LETTER ON PSI CORE GROUP DELIVERED TO CANADA

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 001975

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2015
TAGS: MNUC PARM PGOV PHSA PREL KNNP CA
SUBJECT: LETTER ON PSI CORE GROUP DELIVERED TO CANADA

REF: A. (A) LAKER-MCNERNEY TELCON 6/28/05


B. (B)SECSTATE 118539

Classified By: Pol/Mil Officer Patricia Kim-Scott. Reason E.O. 12958,
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Undersecretary Joseph's letter was delivered on June
27 to Assistant Deputy Minister for International Security
Jim Wright, with a copy to Rob McDougall, Director of
Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament Division
(IDA) at Foreign Affairs Canada. In a follow-up conversation
on June 29, IDA Deputy Marina Laker informed polmiloff that
the GOC was still deliberating its position regarding
proposed dissolution of the Core Group; she anticipated that
Wright would make a decision later in the day on whether
Canada will "maintain silence." (Laker noted irony in the
fact that UK technically had "broken silence" with its e-mail
endorsement of the U.S. proposal.)


2. (C) Alluding to her conversation with T staff regarding
the reason for the June 30 deadline (ref A),Laker said she
wasn't so sure that dissolving the Core group would "help" in
getting others to join PSI. Moreover, she argued, the Core
group had done some heavy lifting in its day and there might
well be some political issues down the road that would
require such a forum. She acknowledged, however, that ad hoc
groups could work.


3. (C) Laker also disagreed with the view that PSI had
matured to a point where the Operational Experts Groups
(OEGs) could function without a specific policy umbrella.
For one thing, she said, DND (Department of National Defence)
officials who represented Canada at the OEGs did not have
(and did not want) a mandate to carry out "political
discussions". As a regular participant in the OEGs, Laker
asserted that she had observed both a noticeable slow-down in
activity and a growing undercurrent of political debate at
recent meetings. She favored moving to "regional OEGs" as a
way to avert "OEG fatigue," thus enabling governments to be
more active in those OEG meetings in which they had a direct
stake. Laker said she was not sure, however, that
dissolution of the Core group would advance the concept of
regional OEGs.


4. (C) Finally, alluding to USG's public diplomacy effort on
the anniversary of the PSI, Laker registered Canadians'
surprise" that a dozen successful interdictions had occurred
under PSI. It would be helpful to have more information
about the interdictions, she said. Though she recognized
that the Core group wasn't designed to address
information-sharing per se, Laker thought it might be useful
in identifying these sorts of "gaps" in the PSI.

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WILKINS