IRAN EMBASSY LOOKING AT SPACE IN OFFICE BUILDING

S E C R E T BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000123

SIPDIS

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DS/IP/EAP, DS/IP/ITA, DS/ICI/CI, EAP/MTS,
SINGAPORE FOR SIMO, MANILA FOR ESC/OIC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2017
TAGS: ASEC
SUBJECT: IRAN EMBASSY LOOKING AT SPACE IN OFFICE BUILDING
HOUSING U.S. CHANCERY

REF: A. 06 BANDAR 526

B. OBO PROJECT COMPLETION MEMO DATED 01/26/07

Classified By: RSO Nicholas Porter for reasons 1.4 c, g


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SUMMARY
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1. (S/NF) On March 7, the new Iranian Ambassador surveyed the
office space on the 5th floor of the office building housing
the U.S. Embassy with an eye toward leasing the space for the
Iranian Embassy. In June 2006, post had vacated that same
office space when we took over the former Australian Embassy
space on the 4th floor to consolidate our offices. As a
precautionary measure, RSO and visiting TDY ESC personnel
surveyed the vacated space to verify that the legacy wiring
infrastructure was fully disconnected from post systems. The
building management has agreed to keep us informed of the
status of the Iranian interest, and to date the Iranians have
not/not made any offer to lease this space. The Brunei
Internal Security Department (ISD) has agreed to inform us of
any changes in Iranian embassy personnel and will watch the
Iranian mission's activities more closely. End Summary.

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Iran Looking at our Old Offices
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2. (S/NF) On March 7, the newly arrived Iranian Ambassador to
Brunei visited the office building housing the U.S. Embassy
to consider leasing space on the 5th floor. The Embassy of
Iran is currently located in a large home at #400, Kampang
Anggorek Desa, Berakas, Bandar Seri Begawan, a major street
near the sports complex and International Convention Center
in Bandar Seri Begawan. The Embassy is well-marked, with a
GoB-provided sign on the street in front of the building.
Prior to the arrival of the new Ambassador (Aboltazl Khazaei
Tarshizi) (presented credentials 20 March 2007) the previous
Iranian Ambassador was more often absent from Brunei and the
Iranian embassy appeared to be largely unused.


3. (S/NF) After the initial visit, the Iranians have asked
for cost and space data but have not/not taken any additional
steps to lease this space. Building management will keep us
informed if the Iranians become serious about leasing this
space. We have reviewed our current lease and we do not/not
have any contractual ability to block the Iranians from
leasing this space should they so choose.


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NO IMMEDIATE VULNERABILITY
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4. (S/NF) The fifth floor office for lease in our building is
the same space that the US Embassy vacated in June 2006 when
we consolidated operations from the third and fifth floors to
the third and fourth floors (due to the Australian High
Commission moving out of the fourth floor). In October 2006,
we had a complete EI&R refurbishment of our classified and
unclassified computer and telephone system wiring (reftel A)

SIPDIS
and in January 2007 OBO completed a hard-line security
upgrade which included clearing out as much of the unutilized
wires as possible (ref B).


5. (S/NF) To review for any potential legacy systems
vulnerabilities RSO and a visiting ESC Manila SEO/OIC went to
the 5th floor vacant office space with the assistance of
building maintenance personnel immediately after the initial
visit by the Iranian Ambassador. The SEO/OIC found that there
was only one possible set of cables that remained which went
down towards the bottom floors. While several pieces of
wiring infrastructure remained intact for the old office
spaces (such as for cameras, alarms, etc. this is the only
set of cables which may still lead to the third floor but is
likely to have been severed or cut by the recent OBO team
since it was for an old camera (and all of the mission's
camera infrastructure has been rewired due to the security
upgrade). RSO later went up and confirmed visually that the
lines were not attached and terminated outside the hard-line.
The IMO also confirmed that he was present during the change
in spaces and removed all connectivity with phone lines and
opennet connections. It should be noted that post's small CAA
is located on part of the third floor only. The office spaces
utilized by post on the fourth floor are for MGT, GSO, HR,

and other support staff. The Ambassador, Ambassador's OMS,
DCM, RSO, and IMO are all located on the third floor outside
of CAA space.

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Brunei Watching Iranians
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6. (S/NF) RSO reviewed our concerns about the possible lease
of this space with the Internal Security Department (ISD),
Brunei's internal intelligence agency. ISD said they would
review and contact the RSO if they developed anything
further. In early April, ISD contacted the RSO and informed
that other than the new Iranian ambassador becoming
officially accredited to Brunei, there were no further
developments.

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COMMENT
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7. (S/NF) The multiple vulnerabilities of post's current
chancery are well known, and we welcome the high priority OBO
has placed on developing a permanent solution by including a
NEC for Bandar Seri Begawan in the proposed FY-08 Capital
Security Project budget. The GoB views Iran's
Shia-fundamentalism with suspicion, as it does any non-Shafie
Muslim sect, and will continue to monitor the Embassy of
Iran's activities for internal security reasons. We will
continue to monitor closely any interest by Iran in leasing
the space above our current chancery and report further of
any new developments.
SKODON