Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07ASTANA2178
2007-08-09 07:40:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Astana
Cable title:
KAZAKHSTAN: STRUCTURE OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICE
how-toVZCZCXRO5646 PP RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHPW DE RUEHTA #2178/01 2210740 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 090740Z AUG 07 FM AMEMBASSY ASTANA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0330 INFO RUEHAST/USOFFICE ALMATY RUCNCLS/SCA COLLECTIVE RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCJ5/ RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ5 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//USDP/APSA-CA RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC//USDP/GSA-CN RHMFIUU/DTRA CT WASHINGTON DC RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 002178
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (OMARA),INL/AAE (BUHLER),ISN/ECC (HARTSHORNE),
SCA/RA (CUMMINGS),CENTCOM FOR MALCOM AND ROESNER, DHS FOR CBP -
GLYNCO GEORGIA, DTRA FOR SULLIVAN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: STRUCTURE OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICE
ASTANA 00002178 001.2 OF 003
---------
OVERVIEW
---------
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 002178
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (OMARA),INL/AAE (BUHLER),ISN/ECC (HARTSHORNE),
SCA/RA (CUMMINGS),CENTCOM FOR MALCOM AND ROESNER, DHS FOR CBP -
GLYNCO GEORGIA, DTRA FOR SULLIVAN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: STRUCTURE OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICE
ASTANA 00002178 001.2 OF 003
--------------
OVERVIEW
--------------
1. (SBU) Post continues to work with the Border Guard Service
through programs to combat narcotics, terrorism, weapons of mass
destruction, and trafficking in persons. Programs are implemented
by Department of State International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Office (INL) and Export Control and Border Security Office (EXBS),
the Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA),and
CENTCOM's Office of Military Cooperation (OMC). The Defense
Attach's office is an active participant in program development and
implementation. Close coordination among embassy offices is
maintained through monthly embassy Security Assistance Working Group
meetings chaired by the Deputy Chief of Mission. The programs have
enhanced mission capacity on the land, sea, and river borders
through the provision of equipment and training to maritime border
guards, improvement of checkpoint infrastructure and personnel
training, establishment of new training centers and improvement of
existing centers, and curriculum reform. In the U.S., Kazakhstani
border guards have been trained in the DHS Customs and Border
Protection Academy in Glynco, Georgia, which has created a
professional relationship between the U.S. Border Patrol and the
Border Guard Service of Kazakhstan. Post provides the following
information as a reference for addressees interested in working with
the Border Guard Service.
--------------
BORDER GUARD MISSION AND STAFFING
--------------
2. (SBU) The 4,700 male and female officers of the Border Guard
Service are charged with protecting the land, sea, and river borders
of Kazakhstan, interdicting illegal goods and people attempting to
cross the border, facilitating legitimate transit of people and
commerce through authorized checkpoints, and repelling invading
troops. The Border Guards also protect Kazakhstan's economic and
environmental interests as they relate to the borders of the
country. The Border Guard Service cooperates with the regional
departments of the Committee for National Security, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, and other security and law enforcement agencies.
Border Guard Officers are assisted by contractors hired locally at
each post, the majority working in passport control.
--------------
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
--------------
3. (SBU) The Border Guard Service is within the Committee for
National Security. Bolat Seitkazynovich Zakiyev, Deputy Chairman of
the Committee for National Security, is the Director of the service.
He was appointed to the position in July 1999. Deputy Director of
the Border Guard Service is Khussain Imangaliyevich Berkaliyev.
4. (SBU) The Border Guard Service is headquartered in Astana and has
four regional border control departments:
a) Ontustik in Southern Kazakhstan Oblast oversees the Kazakhstani-
Uzbekistani border. Headquarters are in Shymkent.
b) Soltustik in Northern Kazkahstan Oblast oversees the Kazakhstani
Russian border. Headquarters are in Ust-Kamenogorsk.
c) Batys in Mangystau Oblast oversees the Caspian Sea and the
Russian border in Uralsk oblast. Headquarters are in Aktau.
d) Shygys in Eastern Kazkahstan Oblast oversees the
Kazakhstani-Chinese and Kazakhstani-Kyrgyzstani borders.
Headquarters are in Almaty.
Each of the regional border control departments is comprised of
border guard detachments (pogranichnyi otryad or the short form -
pogranotryad) which are responsible for a specified portion of the
border, usually 40-100 kilometers. Within the area of
responsibility each detachment is responsible for patrolling the
green border and manning the crossing points (punkt propuska).
Green border areas are patrolled from frontier stations
(pogranichanya zastava). Officers at frontier stations patrol by
ASTANA 00002178 002.2 OF 003
vehicle, horse, and on foot. They communicate via radio and use
night vision goggles (where available) to locate people illegally
crossing the border. Note: INL and EXBS have provided the Border
Guards with modular buildings to use as offices, communications and
inspection equipment, and vehicles for patrol and personnel
transport. End note.
5. (SBU) There are more than 160 border crossing points. One
hundred twelve have been officially designated by the government and
approximately 50 additional posts are pending
delimitation/demarcation of the border. Of the 112 official
crossing points, only 95 are operational. The remainder have been
closed primarily because of Uzbekistan's closure of its border with
Kazakhstan at some locations.
--------------
SPECIAL UNITS
--------------
6. (SBU) The Border Guards have fixed and rotary wing aviation
assets in each of the four regional border control departments.
They have a total of about twenty MI-8 helicopters and have plans to
refurbish old helicopters in order to increase this number. Three
helicopters are undergoing capital repair at Aircraft Plant #405 in
Almaty at any given time. Eight MI-8 helicopters and two airplanes
have been seen in Atyrau and Aktau. Note: Using CENTCOM
counter-narcotics funding, OMC is upgrading three MI-8 helicopters
which will be located in Aktau to provide night vision and forward
looking infrared capability (FLIR) for use in patrolling the
southwest desert border and Caspian coast line. End note.
7. (SBU) The Maritime Division of the Border Guards is
headquartered in Astana. The division also has offices in Aktau and
Atyrau and a large maritime base in Bautino on the Caspian Sea.
According to press reports in June 2005, a Berkut-6 boat, produced
at the Zenit factory in Uralsk, was launched on the Caspian Sea. A
200-ton ship is also under development. The Berkut provides greater
speed and navigation capability to interdict traffickers and
poachers. There are approximately 10 boats in Bautino, including
three SAFE boats donated in May 2006 by EXBS. In addition, a Sea
Ark was donated in 1996 and is located in Bautino. There are also
believed to be two boats in Atyrau. Finally, the Maritime Border
Guards patrol the Ural River with a small boat.
8. (SBU) The Border Guard Structure includes an intelligence
office, an internal security office to combat corruption, and a
quartermaster corps.
--------------
TRAINING
--------------
9. (SBU) The primary training facility for Border Guard Officers
is the Military Institute located in Almaty. It is a four-year
training academy for agents of the Committee for National Security
and officers of the Border Guard Service. Post had learned that the
Military Institute will relocate to Astana in 2008, although the
Head of the Institute told INL Officer that Border Guard training
would remain in Almaty. The cadets are trained in a full range of
subjects and at the conclusion are commissioned as border guard
officers and receive the equivalent of a bachelor's degree.
Although assignments vary upon graduation, reportedly depending on
any particular graduate's political connections or financial
capabilities, new officers are assigned to posts on the border and
slowly work up through the ranks. Officers rotate from region to
region approximately every three years and rarely will serve in the
border district where they were born.
10. (SBU) The primary training facility for maritime officers is
the Ministry of Defense's Naval Institute located in Aktau. The
institute in Aktau is a military training academy for naval
officers. After commissioning, officers serve either in the Navy or
in the Maritime Border Guard.
11. (SBU) In high-visibility posts such as Almaty or Astana border
guard officers will staff the passport control booths while in other
ASTANA 00002178 003.2 OF 003
posts, particularly non-international posts in the heavily-populated
south, local residents will be hired as contractors to check
identity cards and passports. Contractors receive on-the-job
training from border guard officers or other contractors.
Contractors who show skill and interest may be sent to a passport
control training facility in Almaty for more advanced, formal
instruction. (Note: INL established a regional training center in
Saryagash, on the Kazakhstani-Uzbekistani border, and expects to
establish another in the northeast near the Russian and Chinese
borders in the coming year. End note.) The level of knowledge and
professionalism of the contractors is uneven at best. For example,
training sessions sponsored by INL using professional educators from
the Military Institute were attended by contractors who could not
properly identify an expired Uzbekistani identity card.
ORDWAY
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR SCA/CEN (OMARA),INL/AAE (BUHLER),ISN/ECC (HARTSHORNE),
SCA/RA (CUMMINGS),CENTCOM FOR MALCOM AND ROESNER, DHS FOR CBP -
GLYNCO GEORGIA, DTRA FOR SULLIVAN
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR PGOV KCRM KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: STRUCTURE OF THE BORDER GUARD SERVICE
ASTANA 00002178 001.2 OF 003
--------------
OVERVIEW
--------------
1. (SBU) Post continues to work with the Border Guard Service
through programs to combat narcotics, terrorism, weapons of mass
destruction, and trafficking in persons. Programs are implemented
by Department of State International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Office (INL) and Export Control and Border Security Office (EXBS),
the Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA),and
CENTCOM's Office of Military Cooperation (OMC). The Defense
Attach's office is an active participant in program development and
implementation. Close coordination among embassy offices is
maintained through monthly embassy Security Assistance Working Group
meetings chaired by the Deputy Chief of Mission. The programs have
enhanced mission capacity on the land, sea, and river borders
through the provision of equipment and training to maritime border
guards, improvement of checkpoint infrastructure and personnel
training, establishment of new training centers and improvement of
existing centers, and curriculum reform. In the U.S., Kazakhstani
border guards have been trained in the DHS Customs and Border
Protection Academy in Glynco, Georgia, which has created a
professional relationship between the U.S. Border Patrol and the
Border Guard Service of Kazakhstan. Post provides the following
information as a reference for addressees interested in working with
the Border Guard Service.
--------------
BORDER GUARD MISSION AND STAFFING
--------------
2. (SBU) The 4,700 male and female officers of the Border Guard
Service are charged with protecting the land, sea, and river borders
of Kazakhstan, interdicting illegal goods and people attempting to
cross the border, facilitating legitimate transit of people and
commerce through authorized checkpoints, and repelling invading
troops. The Border Guards also protect Kazakhstan's economic and
environmental interests as they relate to the borders of the
country. The Border Guard Service cooperates with the regional
departments of the Committee for National Security, the Ministry of
Internal Affairs, and other security and law enforcement agencies.
Border Guard Officers are assisted by contractors hired locally at
each post, the majority working in passport control.
--------------
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE
--------------
3. (SBU) The Border Guard Service is within the Committee for
National Security. Bolat Seitkazynovich Zakiyev, Deputy Chairman of
the Committee for National Security, is the Director of the service.
He was appointed to the position in July 1999. Deputy Director of
the Border Guard Service is Khussain Imangaliyevich Berkaliyev.
4. (SBU) The Border Guard Service is headquartered in Astana and has
four regional border control departments:
a) Ontustik in Southern Kazakhstan Oblast oversees the Kazakhstani-
Uzbekistani border. Headquarters are in Shymkent.
b) Soltustik in Northern Kazkahstan Oblast oversees the Kazakhstani
Russian border. Headquarters are in Ust-Kamenogorsk.
c) Batys in Mangystau Oblast oversees the Caspian Sea and the
Russian border in Uralsk oblast. Headquarters are in Aktau.
d) Shygys in Eastern Kazkahstan Oblast oversees the
Kazakhstani-Chinese and Kazakhstani-Kyrgyzstani borders.
Headquarters are in Almaty.
Each of the regional border control departments is comprised of
border guard detachments (pogranichnyi otryad or the short form -
pogranotryad) which are responsible for a specified portion of the
border, usually 40-100 kilometers. Within the area of
responsibility each detachment is responsible for patrolling the
green border and manning the crossing points (punkt propuska).
Green border areas are patrolled from frontier stations
(pogranichanya zastava). Officers at frontier stations patrol by
ASTANA 00002178 002.2 OF 003
vehicle, horse, and on foot. They communicate via radio and use
night vision goggles (where available) to locate people illegally
crossing the border. Note: INL and EXBS have provided the Border
Guards with modular buildings to use as offices, communications and
inspection equipment, and vehicles for patrol and personnel
transport. End note.
5. (SBU) There are more than 160 border crossing points. One
hundred twelve have been officially designated by the government and
approximately 50 additional posts are pending
delimitation/demarcation of the border. Of the 112 official
crossing points, only 95 are operational. The remainder have been
closed primarily because of Uzbekistan's closure of its border with
Kazakhstan at some locations.
--------------
SPECIAL UNITS
--------------
6. (SBU) The Border Guards have fixed and rotary wing aviation
assets in each of the four regional border control departments.
They have a total of about twenty MI-8 helicopters and have plans to
refurbish old helicopters in order to increase this number. Three
helicopters are undergoing capital repair at Aircraft Plant #405 in
Almaty at any given time. Eight MI-8 helicopters and two airplanes
have been seen in Atyrau and Aktau. Note: Using CENTCOM
counter-narcotics funding, OMC is upgrading three MI-8 helicopters
which will be located in Aktau to provide night vision and forward
looking infrared capability (FLIR) for use in patrolling the
southwest desert border and Caspian coast line. End note.
7. (SBU) The Maritime Division of the Border Guards is
headquartered in Astana. The division also has offices in Aktau and
Atyrau and a large maritime base in Bautino on the Caspian Sea.
According to press reports in June 2005, a Berkut-6 boat, produced
at the Zenit factory in Uralsk, was launched on the Caspian Sea. A
200-ton ship is also under development. The Berkut provides greater
speed and navigation capability to interdict traffickers and
poachers. There are approximately 10 boats in Bautino, including
three SAFE boats donated in May 2006 by EXBS. In addition, a Sea
Ark was donated in 1996 and is located in Bautino. There are also
believed to be two boats in Atyrau. Finally, the Maritime Border
Guards patrol the Ural River with a small boat.
8. (SBU) The Border Guard Structure includes an intelligence
office, an internal security office to combat corruption, and a
quartermaster corps.
--------------
TRAINING
--------------
9. (SBU) The primary training facility for Border Guard Officers
is the Military Institute located in Almaty. It is a four-year
training academy for agents of the Committee for National Security
and officers of the Border Guard Service. Post had learned that the
Military Institute will relocate to Astana in 2008, although the
Head of the Institute told INL Officer that Border Guard training
would remain in Almaty. The cadets are trained in a full range of
subjects and at the conclusion are commissioned as border guard
officers and receive the equivalent of a bachelor's degree.
Although assignments vary upon graduation, reportedly depending on
any particular graduate's political connections or financial
capabilities, new officers are assigned to posts on the border and
slowly work up through the ranks. Officers rotate from region to
region approximately every three years and rarely will serve in the
border district where they were born.
10. (SBU) The primary training facility for maritime officers is
the Ministry of Defense's Naval Institute located in Aktau. The
institute in Aktau is a military training academy for naval
officers. After commissioning, officers serve either in the Navy or
in the Maritime Border Guard.
11. (SBU) In high-visibility posts such as Almaty or Astana border
guard officers will staff the passport control booths while in other
ASTANA 00002178 003.2 OF 003
posts, particularly non-international posts in the heavily-populated
south, local residents will be hired as contractors to check
identity cards and passports. Contractors receive on-the-job
training from border guard officers or other contractors.
Contractors who show skill and interest may be sent to a passport
control training facility in Almaty for more advanced, formal
instruction. (Note: INL established a regional training center in
Saryagash, on the Kazakhstani-Uzbekistani border, and expects to
establish another in the northeast near the Russian and Chinese
borders in the coming year. End note.) The level of knowledge and
professionalism of the contractors is uneven at best. For example,
training sessions sponsored by INL using professional educators from
the Military Institute were attended by contractors who could not
properly identify an expired Uzbekistani identity card.
ORDWAY