ICELAND: COAST GUARD DIRECTOR SHUT OUT OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L REYKJAVIK 000119 SIPDIS SIPDIS OSLO FOR DATT E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/02/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR PINR IC SUBJECT: ICELAND: COAST GUARD DIRECTOR SHUT OUT OF POST-NASKEF PLANNING REF: REYKJAVIK 118 Classified By: AMBASSADOR CAROL VAN VOORST, REASONS 1.4 (B AND D). ¶1. (C) Summary: In informal conversation 3/31 Icelandic Ministry of Justice Deputy Permanent Secretary disclosed to Embassy that Coast Guard Director Georg Larusson has lost the confidence of Minister of Justice Bjarnason because he is not seen as a team player. This explains why decisions about search and rescue (SAR) provisions to follow on from the planned departure of the 56th RQS from Naval Air Station Keflavik (NASKEF) are being handled in Bjarnason's private office, which has hired a consultant to vet helicopter sales offers, with the ICG largely cut out of the action. Embassy advises U.S. officials for now to work directly with Icelandic Justice Ministry officials on Coast Guard issues as Larusson's tenure appears increasingly troubled. End summary. ¶2. (C) On the margins of the March 31 bilateral defense talks (reftel),poloff discussed with Iceland Ministry of Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs Deputy Permanent Secretary Stefan Eiriksson (strictly protect) the ministry's planning for near-term replacement of the SAR assets Iceland will lose when the 56th RQS departs Iceland shortly as part of NASKEF downsizing.. Eiriksson, a 36-year-old lawyer, is also his ministry's head of police and judicial affairs, in which role he has oversight of the Iceland Coast Guard (ICG). Poloff inquired into how Eiriksson's boss, Justice Minister Bjorn Bjarnason, has given him only until Easter to come up with an interim plan. Asked if he was working all hours or felt he had things under control, Eiriksson answered, "A bit of both." He explained that the Ministry had contracted for the services of a 72-year-old former Icelandair Director of Operations and Chairman of the Association of European Airlines Committee on Technology and Operations, engineer Leifur Magnusson, to evaluate the sales offers that have been pouring into the Ministry from helicopter manufacturers (note: including Sikorsky; end note). Magnusson contributed much-needed technical expertise to Ministry deliberations. ¶3. (C) Poloff asked why the decision-making on SAR assets was being handled in this way by Ministry principals rather than delegated to the presumed subject-matter experts at the ICG. Eiriksson confided that Bjarnason is fed up with leaks and public complaints from the ICG and is tempted to privatize some of its functions. Icelandic law enforcement functions that have been partially privatized, such as the call center service on the country's 112 (equivalent to U.S. 911) line, have worked well, Eiriksson observed. The contractors seem happy to have the work and get on with their job without any whining. In contrast, ICG officials are frequently heard in the press complaining that they do not have enough resources properly to carry out their responsibilities -- thus creating a public relations headache for the Minister. ¶4. (C) Poloff then asked why, indeed, the ICG found itself in the position of making public pleas for greater funding. ICG Director Larusson, in the job since January 2005 following a successful stint as Immigration Director (also under the Justice Ministry) was believed to be Bjarnason's personal pick for his job, as someone who understood 21st-century security challenges and shared Bjarnason's hard line on law enforcement. Eiriksson offered that Larusson's management of the ICG has been somewhat of a disappointment. Unlike the National Commissioner of Police (NCP),for example, Larusson has not been willing to make tough choices about where to use the resources he has been given. Larusson will get more resources when he has demonstrated the capacity effectively to husband what he has -- and not before, Eiriksson declared. ¶5. (C) Comment: While the motivation for Eiriksson's surprising candor is unclear, the accuracy of what he said appears to be supported by recent observations of Larusson and his top policy deputy, Commander Asgrimur Asgrimsson (note: a U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduate; end note). At a meeting with U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Thomas Collins March 28 that Eiriksson also attended, Larusson seemed unusually taciturn and distracted. Asgrimsson pointedly asked Collins whether the USCG saw any advantage in privatizing some rescue services and visibly welcomed the Commandant's answer that he did not. He afterwards complained to poloff that the people making decisions for the ICG these days were not consulting with the professionals there, resulting in lowered morale at the organization. Under the circumstances, potential U.S. interlocutors may be wise to route their proposals for ICG reforms through Eiriksson, whose political star seems to be on the rise -- or at least not imploding. End comment. van Voorst