CTC CHAIRMAN APPEALS FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001436

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

IO/PSC FOR BETSY FITZGERALD; S/CT FOR JOHN SANDAGE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER UNGA UNSC KFTN KNNP
SUBJECT: CTC CHAIRMAN APPEALS FOR U.S. LEADERSHIP


1. (SBU) Danish PermRep Ellen Margrethe Loj, the Chairman of
the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC),
told Amb. Bolton, Wolff, and Sanders on July 28 that she
fears the CTC is foundering and appealed for the United
States to articulate consistent, clear goals for the CTC.
Loj argued that from the U.S. approach in the CTC it is
difficult to discern the U.S.'s strategy for fighting
terrorism through the United Nations. Amb. Bolton said the
United States would take time in August to reflect upon Loj's
comments and suggested a P-3 meeting with the Danes in early
September to work to reach agreement on next steps.


2. (SBU) Without clear direction from the United States and
the other P-5, Loj said the CTC might become no more than a
"paper mill" with no credibility among the UN membership,
particular developing countries. Resolving the CTC's
problems is essential to preserve the authority of the
Security Council's overall efforts to counter terrorism, Loj
argued.


3. (U) In particular, Loj said the United States has not
identified clearly its objectives for the CTC and instead has
taken "inconsistent positions" in the CTC that make it
difficult for her to lead or for the CTC to accomplish its
work. (Comment: Although she did not cite it in the
meeting, we understand Loj is frustrated that the CTC's
efforts to implement para 90 of the 2005 Outcome Document
have been stymied by lack of a U.S. position. End Comment.)
For example, she said the United States argues that the CTC
must achieve concrete, measurable results but then does not
object when the Counter-Terrorism Committee's Executive
Directorate (CTED) issues reports on its work that reveal in
her view show inadequate results. The U.S. delegation's
inconsistent views demonstrate a lack of a coherent strategy
for countering terrorism through the United Nations, she
argued, speculating that the U.S. delegation might receive
instructions from different offices at different times.


4. (U) She also asked for clarification on whether the
United States wants the CTC to judge states' compliance now,
dividing states into compliant and non-compliant categories,
or whether the United States wants the CTC to focus on
assisting states and convincing them to implement their
obligations under resolution 1373 (2001). Some CTC members -
including at times the United States - seem to want the CTC
to move quickly to assess compliance. Loj said the United
States' own views on compliance seem to be conflicted; the
U.S. delegation pushed the CTC hard to press Paraguay to
fulfill its obligations but praised CTED's recent trip to
Jordan as a success even when CTED learned on that visit that
Jordan, like Paraguay, had failed to adopt counterterrorism
legislation despite assistance from the UN Office of Drugs
and Crimes, which made four trips to help draft the bill. In
response to Amb. Bolton, Loj said CTED leans toward focusing
immediately on assessing states' compliance.


5. (U) If the CTC tries to judge states' compliance now, Loj
said the CTC would find close to 100 states - mostly
developing countries - have not fulfilled their obligations.
She also questioned whether the CTC has the mandate to judge
countries' compliance, noting that resolution 1373 refers
only to the CTC's role in monitoring states' implementation
of the resolution. In response to Amb. Bolton, she said the
CTC should move toward judging compliance at some point, but
it needs to lay the groundwork now to help states that are
willing but unable to implement their obligations. CTED must
do more to follow up on the visits it makes to states, she
argued, saying that the trips cannot only be a means for CTED
to collect information about states.


6. (U) Loj also expressed concern about the lack of
cooperation and information sharing among the CTC, the 1267
Committee, and the 1540 Committee but stressed that Denmark
does not support proposals to merge the three committees. No
ambassador would be able to chair a joint committee
responsible for so many technical issues, she said, but the
three committees must do much more to coordinate their
activities.


7. (SBU) Amb. Bolton agreed that the CTC must decide on its
next steps but said the problems Loj identified reflect
larger political issues that reflect a problem with the
Security Council. He argued that we might need to address
the broader question about whether the Security Council is an
appropriate vehicle to counter terrorism. One could view
counterterrorism as a fight based "90 percent on
intelligence," most of which the United States can share only
with a few countries, he said, making the UN an inappropriate
vehicle to accomplish results. Loj disagreed, citing the
broad scope of resolution 1373, which covers issues well
beyond intelligence-sharing, including border security, port

security, terrorism financing, and denial of safe havens.


8. (U) Loj argued that countries can fulfill many of their
obligations under resolution 1373 through "good governance,"
and donor nations need to do more to coordinate their
development assistance and their counterterrorism strategies.
Acknowledging her personal background in development, she
said the CTC needs to show developing countries that by
establishing measures to protect their borders or banking
systems from terrorists, they also can attract foreign
investment. (Comment: Loj headed the Danish International
Development Agency (DANIDA) for five years and spent most of
her career on development-related issues. She has pressed
the CTC and CTED to do more to coordinate efforts with the
UNDP and other development agencies, and Denmark's Foreign
Ministry has commissioned a study of how to coordinate
development assistance and counterterrorism assistance more
effectively. End Comment.)


9. (SBU) Loj also discussed the relationship between the CTC
and CTED, expressing concerns about the lines of oversight of
CTED. Although CTED serves at the policy direction of the
CTC and is under the UN Secretariat's administrative control,
Loj said those lines remain "blurred," as last year's report
of the Office of Internal Oversight found. Loj stressed that
the concerns she was raising were not focused on CTED
Executive Director Javier Ruperez. (Comment: Loj and
Ruperez have battled one another for more than one year over
policy issues facing the CTC but she is correct in saying
that the issues she has raised are not personal. End
Comment.) Loj said the P-5 need to provide clear directions
to CTED, and if CTED does not act on those directions, the
P-5 need to object.


BOLTON