OCTOBER MEETING OF CTAG CHIEFS OF MISSION

S E C R E T BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000555

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

SINGAPORE FOR REGIONAL AFFAIRS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2026
TAGS: PINR PTER BX
SUBJECT: OCTOBER MEETING OF CTAG CHIEFS OF MISSION

REF: REF: (A) BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 213 (B) BANDAR SERI

BEGAWAN 518

Classified By: Ambassador Emil Skodon for reasons 1.4 (B, C, and D)


1. (S) SUMMARY: Chiefs of Missions from G-8
Counterterrorism Action Group (CTAG) member countries
resident in Brunei plus Australia discussed following topics
at their October meeting:

-- CTAG members continue to rate the threat of domestic
terrorism in Brunei as low, but remain concerned about the
trans-national threat from terrorist groups based in
neighboring countries.

-- The Government of Brunei (GOB) has acted on its intent to
expand intel exchanges on Southeast Asian CT issues; since
the last CTAG meeting in April, it has shared with Australia
and France assessments on the situations in Malaysia and
Indonesia.

-- The GOB appears to have a functioning reactive capacity
for identifying financial transactions by suspect entities,
but not necessarily for pro-active investigations of
terrorist financing; France intends to offer additional
training related to financial investigations as well as
cyber-crime.

-- UK and Australia are taking steps to expand police
training for Brunei, including CT-relevant training. Embassy
will work with their missions to share information on
Bruneians who have received USG-sponsored CT training, to
avoid duplication and build a shared database of local
officials who have undergone foreign CT training. END
SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) CTAG Meeting: Australian High Commissioner Adler
hosted working lunch for Chiefs of Mission of CTAG member
countries resident in Brunei, plus Australia, on October 18.
Besides Australia and U.S., COM's or Charge's from UK,
France, Japan, and Germany participated. Agenda focused on
following up issues raised at the April CTAG lunch (reftel A).


3. (C) Threat Assessment: There was no change from
previous assessment that terrorism threat from Bruneian
nationals was low, but permeable borders and a large guest
worker population put Brunei at risk from terrorist groups in
neighboring countries that espouse creation of a
pan-Southeast Asian Islamic caliphate.


4. (S) Intel Sharing: Brunei's external service (the
"Research Department" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade) appeared to be actively following up on its desire to
expand intel sharing with CTAG members, an interest first
noted at the April CTAG meeting. Australian High
Commissioner reported that Peter Varghese, the head of
Australia's Office of National Assessments, had a productive
visit to Brunei July 11-12, during which his hosts were
willing to share assessments of developments in Malaysia and
Indonesia. ONA hopes to host a reciprocal exchange in the
second half of 2007, and is considering assistance to help
train Bruneian analysts. French Ambassador reported that
Bruneians had provided French intelligence with their
estimate that an average of three terrorist-related transits
a day occurred across the Sulu-Sulawesi Sea between the
southern Philippines and the Borneo provinces of Indonesia
and Malaysia (he provided no details as to source of Bruneian
estimate.)


5. (C) Terrorist Financing: Ambassador informed group that
GOB had been able to use existing money laundering laws to
search local financial institutions and property records for
DPRK assets following passage of UNSCR 1718 (reftel B),
indicating that it had at least some capacity for intrusive
investigation of financial transactions by suspect entities.
CTAG members agreed this was a welcome indication of GOB's
reactive financial oversight capability, but questioned
whether GOB had the capacity to launch pro-active
investigations, particularly when it came to transactions
carried out through Brunei's Offshore Financial Center.


French Ambassador said that his government was reparing to
offer the GOB Finance Ministry and Bunei Investment
Authority a traning package focused on money laundering and
cyber-crime investigations. This was motivated in part by
the likelihood that a second large French bank might begin
operating in Brunei before the end of the year.


6. (C) Border Control and Police Training: Ambassador
reported that GOB would introduce a biometric passport in
order to comply with Visa Waiver Program requirements, but
not until early 2007. He also briefed group on GOB
delegation's successful border control consultations in U.S.,
carried out in July under auspices of ATA and DHS, and on
recent CT-related training provided at APCSS in Honolulu and
ILEA in Bangkok. UK High Commissioner said HMG intended to
offer GOB more police training courses at the UK Police Staff
College in Bramshill, focused primarily on strategic law
enforcement management including CT issues. In addition, UK
authorities had briefed GOB Internal Security Department on
the London underground bombings and subsequent
investigations. Australian High Commissioner reported that
Australian National Police is thinking of signing an MOU with
GOB to regularize the training that it has been providing to
Brunei for some time on an ad hoc basis.


7. (S/NOFORN) Comment: The GOB desire to expand intel
exchanges, including on CT-related issues, extends to the USG
as well. Acting head of GOB External Service recently told
Ambassador that he wishes to place a liaison officer in
Washington. (This information was not/not shared with other
CTAG members in Brunei.)


8. (C) Comment continued: In light of UK, Australian, and
French plans to ramp up training in financial transaction
monitoring, cyber-crime, and police supervision, Embassy
plans to share with their missions here the names of
Bruneians who have received similar CT-related training
sponsored by the USG. We will encourage them to do the same
with us as their training programs expand. This should allow
us to avoid duplication and build up a shared database of
Bruneians who have received foreign training in CT-related
skills.
SKODON