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)

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Summary
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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