SPAIN: RESPONSE TO PSI INFORMATION SHARING REQUEST

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002936 SIPDIS FOR NP, T, EUR, AND EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2014 TAGS: KNNP MNUC PARM PGOV PHSA PREL SP SUBJECT: SPAIN: RESPONSE TO PSI INFORMATION SHARING REQUEST REF: A. STATE 46614 ¶B. STATE 134958 Classified By: KATHLEEN M. FITZPATRICK, POLITICAL COUNSELOR. REASONS 1.4 (B) & (D) -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Spain concurs with the PSI proposal to share information with non-member countries, but Spanish defense officials continue to question its operational aspects and lessons learned. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Over the past few months, we have met with Marcos Rodriguez in the Office of International Affairs of Disarmament at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to encourage Spain to concur with sharing information and operational aspects of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) (refs A and B). Rodriguez, recently designated as deputy director of the Office of International Disarmament Affairs, finally told us July 30 that Spain concurs with the information sharing principles, but Spanish defense officials who had also reviewed the proposal raised the following concerns about the proposal: (A) PSI Operational Principles Rodriguez said that Spanish defense officials were generally positive about the PSI's operational principles but were having some difficulty understanding some of the terms used in the proposal. For example, they did not understand "C3I" (Note: Poloff explained the term. End Note.) or the meaning of "even integration". (Comment: It may be useful to provide the MFA and defense officials with a Spanish translation of the proposal that defines or explains technical terminology in greater detail. End comment.) (B) PSI exercise programs Rodriguez said Spain has already performed ten successful PSI exercise programs and others have been scheduled for 2005, one of which will occur in Spain. He said defense officials considered the proposal's recommendations on how to perform successful PSI exercise programs to be redundant. (C) Lessons Learned Rodriguez also noted that Spanish defense officials generally accepted the lessons learned from PSI operational exercises, but they felt that there was some "unspoken messages" in them. For example, Rodriguez explained that defense officials were concerned about which country would have the lead in pre-planning operational exercises and coordinating its command and control procedures. Defense officials want to ensure that Spanish interests are protected in any pre-planning exercises or contingencies involving Spain. Rodriguez said that defense officials would continue to study the details of the PSI proposal and seek clarification at the next operational expert's meeting. MANZANARES