EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE

UNCLAS ALMATY 004038

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR NP/ECC PVANSON, ACHURCH, ACUMMINGS
CBP/INA FOR PWARKER AND CDONOFRIO
USDOE/NNSA FOR TPERRY
DEPT FOR EUR/ACE
EXPORT CONTROL AND RELATED BORDER SECURITY
DOC FOR PETERSON-BEARD
AMEMBASSY BERLIN FOR CUSTOMS ATTACHE
AMEMBASSY TASHKENT, BISHKEK, BAKU, DUSHANBE FOR EXBS
ADVISORS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP KZ EXBS
SUBJECT: EXBS: KAZAKHSTAN ADVISOR MONTHLY REPORTING CABLE
(SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2005)


I. BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS:


1. In September, a U.S. Department of Energy, National
Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) team conducted
talks with the Government of Kazakhstan on finalizing the
language of the Second Line of Defense (SLD) program's
Implementing Arrangement. The most recent revision of the
arrangement is currently being reviewed by Kazakhstani
Customs. Once the arrangement is signed, the SLD program
will begin to install portal monitors at multiple locations
throughout the country.


2. In October, Ambassador Ordway unveiled a notional
schedule for Embassy Almaty's move to Astana. The Export
Control and Related Border Security Assistance (EXBS)
office is expected to move in May/June 2006.


3. A list of EXBS office equipment has been sent by
email to CBP and the International Security and
Nonproliferation Bureau's Office for Export Control
Cooperation (ISN/ECC) at State, as requested in paragraph
11 of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) cable 2381.

II. COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD


A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND MEETINGS CONDUCTED


1. Anne Cummings, ISN/ECC Action Officer for EXBS
Central Asia, spent several days with EXBS Almaty staff at
the beginning of October on a program review and project
development visit. During her time in Almaty, Ms. Cummings
attended the opening of the Strategic Tracker training
program and met with SAO, DTRA and INL office
representatives, as well as other embassy officials.

On October 5, EXBS Kazakhstan staff and Ms. Cummings flew
to the southern city of Shymkent where they were met by
EXBS Uzbekistan Advisor Fetty. The group then drove south
to the border with Uzbekistan and was given tours of the Ak
Zhol (Kazakhstan) and Gisht-Kuprik (Uzbekistan) ports of
entry. Mr. Brad Hanson, U.S. Embassy Uzbekistan's DCM,
joined the group for the visits.


2. Commander Scott Donaldson of Central Command's
Joint Interagency Coordination Group for Counternarcotics
met with EXBS and other embassy offices on October 17 to
discuss potential projects and border security efforts in
the region.


3. EXBS Advisor Offenbacher met with U.S. Coast Guard,
EXBS Baku and EUCOM/CENTCOM's Caspian Guard Initiative
representatives on the sidelines of the Black Sea and
Caspian Maritime Conference on Nonproliferation in Baku.


B. TRAINING DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD


1. September 9-15 - Batyr Hommadov, EXBS Ashgabat LES,
visited Almaty to receive training in EXBS office
procedures under the tutelage of EXBS Kazakhstan Program
Manager Gulnara Abildaeva.


2. September 20-22 - Three Kazakhstani export control
officials representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
Customs Control Committee and the Border Service attended
the Seventh Annual International Conference on Export
Controls in Stockholm, Sweden.


3. September 26-29 - The National Nuclear Security
Administration's International Nonproliferation and Export
Control Program (NNSA/INECP) held its fifth Technical
Experts Working Group in Almaty. The regional event


brought together nuclear technical experts working in the
field of export control from a number of the Newly
Independent States. Kazakhstan was represented by two
nuclear scientists from the Institute of Atomic Energy and
two export control officials from the Kazakhstan Atomic
Energy Committee.


4. September 26-28 - Commonwealth Trading Partners
(CTP) conducted Integrity Awareness training for 25
Kazakhstani Customs officials. A number of attendees
commented that they found the course very useful and all of
the participants gave the course excellent marks on their
evaluation forms. The level of participation was high
throughout the training and several individuals requested
copies of the course materials to assist them develop their
own anti-corruption training program.


5. September 29-30 - Gulnara Abildaeva accompanied two
CTP representatives to Astana to participate in Industry
Outreach Compliance meetings. Dina Akpanbaeva, Head of the
Export Control and Licensing Department at the Ministry of
Industry and Trade, is preparing a letter in concert with
the Kazakhstani agencies involved in export control
industry outreach efforts to identify next steps.


6. October 3-7 - Three U.S. Border Patrol officers and
a representative from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(DTRA) conducted Strategic Enforcement Tracker training.
Course participants included 25 Kazakhstani border guards,
five instructors from the Border Control Management Faculty
of the Almaty-based Military Institute and two observers
from Tajikistan's Customs and State Border Protection
Committee. The activity was held at a border guard
training center near the village of Karaoi some 30
kilometers north of Almaty.

The training was organized by EXBS Almaty and funded by
DTRA. Three days were devoted to practical exercises to
teach techniques for patrolling the "green border" between
ports of entry. Instruction was also provided on the use
of global positioning system (GPS) receivers. Thirty-six
GPS units were ceremoniously transferred to the Border
Service of Kazakhstan upon conclusion of the training.

The students were engaged throughout the training and
showed a particular interest in working with the GPS
receivers. Many of the participants already had extensive
tracking experience and therefore it may be advisable to
place more of an emphasis on high-tech equipment training
in future offerings.


7. October 11-13 - Three representatives of the
Maritime Division of the Kazakhstani Border Service and
EXBS Advisor Offenbacher attended the Black Sea and Caspian
Maritime Conference on Nonproliferation in Baku,
Azerbaijan. The Kazakhstani delegates actively contributed
to the discussions and commented at the end of the
conference that they found their colleagues' presentations
informative and useful.


8. October 27-28 - Gulnara Abildaeva attended an EXBS
LES workshop in Cyprus.


C. EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD


1. October 7 - Thirty-six GPS receivers (Garmin model
76) were transferred to Kazakhstan. Thirty-two of the
units were given to the Border Service and 4 were provided
to the Border Control Management Faculty of the Military
Institute at the request of its director, Colonel Adilkhan
Artykbayev. All units were provided with spare batteries

and Russian-language instruction manuals. The GPS
receivers were purchased by CBP with DTRA funds.


2. October 5 - A fiberscope repaired in the United
States was returned to Kazakhstani Customs at the Zhibek
Zholy port of entry on the border with Uzbekistan.


3. October 7 - One radiation pager was given to the
Border Control Management Faculty of the Military Institute
to be used as a classroom training tool for border guard
cadets. The pager is one of a large number originally
provided to EXBS by DTRA in 2002.


D. IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS UPDATE


1. The three SAFE boats procured by the U.S. Coast
Guard for the Maritime Division of the Kazakhstani Border
Service reportedly will soon receive export licenses from
the State Department. Once the licenses are received the
U.S. Coast Guard will work with a transportation company to
load the boats onto a vessel bound for the Caspian. The
estimated delivery time for the 42-foot boats is 16 weeks.


2. November 1 - Two URAL 4320 high-clearance, six-
wheel diesel trucks will be transferred to the Border
Service of Kazakhstan. The vehicles will be assigned to
the "green border" in the area of the Kazakhstani-
Turkmenistani frontier. Funds for the purchase of the
trucks were authorized in State 170780, which was received
by EXBS Almaty in September 2005.


3. November 13-16 - The NNSA's Office of Global
Security Engagement and Cooperation will sponsor the
Central Asia Technical Workshop to Prevent the Trafficking
of Nuclear and Radioactive Materials in Istanbul, Turkey.
Alexandra Vozhakova, Chief of Radiological Research of the
Central Customs Lab, and Tazhikhan Serikbai, Head of the
Customs Control Committee's Contraband Department, will
represent Kazakhstan at the event.


4. November 13-15 - NNSA/INECP will conduct a seminar
in Shymkent on export controls and internal compliance for
representatives from several South Kazakhstan Oblast
uranium extraction facilities. This will be the fourth
such seminar since March 2004; previous seminars were held
in Almaty, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Stepnogorsk.


5. November 14-17 - DTRA's International
Counterproliferation Program (DTRA/ICP) will hold a
Radiological Detection and Response course at the Institute
of Nuclear Physics near Almaty.


6. November 14-16 - DTRA/ICP will conduct a "Terrorism
and the Proliferation of WMD" course in Almaty.


7. January or February 2006 - A DOE team tentatively
plans to travel to Kazakhstan to perform regularly
scheduled maintenance on Kazakhstan's two x-ray vans. The
vans are located at the Kordai and Zhibek Zholy ports of
entry. The EXBS office would strongly prefer to have the
team come to Kazakhstan sooner rather than later as it was
recently brought to our attention that the x-ray van at the
Ak Zhol port of entry is currently out of commission.


E. SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS,
NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY

None.


F. CASPIAN SECURITY UPDATE

Please see section B, paragraph 7 and section D,
paragraph 1 above.

III. RED FLAG ISSUES.

None.

The point of contact for this report is Andrew S.
Offenbacher, EXBS Advisor, OffenbacherAS@state.gov, tel:
+7(3272)50-4945, cell: +7(333)225-1156.

ORDWAY


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