHOWED TO A HOS CANDIDATE BEFORE BEING APPROVED BY THE MEMBERSHIP. HE DOUBTED THAT WASSENAAR WILL REALIZE A SAVINGS WITH THE NEW CONTRACT BECAUSE THE NEW HOS MAY BE ENTITLED TO ADDITIONAL BENEFITS (SEPARATION ALLOWANCE, ETC.) THAT CANNOT BE FULLY CALCULATED UNTIL HE SUBMITS REQUISITE PAPERWORK. HE, HOWEVER, CONCLUDED THE SUBJECT ON AN UPBEAT NOTE, SAYING "LET'S NOT MAKE PROBLEMS THAT DON'T EXIST" AS THE USG AND GOI PREPARE TO WORK CLOSELY TOGETHER (AS WASSENAAR PLENARY CHAIR AND EXPERTS COMMITTEE CHAIR RESPECTIVELY). ¶4. (SBU) COMMENT. WE WON'T PRESUME TO JUDGE WHETHER DE MOHR'S LATEST HOS FOOT-DRAGGING REFLECTS FURTHER LAURIOLA-SAGA INTRIGUE OR WHETHER HE REALLY FEELS THE HOS WOULD BE DIMINISHED BY AN EXPRESS D2 RANK. IF APPROPRIATE AS A WASSENAAR ADMINISTRATIVE MATTER, THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE WOULD BE TO SIMPLY DELETE ANY REFERENCE TO RANK IN THE HOS LETTER OF APPOINTMENT. DE MOHR MAINTAINS THAT'S ALL HE WANTS AND, NOTWITHSTANDING ALL THAT HAS GONE BEFORE IN THE HOS MATTER, WE HAVE NEVER KNOWN HIM TO BE OVERTLY DISINGENUOUS. SEMBLER UNCLASSIFIED > 2002ROME01548 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED