SLOVENIA SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES REPORT,

UNCLAS LJUBLJANA 000136

SIPDIS


E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: MARR SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES REPORT,
FEBRUARY 2005


1. SUMMARY. Slovenia's proposed changes to the
Slovene translation of ACSA were forwarded to EUCOM/J4-
ID. TAG from Colorado will visit Slovenia in March.


2. POLITICAL-MILITARY


A. DEPLOYMENTS. The third rotation of Slovenian
soldiers left Slovenia in February to participate in
the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.


B. According to the Prime Minister, Slovenia will
contribute to the stabilization of Iraq just like other
NATO members. Slovenia will train Iraqi security
forces, give the Iraqi army 15,000 pieces of light
arms, and will contribute 100,000 euros in cash for the
mission there (for NATO's fund for training Iraqi
security forces). The PM further said that whether
Slovenian instructors train Iraqi security forces in a
third country or in Iraq depends on the situation in
Iraq; the instructors may be civilians, not soldiers.


C. According to a survey released in February, the
"new" government and its leading party, the Slovenian
Democrats (SDS),enjoy high public support, almost
three months after establishing the government; and the
Prime Minister (and SDS leader) remains by far the most
popular politician. Also of note, in March the (new)
Defense Minister is expected to present this year's
defense priorities.


3. KEY ISSUES AND SIGNIFICANT EVENTS


A. FMF CASES

1) ENGLISH LANGUAGE TRAINING (S3-D-TAC, $650,194)
- There are 36 Slovenian students in elementary English
classes, 48 in intermediate classes, and 13 in an
advanced class, all of which will continue until June.
- A 3-week Peace Support Operations English course
started on 21 Feb. There are 10 Slovenian military
personnel attending the course.

2) BLANKET TRAINING (S3-B-OAC, $102,500)
The first group (four students) of the four groups
planned in total, will attend the Primary Leadership
Development Course at 7th Army NCO Academy in
Grafenwoehr, from 6 April to 6 May 2005.

3) DRILL INSTRUCTOR (S3-B-OAB, $153,522)
The drill instructor will be here until 2 Apr, at
Vipava Training Center observing Slovenia's basic
training and will suggest improvements. The Commander
of USASATMO, Col Helfer, and two others, will visit
Georgia in March and will stop in Slovenia to visit the
ODC and the Drill Instructor.

4) BELL 412 RADIO and IFF (S3-B-UAJ/UAK)
Installation of the radios (UAJ) is proceeding but was
delayed which will cause a delay in the IFF
installation (UAK). Schedules for both upgrades are
currently being reviewed.

5) DEFENSE PLANNING SYSTEM (S3-B-UAS, $111,126)
An additional class on Defense Planning will be added
as an amendment to the case. NDU will conduct the
training. ODC provided NDU an outline of the desired
course this month.

6) VIDEOCONFERENCE (S3-B-UAU). Pricing and LOA for this
case should be available within 60 days.

7) Air Sovereignty Operations Center (ASOC) (S3-D-QAA)
The Slovene MOD requested that this case be amended to
include an additional 36 months of modernization and
sustainment support. The official letter of request
was sent in September 2004 and is expected to cost
$1,650,000 ($550,000 per year for three years). The
Slovenes requested that this case be funded with FMF
funds instead of national funds. The LOA for this case
depends on input from several countries and should be
available shortly.


B. DCS/CONTRACTOR.

GPS. The Slovenes asked for an official explanation of


the US approval process to obtain P-codes. ODC sent a
message to EUCOM requesting an explanation of the
process and received an email response from the J6
action officer but no official response yet.


D. IMET

1) Funding for FY05 IMET was approved and Slovenia
received the expected $950K.

2) Six students were processed for various courses in
the CONUS including Squadron Officer School and
International Defense Management Course.

3) Slovenia has accepted invitations to nominate
students for the U.S. Army Command and General Staff
College (CGSC) and the Air Force Command and Staff
College (ACSC). The ODC requested a rank waiver for
ACSC as the nominated officer is a captain rather than
requested rank of major. The waiver was approved by
ACSC command section.

4) An ECL test was administered to 14 students in
February, all candidates for various FY05 IMET and FMS
S3-B-OAC.

5) Slovenia also received one of the fall-out slots for
Academic year 2005-06 at the US Army Sergeant Major
Academy. As Slovenia is still developing its
professional NCO corps, a slot at such a prestigious
institution is very valuable for the Slovene Armed
Forces and should contribute to its growing
professionalism.


E. COUNTERTERRORISM FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM (CTFP)

For the first time the ODC submitted a request for
funding from the Counterterrorism Fellowship Program,
for FY06. While no terrorist organizations are known
to be active in Slovenia, its central location, the
proximity to the Balkan crisis areas and short Adriatic
coastline make it an attractive potential transit
country for trafficking in drugs, persons, and weapons
of mass destruction (WMD) by criminal and terrorist
organizations. These are the facts that contribute to a
higher threat profile. It is therefore in the U.S.
interest to provide training assistance and equipment,
and to engage the Slovenian law enforcement community
in efforts to detect, interdict, prosecute, and convict
those involved in transnational criminal and terrorist
activities. The SAF expressed an interest in hosting a
regional conference on responses to terrorism in South-
East Europe, which we hope to fund with the CTFP.


F. MARSHALL CENTER.

1) Two (2) participants from the Slovene Police are
currently attending the "Program in Advanced Security
Studies"(PASS 05-1).

2) An Assistant Professor from the Faculty of Social
Science is attending the "Program on Terrorism and
Security Studies" (PTSS 05-2).


G. MIL-TO-MIL/BILATERAL AFFAIRS

1) The Adjutant General from the Colorado National
Guard, MG Whitney, will visit Slovenia following the
TAG Conference in Garmisch, Germany. A schedule is
being finalized with the Ministry of Defense for the
General's visit. One of the interesting topics may be
the connection that Colorado has with Jordan since
Slovenia has talked about providing five instructors to
train Iraqi police in Jordan. Colorado has a
partnership with Jordan that has been gaining momentum
over the last couple of months.

2) A meeting was held with Slovenia's FORSCOM, G-9, and
J-7 to discuss and agree upon the mil-to-mil event
approval process. This meeting went well and all
parties are under agreement regarding the process for
developing, approving, and modifying mil-to-mil events.

3) A mil-to-mil event, Military Decision Making
Process, was scheduled for 28 Feb - 5 Mar with five


participants; however, one of them was hospitalized
with pneumonia the day before departing. To minimize
the impact, the plane ticket was cancelled as well as
the hotel reservations.

4) The Small Unit Event Initial Planning Conference
between Slovenia's 17th BVP (MP) and the Colorado
National Guard's 220th MP CO was conducted 8 - 11 Feb.
The planning conference went well and the following
things were accomplished: draft letter of intent was
developed, a visit to four of the proposed training
sites, as well as the lodging and mess facilities. The
Small Unit Event is being used as the pre-deployment
training for a Company of the 17th BVP before they go
to KFOR on 30 Sep.

5) It was finally decided that WIF Funding is not
available for Slovenia.

6) The ODC is now online with the SCIP portal. All
members of the ODC, to include the FSNs, have received
their passwords or tokens. Our contact in MoD is also
getting access to SCIP.

7) Slovenia still intends to send one logistics officer
to the Berlin Staff Ride in April.


4. PERSONNEL/RESOURCES/LOGISTICS


A. PERSONNEL:

1) PERSPECTIVE GAINS: None
2) PERSPECTIVE LOSSES: None
3) ATTACHED PERSONNEL:
- Mary Jo Villalobos, Language Center Coordinator
- Kristin Pedroja, Test Developer, one year contract
- Kathy Lance, English Teacher, one year contract
- John Stephens, English Teacher, one year contract
- Helen Prevost, English Teacher, one year contract
- Terry Jenkins, English teacher, TDY 14 Jan - 25 Mar
- Sgt Garfield Lyons, S3-B-OAB, TDY 3 Jan - 2 Apr 05
4) ODC CHIEF APPROVED TDY/LEAVE: None
5) RATING SCHEME CHANGES: None
6) EXTENSIONS/CURTAILMENTS: None


B. RESOURCES. Vehicles and ADP equipment are 100%
operational.


C. ICASS. No issues.


D. LOGISTICS.

1) The personal services contract for the BAO driver
has been resolved after a couple of meetings with the
embassy management office. A PSA Limited contract has
been identified as being the contract mechanism that
will meet the embassy guidelines. This contract limits
us to 30 days of work within a calendar year. The
contract is being finalized by the embassy contracting
office and should be ready within the next few weeks.

2) The BAO office is waiting for approval to proctor
the EUCOM Driver's exam for individuals that need to
drive the BAO vehicle. Apparently there has been a hold
up at USAREUR. This affects our BAO Driver since he
has not been given this test.

3) Approval for the BAO van repairs has been received.
The repairs will be made once the embassy contracting
officer has completed the negotiation process.

4) The BAO has been added back into the Total Army
Personnel Database thanks to the diligent work of SMG
Franke.


5. CHIEF COMMENTS:

ACSA. The MOD, with Ministry of Foreign Affairs input,
provided ODC with the new wording for the Slovene
translation of the ACSA (the English version remains
the same). The document was forwarded to EUCOM/J4-ID
who will discuss with EUCOM lawyers and determine if
the document needs to be signed again.


6. POC is Lt Col Margaret Claytor at +386-1-471-2873,


FAX 471-1577, or email mclaytor@san.osd.mil.
REGARDS.
ROBERTSON


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2005LJUBLJ00136 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED



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