TERRORISM FINANCE COORDINATION OFFICER (TFCO) FOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 002806 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EB/ESC/TFS, INL/C/CP (STEVEN PETERSON),INR/EC, S//CT (PATTY HILL),IO/PSC (JOHN SANDAGE) TREASURY FOR OFAC AND TFFC (HEFFERNAN, VAN LINGEN, KLOSKI) E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2016 TAGS: EFIN ETTC KTFN KVPR PREL PTER AR SUBJECT: TERRORISM FINANCE COORDINATION OFFICER (TFCO) FOR ARGENTINA REF: STATE 181096 Classified By: DCM Michael Matera for E.O.12958 Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Post provides the following response to reftel request for contact information on Terrorism Finance Coordinating Officer (TFCO) and Deputy TFCO. a) TFCO contact information: Michael A. Matera Deputy Chief of Mission 54-11-5777-4321 MateraMA@state.sgov.gov (class email) MateraMA@state.gov (unclass email) b) Deputy TFCO contact information: Christopher A. Landberg Deputy Economic Counselor 54-11-5777-4747 LandbergCA@state.sgov.gov (class email) LandbergCA@state.gov (unclass email) c) While a Southern Cone sub-regional meeting of TFCOs would be useful, particularly for the countries engaged in coordination on tri-border issues, our priority is to improve coordination with Washington agencies on terrorist finance designations. We would also note that terrorism finance is best addressed in the context of other illicit activities taking place in the region -- and particularly in the tri-border area -- such as money laundering, narcotics and arms trafficking, and piracy, counterfeiting, and theft of intellectual property. With regards to Post's public affairs efforts, we note that the Mission co-hosted and organized a regional conference in September on international security and transnational crime. The conference had a money laundering and terrorism finance component, and a U.S. Treasury Officer was the featured speaker. Going forward, Post will consider a one-country IV or Voluntary Visitor exchange program on this topic (Note: the FY 08 IV selection season is approaching. End Note). Other options are to increase public outreach, particularly using local NGO and university venues (non-press events), roundtables with ex USG grantees, and off the record backgrounders with trusted press. We will also consider preparing a special page on the Embassy website on counter terrorism issues. (Note: Depending on the type of activity and USG agency involved, Post's ability to fund outreach, training, and other programs in Argentina may be constrained by Brooke Amendment sanctions. Argentina fell under Brooke sanctions on October 1, 2003, when it passed 12 months in arrears on principal payments on a USG loan. End Note). d) Post verifies the information provided in the referenced chart, and offers one correction: Argentina has been a member of the Egmont group since July 2003. WAYNE