ROME SECURITY ENVIRONMENT PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000811 SIPDIS FOR DS/DSS/ITA, AND DS/IP/EUR E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PTER IT ANTITERRORISM FORCE PROTECTION SUBJECT: ROME SECURITY ENVIRONMENT PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE (SEPQ) REF: STATE 162859 This cable is Sensative But Unclassified protect accordingly. (SBU) Answers are keyed to questions in reftel: ¶1. (SBU) Political Violence: ¶A. Yes ¶B. Yes ¶C. Yes ¶D. 200 individuals in front of the Embassy, but more for some sensitive issues, like the war in Iraq, can attract up to twenty thousand when the demonstration is held in the city center and then moves to the Embassy. ¶E. Can be for U.S. foreign policy, military and/or domestic issues, all the above. ¶F. Generally peaceful, with a trend towards increased levels of civil disobedience. ¶G. Currently no. Objects have been thrown at the Embassy and into the compound but to date no damage. ¶H. No ¶I. Yes, anti-government demonstrations are common throughout Italy. In particular there will be a General election in April of 06 and we anticipate more and larger demonstrations in the next two/three months. ¶J. Yes, in the last twelve months we have had demonstrations against the U.S. and U.S. policies in front of all our major facilities (U.S. Embassy and the three consulates),as well as in front of all the U.S./Italian Military Bases. ¶K. Demonstrations vary greatly in size, depending on the issue and the organizers, but labor demonstrations frequently attract numbers in the thousands and recent &hot-button8 causes drew upwards of 300. ¶L. Generally peaceful; however, based upon the recent trend of increased levels of civil disobedience they can turn violent. ¶M. Currently no. ¶2. (SBU) Macro Conflict Conditions: ¶A. Yes ) coalition activity in Iraq, Kosovo and Afghanistan. ¶B. N/A ¶C. N/A ¶D. N/A ¶3. (SBU) Host Country Capabilities: ¶A. Yes ¶B. From time to time, USG agencies offer specialized training. Italy does not meet the requirement for Anti Terrorism Assistance. ¶C. No ¶D. Yes ¶E. Yes ¶F. Yes, arrests, expulsions and disruption of the activities of Islamic extremists engaged in international logistical support activity and possible planned attacks against US Interests. ¶G. Yes ¶H. Good ¶I. Average ¶J. Average, due to long coastline and mountainous borders with its neighbors. (SBU) Indigenous Terrorism: ¶4. (SBU) Anti-American Terrorist Groups ¶A. Yes ¶B. Numbers are uncertain. There are the New Red Brigades ) Communist Combatant Corps (BR-PCC) and the Nuclei Territoriali Anti-Imperialisti (NTA). These groups are not believed to have large memberships and suffered several arrests of personnel in the past year. They are primarily directed against the host government, but espouse anti-Americanism as well. Of the Islamic groups the Tunisian Combatant Group is know to be active in Italy ¶C. No ¶D. N/A ¶E. Attempted, In January 2001 Sami Ben Khemais Essid, the leader of a Tunisian Combatant Group cell, and four other North Africans were arrested for a plot to attack U.S. Government assets in March 2001. A different attempt in 2002, that was to target the U.S. Embassy water system, was foiled by the Italian police who confiscated approximately 10 lbs. of a chemical compound containing cyanide in an apartment in Rome. The police also confiscated maps highlighting the U.S. Embassy and showing the city,s water system. ¶F. Yes. In March of 2005 Anti-Globalists used IEDs to attack a McDonalds and a Blockbuster, two U.S. businesses, in Milan. In 2004 an American fast food chain was attacked in Brescia. ¶G. Countrywide ¶H. The attacks are not limited to any particular region but than there are U.S. Government facilities in all regions of Italy so they are all potentially in harms way. ¶5. (SBU) Other Indigenous Terrorist Groups ¶A. There are numerous Anarchist groups and the BR-PCC and NTA, noted above, which are definitively identified as terrorist groups. ¶B. The Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI),the Informal Anarchist Federation (FAI),Cooperative of Artisans, Cooks and Affiliates (CACA) and the Black Bloc ¶C. In 2005, two timed IEDs were detonated at police stations in Milan and Genoa, the Cooperative of Artisans, Cooks and Affiliates (CACA),a participating affinity group of the F.A.I., claimed responsibility. There were over seventy attacks in 2004 by anarchist groups throughout Italy, small scale and non lethal. The Italian Government is still compiling the 2005 statistics. In 2003 a synagogue in Modena was attacked. In December 2002, in Milan, at the Metro station, an attack against police assets at the Cathedral of Cremona was foiled. News reports stated that some of the suspects arrested had direct ties to Ansar al-Islam. A group claiming to be the &Red Brigade8 murdered an advisor to the Italian minister of Labor in May 1999 in Rome. A group claiming to be the BR-PCC murdered another advisor to the ministry of Labor in Bologna on 19 March 2002. In February 2003, a shoot-out on a Rome to Florence train left one policeman dead, one wounded and a known member of the resurgent Red Brigades dead and one captured. Anarchist groups continue to engage in low-level attacks using improvised explosive and incendiary devices against mostly Italian and European Union-related targets. European Commission President Prodi received a mailed incendiary device at his Bologna home. Anti-U.S. sentiment does not feature prominently in anarchist propaganda although over the past several years Esso gas stations in Sardinia and an IBM office elsewhere have been targeted. No deaths have so far resulted from anarchist activity but Italian authorities have noted an increase in attacks over the past year with the potential to do serious bodily harm. Also, there is a concern of a possible shift in tactics and the use of lethal secondary devices intended to target police officers examining the first attack site. The Treno Alta Velocita (TAV),the under construction high-speed train network from Lyon to Turin, is seen as a symbol of State repression by the anarchist groups and by the green groups it is seen as environmentally destroying the Susa Valley, a very contentious issue for them. It has been a site of protests in the tens of thousands and attacks since ¶1996. Leading up to the Winter Olympics in Turin protest groups took advantage of increased World attention to mobilize more and larger protests. During the Games protests were in abeyance but will probably begin again in the near future. ¶D. Some of the attacks listed in C. (above) were lethal. ¶E. Not in recent memory, although in 1984, the Red Brigade killed the Director General (a retired U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer) of the Multi-national Forces and Observers in Rome. 6.(SBU) Transnational Terrorism: ¶A. Several Islamic terrorists groups including Al-Qaida, Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM),Armed Islamic Group (GIA),Tunisian Combatant Group, Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC),Ansar al-Islam, HAMAS and Hizballah have access to and can make use of support infrastructure provided by various Islamic extremists located in Italy. Italy-based cells facilitate terrorist operations globally by: recruiting, fundraising, forging documents, maintaining safe houses and running local crime enterprises. There are clear connections to activity in Iraq, at least five suicide bombers in Iraq are known to be from Italy, possibly originating from Milan. There have been arrests and or expulsions of several extremists over the past year for their suspected support to international terrorist causes, including individuals connected to the March 2004 Madrid bombing. ¶B. Logistical support, financial, and propaganda support to international groups. ¶C. No. The government has demonstrated a willingness to aggressively pursue groups and individuals identified as elements or supporters of terrorist groups. ¶D. No ¶E. Yes. Italy is home to a relatively large number of North African and Middle Eastern immigrant communities. Some of these groups, and certainly individual members of them, are already sympathetic to Islamic extremist groups for a variety of reasons. There are no indications that these groups were spurred to anti-American activity as a result of the hostilities in Iraq. ¶F. We continue to be concerned. Sympathy to Islamic extremist groups may increase based upon continued/long term presence in Iraq, possible translating into acts against American interests. ¶G. Quite available. ¶7. This cable constitutes response for all Italian posts. SPOGLI