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