Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05OTTAWA315
2005-02-02 17:25:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Ottawa
Cable title:  

CANADA: CABINET TO REVIEW MANDATE TO

Tags:  MARR PREL CA NORAD 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

021725Z Feb 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000315 

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2015
TAGS: MARR PREL CA NORAD
SUBJECT: CANADA: CABINET TO REVIEW MANDATE TO
NEGOTIATE/CONCLUDE 2006 NORAD AGREEMENT IN EARLY FEBRUARY


Classified By: POLITICAL M/C BRIAN FLORA. REASON 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 000315

SIPDIS

NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2015
TAGS: MARR PREL CA NORAD
SUBJECT: CANADA: CABINET TO REVIEW MANDATE TO
NEGOTIATE/CONCLUDE 2006 NORAD AGREEMENT IN EARLY FEBRUARY


Classified By: POLITICAL M/C BRIAN FLORA. REASON 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C/NF) In meetings January 20 with NorthCom Deputy
Commander and U.S. NORAD Vice Commander, Lieutenant General
Joseph Inge, Canadian security policy officials professed
interest in helping to advance North American security
cooperation with Mexico, downplayed the likelihood of an
"early" Canadian decision to participate in the missile
defense program, acknowledged the need to move quickly on
negotiations for NORAD renewal and the importance of
addressing maritime domain awareness, and advocated
incorporation of BPG functions into NORAD. PCO milrep, R/Adm
Jacques Gauvin identified the issue of sharing U.S.
classified intelligence as vital to enhanced bi-national
cooperation. Lt. General Inge noted the need to update
NORAD's underlying documents, especially with respect to the
role of NorthCom and the concept of asymmetric threats,
advocated development of a more flexible, longer-term,
"living" NORAD Agreement, and affirmed the need to explore
all domains for mutual cooperation opportunities.


2. (C/NF) U.S. representatives accompanying Lt. General Inge
to his meetings included U.S. Northcom/NORAD Political
Advisor Deborah Bolton, Embassy Political Minister Counselor
Brian Flora (notetaker),and U.S. Army Attache Col. Bob
Applegate. Canadian representatives assigned to Colorado
Springs included RAdm. J.D. Fraser (Canadian Liaison to
NorthCom) and PolAd Patrick Wittman (Norad).

Meeting at Privy Council Office (PCO)
--------------

3. (C/NF) Canadian Privy Council Office (PCO) military
representative, R/Adm Jacques Gauvin, said that the timeline
for NORAD renewal was short and it was important to come to a
quick consensus on "where we are headed." Gauvin noted that
the government's mandate to negotiate and conclude the 2006
NORAD Agreement would be presented to Cabinet at its February
8 meeting. As currently drafted, the mandate to negotiate
would be broad and would incorporate the full range of
recommendations proposed by the Bi-National Planning Group
(BPG). The issue of Canadian participation in the U.S.

missile defense program, however, remained a highly sensitive
political issue for the minority government and thus would
continue to be managed by the Prime Minister's Office.


4. (C/NF) Lt. Gen. Inge said that Canadian political
sensitivities about missile defense were understood in U.S.
circles. He acknowledged that both sides sensed the urgency
of the NORAD renewal process. At the same time, it was
important to get the basics straight, he said: For example,
NORAD's basic documents must be updated to include NorthCom
and the concept of asymmetric threats. On the question of
expanding security cooperation to the maritime domain, Inge
urged a thoughtful approach given that domain awareness was
considerably larger than the operations domain. It would be
important first to identify what we want to accomplish, he
said, and then decided how and where to manage it. There was
room in the operational domain for U.S.-only operations and
Canada-only operations. An operational construct was needed
to decide who does what and the relevant circumstances before
assigning responsibilities. Asked if he saw Canada
eventually joining NorthCom, the General thought it not out
of the realm of possibility, however such a development would
need careful thinking-through; a great deal depended upon
NORAD renewal agreement and the path the U.S. and Canada
decided to follow.


5. (C/NF) Radm. Gauvin said that with the exception of bmd,
which would stay in the purview of the PMO, Canada wanted to
move forward on a broad mandate for NORAD renewal and hoped
the U.S. would respond in this spirit as negotiations
proceeded. The most difficult area, Gauvin said, was with
regard to intelligence sharing. For example, Canadians
needed to know immediately what the threat was when asked to
board a ship. Often the intelligence was marked NOFORN or
not releasable, and it would take days to obtain clearance to
release or share. Gauvin said that Canada has a "different
culture in classifying documents." Marking a document "CAN
Eyes Only" was very difficult, so just about everything was
made releasable to U.S. whereas the U.S. tended to default to
NOFORN classification. (COMMENT: Gauvin did not make the
argument, as other Canadian officials have, that Canada
should have blanket access to most of the USG's classified
information and intelligence. END COMMENT.) Lt. General
Inge said that NorthCom was working on the challenge to more
routinely classify NorthCom-generated intelligence reporting
as releasable.


6. (C/NF) Gauvin observed that the PCO kept a close eye on
public opinion and that with the exception of missile
defense, currently there was "strong support" for Canadian
cooperation with the U.S. on continental defense. Lt.
General Inge responded that while the concept of integrated
common defense was problematic, cooperation and engagement
should still move forward. There was even movement with
Mexico, he noted, indicating that defense delegations
recently had exchanged visits and that mil-mil cooperation
had reached unprecedented levels to respond to tsunami relief
efforts. The U.S. wanted to move forward with Mexico on
security issues wherever it could, the General said, but
recognized we would not have the same relationship as with
Canada and was prepared to go slow. He welcomed Canada's
support in this endeavor. R/Adm Gauvin responded that while
the primary focus of Canada's relations with Mexico were with
regard to economic prosperity Canada nonetheless was
interested in helping out where it could on the security
front.

Meeting at Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC)
--------------

7. (C/NF) Assistant Deputy Minister for Global and Security
Policy, Jim Wright, provided a detailed explanation of the
government's political dilemma with regard to missile
defense. He noted that in addition to domestic political
divisions over MD, Russian Ambassador to Canada Georgiy
Mamedov, an arms control expert, was actively lobbying
against Canadian participation. He was particularly concerned
about the use of Canadian territory. At the same time,
Wright continued, though Mamedov had provided a great deal of
negative commentary to the press, much of what he had to say
was non-factual and ideologically motivated. Against this
backdrop, Wright said the government was trying to move
forward on participation and appealed for U.S. patience. Lt.
General Inge assured Wright that the U.S. understood Canada's
situation, and indicated that NorthCom was pleased that
Canadian officers at NORAD were integrated into the missile
warning and threat assessment function.


8. (C/NF) Wright said that the Martin Government wanted to
move forward with security cooperation and noted Canada's
national security policy released in April 2004. At the
same time, he cautioned that the current minority government
situation meant greater parliamentary review of and
involvement in what would be negotiated for NORAD, and the
ratification process would be more complicated than before.
Wright noted that NorthCom had presented a "communications"
challenge for Canada (and Mexico) when it was first stood up
and that there were some initial public reservations about it
on sovereignty grounds. In this political environment,
Wright said, clarifying the "complementarity" of NORAD and
NorthCom would be important. He endorsed folding the BPG
into NORAD as part of the renewal process and said it was
important to address asymmetrical threats. The government
was close to getting its negotiating mandate. Canada was
ready to consider seriously maritime domain awareness and
some forms of land cooperation, Wright said, and reiterated
Gauvin's point that the negotiating mandate would be fairly
broad. It was important to be flexible and forward thinking
in this process, he concluded.


9. (C/NF) Lt. General Inge reiterated the points he made to
PCO's Gauvin, saying the U.S. would like to explore ways to
improve NORAD and expand its functions, but we needed to see
what was possible in the short term and find ways to amend
and add functions when we were ready. Responding to a
question about NorthCom, the General said that the Command
had a platter-ful of issues before it, including force
protection, working with DHS to define roles and
relationships, and coordinating JTF actions in a variety of
areas.


10. This cable has been cleared by Lieutenant General Inge.

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