SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S MEETINGS WITH DEPUTY PRIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 001047

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/30/2016
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV EFIN KCRM SN
SUBJECT: SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S MEETINGS WITH DEPUTY PRIME
MINISTER WONG KAN SENG

REF: SINGAPORE 1044

Classified By: A/DCM Laurent Charbonnet. Reasons 1.4(b)(d)


1. (SBU) Summary: During Secretary Michael Chertoff's March
29 and 30 meetings with Singapore Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng, the Secretary
outlined the United States' approach to improving
transportation security in ways which facilitate rather than
hamper trade and proposed we expand cooperation on
counterterrorism and law enforcement. He urged that
Singapore and the United States conclude a Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty and improve information sharing. The
Secretary and DPM Wong also signed a letter of intent to

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expand cooperation in security-related science and
technology. End summary.


2. (SBU) Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff visited Singapore from March 28-30. Accompanied by
the Ambassador, he met with Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng during an office call
March 29 and luncheon the next day. Adam Isles, Counselor to
the Secretary; Brian Besanceney, DHS Assistant Secretary for
Public Affairs; Paul Fujimura, DHS Director for Asia/Pacific
and Economic/Political Counselor also attended the meetings.
Reftel reports Secretary Chertoff's meetings with Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, and
Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar.

Transportation Security
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3. (SBU) Secretary Chertoff outlined the U.S. government's
programs to improve transportation security by partnering
with private enterprise and ensuring that increased security
also had a positive impact on companies' and countries'
bottom lines. Ultimately, the United States and Singapore are
dependent on robust flows of legitimate people, goods and
money: "We cannot destroy the systems we are trying to
protect." Singapore -- as a major regional consolidation and
transhipment port -- could actually increase its competitive
advantage over other ports by fully implementing a tighter
security system, which would entail improved knowledge about
the contents of transhipped containers, technology to detect
radiological and other hazardous materials and methods to
prevent tampering with cargo through the entire supply chain.
Shippers and ports that implement such systems could enjoy
expedited treatment for the goods they send to the United
States, thus making them more attractive to exporters. The
United States wants to cooperate with Singapore in developing
the technological means to improve security while
facilitating trade, offered Secretary Chertoff. To this end,
the Secretary hoped Singapore would push to expand the
Megaports program, now beginning a trial period here. The
Secretary and Minister Wong also signed a letter of intent to

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expand cooperation in security-related science and
technology.

Law Enforcement Cooperation
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4. (C) Secretary Chertoff pressed Wong on the need to
conclude a bilateral Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT),
which would facilitate the sharing of evidence and testimony
between law enforcement agencies in both countries. Wong took
the point, but was non-committal. The Secretary and the
Minister also discussed a number of other cooperative
ventures to fight crime and terrorism. The Secretary proposed
a test exchange of lookout-list data from each country, which
respective law enforcement agencies could use to screen
travelers. (Note: as called for in Homeland Security
Presidential Directive 6. End note.) Wong agreed to have
technical experts from both countries discuss this.


5. (SBU) Wong noted that Singapore would be publicly rolling
out on March 31 its first biometric passport, which it would
give to government-linked frequent travelers in a trial
period. This was excellent progress, agreed Secretary
Chertoff, though the introduction of fingerprint information
in passports was a necessary next step. The United States

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hoped to work with Singapore to develop this capability. Wong
agreed this was a good idea, but suggested working through a
bigger organization, such as APEC, to get multilateral buy-in
and common standards and protocols. When the Secretary noted
that starting a project with a bigger group was always more
complicated, Wong recommended Singapore and the United States
undertake initial work with a country like Australia, with
whom Singapore already was working to improve sharing of lost
and stolen passport information.

Counterterorrism Cooperation
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6. (C) Security agencies here and in the region have
disrupted the JI structure and leadership but isolated JI
elements remain active and new splinter groups have popped
up, which operate semi-independently of previous al-Qa'ida
and JI organizations, said Wong. Noting that authorities
have detained some 300 JI members throughout Southeast Asia,
Wong cautioned that al-Qa'ida-style radical ideology still
resonates among some Muslim populations in the region. In
addition to CT operations against individual terrorists,
governments now must step up efforts to counter this
ideology, particularly through improved education and
teaching "correct" religious understanding. Operations
against individual terrorists without countering the
surrounding environment of radical ideology is "just catching
ants," concluded Wong.


7. (C) Secretary Chertoff agreed that broad ideological work
to counter extremism was necessary and hoped the United
States could tap Singapore's insights on this. Singapore has
been studying, said Wong, how "normal people" become
radicalized and capable of undertaking terrorist acts. Since
April 2004, Singaporean Islamic scholars had been counseling
Singapore's nearly 40 terrorist detainees and had found that
their extremely weak and faulty understandings of Islam had
made them succeptible to persuasion and recruiting by
extremists.


8. (C) Singapore had purposefully taken a "soft approach"
with its detainees, MHA staff explained, which included
psychological and religious counseling, taking care of their
families and holding out the hope of rehabilitation and a
return to society. It is "difficult to assess the success of
this program," said Wong, but concerns about inciting the
local Muslim community and "steeling" it against the
government had compelled this tack. In this context, Wong
raised Singapore's concerns with the handling of the video
testimony from Singapore detainee Faiz Bafana, which U.S.
prosecutors used in the Moussaoui trial. Faiz Bafana,
according to Wong, claimed U.S. law enforcement officials had
guaranteed to him they would only use the testimony in closed
court. It had appeared in open court and his family in
Singapore now were concerned for their safety (note: because
of potential reprisals). This incident had made Faiz
reluctant to cooperate further with U.S. officials, claimed
Wong. Secretary Chertoff countered that he was very familiar
with the Moussaoui case and could confirm that U.S. officials
would not have made such guarantees. Wong cited the instance
"not as a complaint," but as an illustration of the need to
establish mechanisms to avoid future misunderstandings.


9. (C) Wong and his staff provided synopses of the situations
in, and counterterror cooperation with, other Southeast Asian
countries. Key countries of concern are Indonesia and the
Philippines.

-- Indonesia: CT cooperation with Indonesia was improving,
with the GOS (among others) providing CT training to the
Indonesian police. The country, however, remained an
important operating environment for terrorists. Indonesia
had arrested some 200 JI members, but had released many after
short detentions and no rehabilitation. Indonesia still
harbors a ready pool of bombers and accomplices, said Wong's
staff, and new splinter groups had formed. Given political
pressures, Singapore was concerned about the sustainability
of the GOI's CT efforts.

-- Philippines: Singapore finds CT cooperation with the

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Philippines frustrating because of overlapping and
uncoordinated government agencies and the tendency of
sensitive CT intelligence to quickly find its way into the
press. Mindanao remains a serious concern; trained foreign
operatives work side-by-side with local terrorists. The Abu
Sayyaf Group had shown a "marked increase in capabilities,"
and close association is clear between Abu Sayyaf, the JI,
the Moro Independence Liberation Front and the Rajah Solaiman
Movement.

-- Malaysia: Singapore and Malaysian intelligence and law
enforcement agencies cooperate well, and Malaysia has "a good
handle on terrorism," though Sabah is still problematic.
Singapore is concerned that problems and people can spill
into Malaysia from southern Thailand and that, potentially,
Malaysian radicals could go to southern Thailand to foment
trouble.

-- Thailand: CT training and intelligence exchanges continue
between Singapore and Thailand, though the GOS is not
satisifed with the Thai government's handling of the
situation in the south: the local population's attitudes
toward the government are hardening and the "militants are
becoming more sophisticated." If this situation is not
resolved, what is currently a purely local issue could become
an international problem.


10. (U) The Secretary's party has cleared this message.
HERBOLD