CBP, DUBLIN AIRPORT AUTHORITY DISAGREE ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUBLIN 000089

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DHS FOR OFFICE OF FIELD OPERATIONS, JAYSON AHERN, ASSISTANT
COMMISSIONER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAIR DHS ECON APER AMGT EI
SUBJECT: CBP, DUBLIN AIRPORT AUTHORITY DISAGREE ON
PRE-INSPECTION NEEDS

REF: A. 05 DUBLIN 606

B. YOUNG-BYERLY/WALKLET E-MAIL OF 12/15/05

DUBLIN 00000089 001.2 OF 003



1. (SBU) Summary: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have reached an
apparent impasse on whether CBP facility expansion or
additional CBP staff would resolve congestion problems with
CBP pre-inspection operations at Dublin and Shannon Airports.
In a January 19 meeting in Dublin with the Ambassador, the
DAA, and affected carriers, CBP officials observed that
facilities at Irish airports for pre-inspection
(passport/immigration screening vs. full "pre-clearance" with
customs and agricultural checks) were insufficient to meet
CBP needs. Carriers, representatives added that CBP's
inability to pre-inspect all U.S.-bound flights had created
competition issues and affected marketing for their service.
DAA officials replied that whereas the second Dublin Airport
terminal might be able to accommodate full CBP pre-clearance
by 2009, the solution to short-term pre-inspection problems
was to add CBP personnel. CBP officials responded that CBP
staff could not be added so long as Irish airports offered
facilities only for pre-inspection, not full pre-clearance,
especially given the costs associated with overseas CBP
assignments. The Ambassador called for continued discussion
and creative near-term solutions, as impending U.S.-EU Open
Skies would likely increase U.S.-Ireland air service and
exacerbate constraints on CBP personnel. The DAA,s
dismissal of CBP,s facility needs suggests it may be out of
step with Irish Government plans to promote Dublin Airport as
an alternative trans-Atlantic gateway in Europe, offering
simplified connections to the United States. End summary.


CBP Pre-inspection: Needs and Commercial Value
-------------- -


2. (U) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
pre-inspection facilities at Dublin and Shannon Airports are
insufficient to meet CBP needs, said Jennifer Sava, Acting
CBP Director for Pre-clearance Operations, in a January 19
meeting with the Ambassador, CBP officers, the Dublin Airport
Authority (DAA),and representatives of Delta, USAirways,
Continental, American Airlines, Aer Lingus, and the Air
Transport Association. Sava noted that CBP operations in
Dublin and Shannon were one-dimensional, involving only
passport/immigration screening (pre-inspection) as opposed to
full pre-clearance with agricultural and customs checks.
Even this limited service, however, was "maxed out,"
particularly in Dublin, where a 12-person CBP staff rotated
8-hour shifts among 8 available booths. Sava explained that,
in addition to chronic passenger congestion, there was no
area to search bags or people, nor was there space to
segregate suspected criminals from regular passengers. Glenn
Ross, CBP Program Manager for Pre-clearance Operations, added
that full pre-clearance would require queuing and screening
areas, interview and training rooms, x-ray capability, and
means to conduct radiation, explosives, and weapons checks.
Sava also observed that the DAA,s proposal to provide CBP
two additional booths in a separate pier at Dublin Airport
was a non-starter, as it would split CBP staff and leave even
less personnel in the pier from which most U.S. flights
departed.


3. (U) U.S. carrier representatives explained that CBP
pre-inspection of U.S.-bound flights at Dublin and Shannon,
the only airports to offer such screening in the Eastern
Hemisphere, was critical in marketing their trans-Atlantic
service. They also noted that current constraints on CBP
that dictated the pre-inspection of only some, not all, U.S.
flights had created a serious competition issue. One
representative pointed out that full pre-clearance posed
significant commercial advantages for airlines, since it
would enable planes serving Ireland-U.S. routes to park at
U.S. domestic gates, freeing up international gates for
additional trans-Atlantic flights. This possibility could
mean more flights passing through Dublin to the United States
from points in the Middle East and Asia, and thus more
revenue for the DAA. Another representative observed that
the U.S. carriers, hub-and-spoke approach precluded DAA
proposals to space out U.S.-bound flights to relieve
congestion in CBP areas. He noted that a later arrival in
the United States for trans-Atlantic flights would prevent
passengers from connecting at hub airports to hundreds of
domestic flights.

The DAA and CBP: More Personnel vs. More Space

DUBLIN 00000089 002.2 OF 003


-------------- -


4. (U) Whereas the second Dublin Airport terminal might be
able to accommodate full pre-clearance upon opening in 2009
(ref A),the solution to short-term pre-inspection problems
was to add CBP personnel to Dublin and Shannon, said Robert
Hilliard, Director of the Dublin Airport Authority (which
also oversees Shannon Airport). He said that contractors had
recently begun to review requirements for the second
terminal, and he asked CBP officials to forward proposals on
future staffing/space needs for inclusion in that exercise.
In the near term, he remarked, the DAA did not see the
question of whether U.S. flights were pre- or post-cleared
"as having too big an impact" on airport operations.
Hilliard added that there was no way to expand physical
capacity in the pier where CBP now worked, given the presence
of Irish customs and immigration staff in the area. He also
rejected proposals to move CBP operations entirely to an
existing separate pier, arguing that CBP staff would still be
insufficient there. He offered to consider moving CBP into a
pier scheduled for construction in 2007, but again attributed
congestion problems to CBP staffing shortfalls.


5. (U) CBP could not add personnel to Dublin and Shannon so
long as those airports offered facilities only for
pre-inspection, not full pre-clearance with customs and
agricultural checks, responded Sava. She explained that
assigning an officer overseas cost CBP three to four times
the amount required for a domestic U.S. posting, in view of
housing, security, and other Embassy-related expenses.
Moreover, there would be no cost-savings from adding
pre-inspection staff in Ireland, since CBP would still have
to perform customs and agricultural screening for
Ireland-origin flights at U.S. gateways. Sava stressed that
not having rooms to interview suspect passengers apart from
regular travelers was a dangerous violation of CBP standards.
She also noted that congestion in the CBP area in Dublin
occasionally led passengers to await their flights sitting in
CBP booths, where CBP computer screens were visible. She
advised Hilliard to visit the CBP facility at Toronto Airport
to view an efficient, fully outfitted pre-clearance operation.

The Ambassador: Prepare for Open Skies
--------------


6. (U) The Ambassador remarked that likely increases in
Ireland-U.S. service in the context of both the U.S.-EU Open
Skies agreement and the impending phase-out of the Shannon
Stop requirement lent urgency to CBP,s problems in Dublin.
He called for creative near-term solutions that would allow
both sides to enjoy the benefits of Open Skies, rather than
await the completion of the second Dublin Airport terminal in

2009. An airline representative echoed the Ambassador,
saying that the start of the Shannon phase-out this autumn
would prompt a rush by other carriers into the attractive
Irish market, exacerbating current constraints on CBP staff.
The difficulty of adding flights under this scenario, she
added, made her airline feel as though it had been given a
long-awaited gift with U.S.-Irish Open Skies, only to have no
way to unwrap it. DAA Terminal Operations Manager Brendan
Daly noted that the DAA had recently allocated a room near
the CBP area in Dublin for processing travel documents in
order to reduce passenger congestion at gates used for U.S.
flights. He said that the DAA would continue to look for
ways to help make CBP,s current operations, as currently
located, more efficient.

Comment: Mixed Signals on the GOI,s Airport Strategy
-------------- --------------


7. (SBU) The DAA,s reluctance to consider CBP,s short-term
facility needs suggests some confusion in the Irish
Government's strategy to make Dublin Airport an alternative
gateway for trans-Atlantic travel. Twice in 2005, Transport
Minister Cullen told the Ambassador that the Government hoped
to draw international passengers away from London's Heathrow
Airport with an upgraded airport in Dublin that simplified
connections to Europe and the United States. In fact, Cullen
was in Singapore the week of January 16 to discuss prospects
for service to Ireland and beyond by Singapore Airlines and
Royal Thai Airlines. Moreover, Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion
recently told the Ambassador that the DAA had placed ads in
Persian Gulf countries touting Dublin Airport, with CBP
pre-inspection, as a good transit point to the United States.
In these circumstances, one might expect the DAA to go out
of its way to accommodate CBP. DAA Director Hilliard's

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seeming dismissal of CBP,s facility needs, however, suggest
that the DAA does recognize the significant comparative
advantage that CBP offers Ireland as it competes for
international air traffic. When DAA Terminal Operations
Manager Daly met with the Ambassador this past December, he
did not even know that Ireland had the only CBP operation in
Europe (ref B). Post aims to foster continued discussion by
both sides as Ireland's airport expansion plans unfold.
KENNY