NATIONAL SECURITY PLANNING WORKSHOP FOR COSTA RICA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN JOSE 000088 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR GENERAL CRADDOCK FROM AMBASSADOR LANGDALE E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2016 TAGS: PINS MARR PREL CS SUBJECT: NATIONAL SECURITY PLANNING WORKSHOP FOR COSTA RICA REF: 05 SAN JOSE 2909 Classified By: Ambassador Mark Langdale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Dear General Craddock: I am writing to seek your support for an inititiative to engage early on with the new Costa Rican leadership team before it enters office and while it is still forming its governing agenda. During my consultations in Washington before coming to post, I met with Dr. Richard Downie of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. He described the Center's organization of National Security Planning Workshops (NSPW) in Panama, Peru and Paraguay and proposed to organize one for Costa Rica. These workshops gather senior members of incoming administrations and their appropriate counterparts from the USG, over a period of some 2-3 days, in an off-site format to formulate a draft national security strategy. This strikes me as an ideal vehicle for us to advance our interests in Costa Rica with the new administration. ¶2. (C) The polls in Costa Rica indicate that Oscar Arias, who was president in 1986-1990, is certain to win the election. He will take office on May 8. When I made my introductory call on Arias on December 7 (reftel),I described for him in general terms the NSPW concept. Arias responded that such a workshop could be "a good idea." My staff later followed up with Arias's running mate as second vice president, who suggested we discuss the idea in detail immediately following the elections. ¶3. (C) I am under no illusions that dealing with a President Arias will always be a smooth matter, but we have to recognize that he is potentially an important leader in Latin America and the world beyond the borders of Costa Rica due to his Nobel Prize and past world status. He envisions himself as a player on a larger stage. ¶4. (C) Though I left the session at CHDS with the strong impression that they had adequate budget to cover the full costs of such an endeavor (which I understood would be on the order of $40-50,000),subsequent follow-up by my staff with CHDS indicates that funding such a workshop is not so simple. I would appreciate it if you would consider SOUTHCOM participation in and funding of an NSPW in Costa Rica. We believe that an NSPW would provide us with a chance to influence the security policies of the Arias government in the right direction and secure Arias's support for adopting a regional approach to deal with common security challenges in Central America. That would be well worth a small investment. LANGDALE