NAS Monthly Report January 2005:

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BOGOTA 001397

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

DEPT FOR INL/RM, INL/LP

DEPT FOR WHA/AND

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR EFIN KCRM PTER CO
SUBJECT: NAS Monthly Report January 2005:


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In January, Colombian National Police
(CNP) sprayed 15,723 hectares of coca and finalized plans
for a large manual poppy eradication campaign to start in
February in Narino. A Colombian Army helicopter carrying
sixteen Counter-Narcotics (CD) Brigade soldiers and four
crewmembers crashed, killing all aboard. NAS and CNP Anti-
Narcotics Police (DIRAN) participated in planning the second
phase of an Operation Firewall combined arms exercise to
combat go-fast boats. NAS and CNP agreed to ARAVI's first
ever flying-hour management program designed to make more
efficient use of aircraft. Carbineros Rural Mobile Police
(EMCAR) reported that in 2004 their squadrons captured 1,639
guerrillas and 275 narco-traffickers. Colombia's maritime
ports received an excellent security assessment by the US
Coast Guard. End Summary.

Eradication and Interdiction
--------------


2. (U) During January, OV-10s operating from San Jose
sprayed approximately 5,340 hectares of coca, while AT-802s
operating from Tumaco sprayed approximately 9,953 hectares
of coca. The T-65 aircraft package sprayed approximately
430 hectares of coca during this period while operating from
Quibdo and Armenia, the first operations conducted by the
program in this area. This combined effort resulted in a
total of approximately 15,723 hectares of coca sprayed
during the month of January.


3. (U) On January 13, a Plan Colombia UH-60L crashed during
a night-time operation in the department of Narino, killing
four crewmembers and 16 members of the Colombian Army
Counter-Narcotics (CD) Brigade. Accident investigators from
the State Department, Colombian Army, Federal Aviation
Administration, DynCorp, and the helicopter's manufacturer,
Sykorsky quickly initiated an investigation. At this time,
the investigation is ongoing.


4. (U) The CD Brigade destroyed 19 HCl laboratories,
including 9 in the space of a week following the helicopter
crash that killed their colleagues.


5. (SBU) Eradication and COLAR aircraft were involved in one
incident involving hostile fire during January, resulting in
a total of 17 impacts for the month. Eradication OV-10Ds
received 14 impacts, while UH-1Ns received one impact. A
Plan Colombia UH-1N aircraft received two impacts during the
same mission while serving as an escort helicopter for the
Eradication aircraft.


6. (U) During January, COLAR Plan Colombia helicopters
continued to support CD Brigade troops and Eradication
operations in Larandia and Tumaco, as well as a High Value
Target mission in Apiay and training operations in
Tolemaida. This month saw Plan Colombia helicopters flying
over 1,983 hours, while transporting 3,156 passengers and
78,900 pounds of cargo. Forty-five medical evacuation
missions were completed this month as well.


7. (SBU) The Plan Colombia Helicopter Program supported U.S.
Army Special Forces training operations in Tolemaida by
providing airframes for air assault and fast-rope training
this month. In addition, the program began night vision
goggle refresher training and instructor pilot qualification
training with four Colombian National Police pilots,
including two UH-60 pilots and two UH-1HII pilots. This
training greatly assists the National Police in their
efforts to reconstitute their night vision goggle program.

Air Bridge Denial
--------------


8. (U) There was one Phase III event and one Law Enforcement
end game during this period. In January 2005, over 5200
tracks were sorted over Colombia, of which 33 were declared
Unidentified, Assumed Suspect (UAS) aircraft.

Manual Poppy Eradication (DIRAN)

--------------


9. (SBU) The Colombian national Police, Plan Colombia Office
of the Presidencia, and NAS made preparations in January for
a early February launch of a thirty-day manual poppy
eradication campaign around Ipiales, Nario. Eradication
labor will be provided by 30 campesinos who will be guided
and protected by the DIRAN's 26th company. This is the same
area where the 26th Company and the COLAR's Grupo CABAL
concentrated manual poppy eradication operations in 2004,
resulting in the eradication of over 1,000 hectares of
poppy. NAS has encouraged the GOC to focus manual
eradication campaigns on poppy, where manual eradication
sweeps are swifter and more efficient than in the coca
fields. Besides planning and logistical support, NAS also
supplied GPS units, brush cutters, and overnight gear for
the operation. NAS also designed and duplicated fliers
warning that Colombian asset seizure and forfeiture laws are
now being applied to land where illicit crops are planted.
Security forces will distribute these during this and other
manual eradication campaigns to deter replanting.

Firewall Exercise Planning Conference
--------------

10. (SBU) Representatives from the Colombian Navy, DIRAN,
Air Force, UK Embassy, DEA, MILGP and NAS began planning the
second Firewall Field Training Exercise that will be held
April 4-14, near Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast.
Exercise will test reactions of Firewall units against three
separate scenarios, each simulating launching of narco go-
fasts. The newly installed Firewall communications network
will also be tested during the exercise.

CNP Aviation (ARAVI)
--------------


11. (U) The three largest components of ARAVI's fleet
clocked 1,104 mission hours in January: the UH-1H II
helicopters flew 690 mission hours with an operational
readiness rate of 82 percent, our Bell 212 helicopters flew
221 mission hours with an operational readiness rate of 75
percent, and our UH-60L helicopters flew 193 mission hours
with an operational readiness rate of 77 percent. NAS and
ARAVI agreed to a flying hour program (the first in ARAVI's
history) for 2005. Construction of the new hangar complex
at ARAVI's Guaymaral base is on schedule. NAS/ARAVI hired a
new safety advisor who will arrive at post in March.


Law Enforcement/Public Security
--------------

12. (U) One new Mobile Carabineros Squadron (EMCAR) and 200
replacement policemen for the existing squadrons began
training in Espinal in January. To date, a total of 40
Carabineros Squadrons have been trained. The Combat medics
course also started in January with 49 students, 30 EMCAR,
15 DIRAN, 1 GREAS (Colombian Navy),1 Police Anti-Terrorism
Reaction Unit (GRATE),and 2 others.


13. (U) The CNP's Carbineros (EMCAR) reported their final
results for CY2004. Last year, EMCAR Squadrons captured 275
narcotraffickers and 1,639 guerrillas (815 FARC/ELN & 824
AUC). The squadrons also captured 3,127 common criminals.
They seized 1,655 weapons, 8,473 kgs of coca base, 46,600
gallons of liquid precursors and 142,485 kgs of solid
precursors. Overall, EMCAR Squadrons and the new Municipio
CNP units were largely responsible for the significant
improvement in public security throughout rural Colombia.

Port Security Program
--------------


14. (U) The US Coast Guard conducted an assessment of
Colombia's international maritime port's compliance with the
International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code.
Their assessment indicated security at Colombia's ports is
substantially better than other ports in the region and
specifically praised the cooperation between the port
operators and the anti-narcotics police that is the essence
of NAS's Port Security Program.

Demand Reduction
--------------


15. (U) In January NAS delivered computers to support the
NGO Surgir based in Medellin. Surgir is one of the largest
and most effective private drug prevention organizations in
Colombia. The computers will enable them to expand and make
more efficient their teacher training programs.

Environment
--------------


16. (U) From January 16-26, the spray program carried out
the first phase of the annual ground verification of coca
eradication. Phase one covered the departments of Nario,
Putumayo, Caqueta, and Meta and included evaluation of spray
effectiveness, estimations of collateral damage, and soil
sampling to test residuality of the spray mixture.
Verifications are conducted by a broad, inter-institutional
team which includes scientists from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, the GOC's Ministry of Environment, Housing and
Territorial Development, the GOC's Institute of Agriculture
and Husbandry, the National Directorate of Dangerous Drugs,
as well as representatives from NAS, the INL Air Wing, and
the Colombian National Police. The Organization of American
State's Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission's
(CICAD) spray monitoring initiative also sent observers for
the second phase of verification, which is currently
underway in Norte de Santander.

WOOD