WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR FRAN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 000713

SIPDIS

NOFORN

NSC FOR PATRICK HEFFERNAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/15/2015
TAGS: IR IZ PREL PTER SA TC
SUBJECT: WHITE HOUSE HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR FRAN
TOWNSEND MEETS UAE STATE SECURITY DIRECTOR

Classified By: (U) Classified by Ambassador Michele J. Sison for reason
s 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S) Summary. In a February 7 meeting with HSC Homeland
Security Advisor Frances Townsend, the Director of UAE State
Security Department (SSD),Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,
expressed support for U.S. efforts regarding the
Israeli/Palestinian situation. Sheikh Hazza also said that
the UAEG desired a diplomatic solution to the problems in
Iran regarding state sponsorship of terrorism and nuclear
weapons development. In a discussion about the roots of
terrorism, Sheikh Hazza explained that the UAE is working to
help mosques serve as positive education centers so that they
do not become breeding grounds for extremism. He also stated
that in order to prevent charitable donations from funding
terrorist activity, the UAE has established
government-monitored donation locations so that charitable
giving is regulated and disbursements are controlled.
Finally, Sheikh Hazza thanked the U.S. for its cooperation
with the SSD, and he noted that he wishes to enhance the
cooperation between the UAE and the other GCC security
services. On Hizbollah, Sheikh Hazza agreed to ongoing
operational cooperation in the UAE targeting Hizbollah and
Iranian MOIS. End summary.


2. (S//NF) Meeting participants included senior members from
the SSD, EB Assistant Secretary Anthony Wayne, DCM Albright,
NSC and S/CT staffers, RMAS chief, and econoff.

Middle East Peace Process
--------------


3. (U) Sheikh Hazza said that he trusts the U.S. and knows we
are doing the best we can to advance peace between Israel and
the Palestinians. The UAEG recognizes that the Palestinian
leadership needs international assistance to gain legitimacy
and to counter HAMAS and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. UAE
leaders want play a positive role in this process. The
Palestinian people are suffering, he said, and the UAE, with
its sizable Palestinian population, wants to help stabilize
the situation and provide assistance to Palestinians in need.
Townsend thanked the UAEG for its leadership on the
Palestinian issue, and she stressed U.S. commitment to
working toward a two-state solution.

Iran
--------------


4. (S) Townsend emphasized that Iran must stop sponsoring
terrorism and cease its support of Hizballah. We cannot let
them be the spoiler of the peace process. She added that the
U.S. would appreciate any assistance the UAE could provide in
this regard. Sheikh Hazza observed that his government hopes
for a diplomatic solution to the problems with Iran. He
emphasized that any confrontation with Iran would cause
internal problems in the UAE, due to Iran,s proximity and
the UAE,s large Iranian community. Sheikh Hazza said the
UAE is concerned there may be a U.S. military confrontation
over Iran,s nuclear weapons program. He referred to a
newspaper article that said Iran would unleash terrorism with
&ten million suicide bombers8 if the U.S. attacked Iran.
Townsend reassured Sheikh Hazza that the United States is
committed to solving the situation with Iran diplomatically,
but needs UAE assistance with both intelligence and
diplomacy.


5. (S//NF) Sheikh Hazza told Townsend that his government
recognizes Iran is developing nuclear weapons, and he assured
her that the UAEG is aggressively working with RMAS to stop
any suspected transshipments through the UAE of nuclear
weapons components to Iran.

Muslim Extremism / Terrorist Financing
--------------


6. (C) Discussing the sources of extremism, Sheikh Hazza
described challenges facing imams in mosques throughout the
region. He noted that imams are responsible for seeing to
every aspect of a mosque,s operations ) from the sermons
down to the cleaning ) and that they do not always have time
to focus on preventing people from exploiting their mosques.
He explained that many of the young men who end up involved
with terrorists are not intrinsically bad people. They are
simply devoted Muslims that get drawn into and exploited by
extremist circles. To address this challenge, he said, the
UAEG had initiated programs to assist imams and help develop
mosques into positive education centers. (Note: In the UAE,
all Sunni imams are employees of the individual emirates or
of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs, and
Endowments, which draft, distribute, and monitor their
sermons and regulate their actions.)

7. (C) Sheikh Hazza observed that Muslims, generosity and
their required zakat (charitable giving) has inadvertently
continued to provide terrorists with financial support. He
said that with so many charities and ways that people can
donate money, ordinary people often do not know that their
donations are going to support terrorism. Sheikh Hazza said
that the UAEG had established Zakat Houses * donation
locations where the government ensures the money is
distributed to legitimate causes. Although these houses were
established two years ago, he acknowledged that it takes
people time to get used to these new donation sites and that
it was possible that people were still donating money to
individual fundraisers or charities that may not be following
regulations, including the required registration with the
UAEG. This was a matter of continued focus for his service.


8. (C) In addition to expressing appreciation for UAEG
efforts to ensure that charities are not abused by
terrorists, Townsend thanked Sheikh Hazza for UAEG leadership
on regulating cash couriers and hawaladars. She told him
that during her meetings with Saudi officials at the recent
counterterrorism conference in Riyadh, she had encouraged the
Saudis to approach the UAE for guidance on how to address the
challenge of regulating cash couriers.

USG/UAE and UAE/Regional Cooperation
--------------


9. (S) Sheikh Hazza told Townsend that he was very grateful
for the level of cooperation and the close relationship
between the SSD and the USG. He said that cooperation and
trust are excellent, and that whenever the SSD needs
assistance, he knows he can ask for it. He also said that he
wants to enhance the cooperation between his service and the
other security services in the Gulf. He noted that the
Saudis do not release information about their citizens to UAE
officials, and he said that it is particularly important that
the SAG share this information when suspected Saudi
extremists move around in the region.

Atmospherics
--------------


10. (S) Sheikh Hazza and Townsend quickly established a
comfortable rapport, picking up threads of their conversation
from their last meeting in October 2004. The atmosphere of
the meeting was warm and relaxed, and Sheikh Hazza went out
of his way to underscore the commonality of our interests and
the closeness of the relationship with the Embassy.


11. (U) This cable has been cleared by Homeland Security
Advisor Townsend and Assistant Secretary for Economic and
Business Affairs Wayne.
SISON