IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY DETAILS CARICOM CWC

C O N F I D E N T I A L PORT OF SPAIN 000849

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR WHA/CAR (FORTIN),INL/LP, CA/CO/F/P, FSI/SPAS/CON
HOMELAND SECURITY FOR OFFICE OF STRATEGIC PLANS (KIDWELL)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2016
TAGS: PREL SNAR CVIS KCRM CARICOM XL TD
SUBJECT: IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY DETAILS CARICOM CWC
PREPARATIONS


Classified By: Classified by: A/DCM, A. D. Miller for reasons 1.4 (b/d
)


1. (C) According to Lancelot Sellman, Director of CARICOM's
Implementation Agency for Crime and Security (IMPACS),the
decisions made at the July 3 Heads of Government meeting will
allow Cricket World Cup (CWC) security preparations to move
forward at full speed. He clarified the establishment of a
regional Intelligence Fusion Center to be based in T&T, as
well as plans for pre-positioning personnel in regional
Command Centers. He was intrigued by the potential of
collaboration with the State Department on preparing a visa
interviewing/issuance manual to go out to all CARICOM
CWC-visa issuing posts. Post would like to pursue this area
of cooperation, as detailed in the action request in
paragraph six. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Political Officer met on July 12 with Lancelot
Sellman, Director of CARICOM's Implementation Agency for
Crime and Security (IMPACS) to obtain a Cricket World
Cup-focused readout on the recent CARICOM Security Ministers'
meeting, which took place prior to the Heads of Government
(HOGS) meeting in St. Kitts. Sellman bemoaned that CARICOM
started very late on preparing for CWC, and that much remains
to be done in a short time. Sellman indicated that the
political decisions made at the HOGS meeting will allow
IMPACS to move forward more quickly. Among the pertinent
documents signed are the agreement that officially
constitutes IMPACS as a CARICOM body, the Memorandum of
Understanding on Intelligence Sharing and the Memorandum of
Intent between CARICOM and the U.S. on developing the Advance
Passenger Information System for Cricket World Cup 2007 (CWC).


3. (C) Using the CARICOM Communique as a springboard,
Sellman provided more detail on the security and intelligence
sharing arrangements that will be put in place for CWC 2007.
He confirmed that Trinidad and Tobago will house a CARICOM
"Intelligence Fusion Center." This center will build on the
CARICOM Information Sharing Network (CISNET) (due to come
completely online by September) to streamline the sharing
and, potentially, analysis of intelligence within CARICOM.
The Center will likely remain in existence post-CWC. To
provide adequate personnel for the tournament, a CWC Command
Center will be set up in Barbados, under the command of a
Jamaican nominee, along with two sub-regional centers, one in
Antigua and one in Trinidad. The sub-regional centers will
each have approximately 200 law enforcement and other
officers pre-positioned to augment staffing needs for match
day in the different locations. Additionally, the
sub-regional centers will have specialist rapid response
teams, augmented by international personnel and materiel,
designed to respond to crises or emergency situations that
may arise. Sellman noted that CARICOM will make specific
requests at the upcoming July 26-27 meeting of the
International Advisory Group in Barbados.


4. (C) For CWC, CARICOM will issue a common visa. Sellman
stated that IMPACS is working on producing training materials
to ensure that all visa-issuing posts use the same criteria
for visa decisions and identical procedures for processing
the applications and producing the visas. Sellman expressed
interest in the State Department's extensive consular
training program, including interviewing procedures. Sellman
would like to use the visa process to screen for undesirables
or fraudulent applicants, as those countries that will
require visas were selected specifically for the security
risk they pose.


5. (C) Sellman expressed some disappointment that the
Department of Homeland Security's assistance proposal was
scaled back significantly from the system discussed
previously. He acknowledged that the system was probably too
extensive to implement in time for CWC, but did inquire if
CARICOM's "broader diplomacy" (meaning the apparent lean
towards Venezuela for the UN Security Council seat) had any
bearing on the ultimate offer. Poloff assured Sellman that
the "smartcard" proposal simply proved to be too large an
undertaking for the time remaining, but that the U.S. was
committed to providing assistance. Sellman mused about
whether the comprehensive program embodied in the smartcard
proposal would eventually be put back on the table to help
put the Caribbean back at the forefront of implementing the
Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. He indicated that
CARICOM would still be interested in such collaboration in
the near future.


6. (C) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST: Post would like to

actively pursue CARICOM visa issuance training with FSI and
Consular Affairs. Sellman understands the broader security
concerns with issuing visas to come to the region, and would
like to standardize the process as well as improve the
professionalism of all CARICOM visa issuing officers. This
is an area where U.S. and CARICOM interests are clearly in
synch. The simple step of offering some pointers, or perhaps
collaborating on a training video for CARICOM, would allow
the U.S. to simultaneously improve the security of its third
border and gain political points in the broader Caribbean.
Post requests Department guidance on how to proceed with
providing visa applicant screening assistance. Embassy Port
of Spain's Cricket World Cup security assistance point of
contact is Political Officer Joseph Chamberlain, on e-mail at
chamberlainjl@state.gov. END COMMENT.

SWEENEY