BRUNEI DEFENSE WHITE PAPER FURTHER ALIGNS GOB WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000160 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS DEFENSE FOR OSD:IPSEN, PACOM FOR MA E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017 TAGS: MARR MASS PREL BX SUBJECT: BRUNEI DEFENSE WHITE PAPER FURTHER ALIGNS GOB WITH U.S. INTERESTS Classified By: CDA Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (a),(b),& (d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Brunei's newly updated Defense White Paper promises to further transform Brunei's military capabilities to enable Brunei to play a wider role in regional security initiatives and disaster response. We have advocated that the GoB take just these kinds of steps to counter current regional security threats and to build on the good work it has done in regional peacekeeping and humanitarian relief projects in Mindanao and Aceh. Post is supporting two current initiatives -- a Defense Resource Management Study (DRMS) to help Brunei develop a capabilities-based military budgeting system and a disaster response workshop run by the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) -- to leverage the current momentum for defense reform into capacities that can support U.S. policy initiatives in the region and in the broader Islamic community. However, any potential military sales opportunities for U.S. firms will depend the Ministry of Defense making progress on fixing its broken procurement system. END SUMMARY. -------------- Deployable, Sustainable, Interoperable Force -------------- ¶2. (U) Just in time for the nation's first defense trade show, Bridex 2007 May 31 - June 2, Brunei's Ministry of Defense has released an update to its defense white paper. Described as an update of the 2004 Defense White Paper, this version sharpens the focus of the short-medium term development of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) on creating a force capable of sustaining itself on deployments within the ASEAN region and beyond. The White Paper emphasizes the need to develop a flexible rapid response capability to contribute to joint operations in the region and "to make a modest yet credible contribution to wider United Nation's peace support and humanitarian relief operations." The paper lays out priorities for creating interoperable command, control and communications capabilities and joint maritime patrol operations. Full text of the White Paper Update can be downloaded at: www.mindef.gov.bn/new home/whitepaper2007/english.pdf ¶3. (C) The priorities stressed in the White Paper take MinDef and the RBAF a step further towards having the kinds of capabilities we have been encouraging the GoB to develop to play a larger role in regional peace operations. Ever since Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah announced his intention to send peacekeepers to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon last August, the Ministry of Defense under Deputy Minister of Defense Pehin Yasmin (the Sultan is the Minister of Defense) has been pressing to match the RBAF's capabilities to the GoB's political commitments. The White Paper Update provides a revised set of strategic marching orders for MinDef and the RBAF to fulfill His Majesty's pledge. Yasmin's commitment to these reforms, however, predates the Sultan's pledge. Yasmin has repeatedly stressed to us, most recently at a June 5 meeting with Charge, that Brunei's participation in relief operations in Aceh after the tsunami were both and important learning opportunity and a wake up call for the RBAF to adapt to new missions and tasks to deal with modern security threats. Yasmin now expects that Brunei will have the first of two peace-keeping platoons trained before the end of the calendar year and be ready to deploy an initial medical unit to UNIFIL as early as October. -------------- Disaster Response Workshop -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The White Paper notes the essential role the RBAF continues to play in homeland defense and gives new emphasis to making military assets available at short notice to respond to natural disasters. While the RBAF does not have a "first responder" role in a natural disaster, it is the sole agency with helicopter lift as well has the logistics capacity to move relief supplies quickly to a stricken area. However, neither RBAF nor MinDef have a command role in a civil emergency. In August 2006, Brunei created a civilian National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) as the nation's BANDAR SER 00000160 002 OF 003 focal point for internal crisis/disaster response, staffed primarily with Fire and Rescue Department personnel but commanded by a seconded air force officer, LTC Yahya Rahmin. ¶5. (C) With Deputy MinDef Yasmin's support, the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) is currently organizing a national disaster response workshop to bring together all key internal players to the table and help the GoB coordinate its interagency planning. This workshop is a direct result of a meeting last year between Yasmin and LtGen Smith of APCSS last year, but the NDMC and it's parent Ministry (Home Affairs) are the organizational partners. In a June 5 meeting with APCSS team members, Yasmin stressed that the NDMC is in charge of civil emergency response and the RBAF will have to learn to be a service/capacity provider and not try to take over operational command during an emergency. MinDef Director of Operations COL Jofri Abdullah told us separately that a February emergency response exercise the RBAF ran in partnership with NDMC revealed a number of gaps in RBAF command and control capacities as well as in communications assets and operating procedures for joint civil military operations. Yasmin and Jofri both indicated that they hope the APCSS workshop will lay out a strategic action plan for Brunei to address those gaps and improve its operational capabilities. Given Brunei's experience of having far fewer natural disasters than other countries in ASEAN, they see a vital niche role for the RBAF to play in supporting and supplementing deployments of civilian disaster relief capacity regionally. -------------- New U.S. Sales Opportunities? -------------- ¶6. (C) The release of the White Paper and the Bridex defense expo were seen by many in the defense industry as a signal that the GoB would start to move on long-expected procurements of new military hardware and C4I systems. Prior to the release of the White Paper, MinDef contacts told us that they hoped the release of the paper would give direction and focus to MinDef's stalled procurement system. The defense contractor rumor mill saw the prospective resolution of a dispute with the UK over purchase of three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) as the key step toward unblocking a more regular flow of procurements. Note: UK Embassy officials told us in March that Brunei had lost it's arbitration case and that the two sides were working on a face-saving deal that could possibly have Brunei take ownership of the OPVs on paper but then immediately sell them to another buyer. End Note. Major U.S. defense contractors, including Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, and Harris made the pilgrimage to Brunei to show off communications and intelligence fusion systems for military and homeland security applications as well as UAVs. In the run up to Bridex, the industry rumor mill believed that the GoB would announce the winner of a tactical radio tender. The U.S. firm Harris was on the short list for this tender with the French firm Thales and German Rhode & Schwarz. However, only one small procurement of machine guns from a Singapore firm was announced at Bridex. -------------- COMMENT: Fix the Procurement System -------------- ¶7. (C) The White Paper shows that key people in MinDef have absorbed the current military-speak of "delivering capability outcomes" and implementing "joint operational concepts" to give Brunei a deployable, sustainable, flexible military. Deputy Minister Yasmin has been the driving force of the GoB's effort to fix and professionalize a broken procurement system that has been a critical stumbling block on this road to defense transformation. Yasmin's acceptance of our offer of a Defense Resource Management Study (DRMS) is another step forward. The DRMS project, which will reach full speed in August, will help MinDef develop the analytical tools to go from talking-the-talk on capabilities-based budget assessments to walking-the-walk. However, the White Paper also calls for MinDef to support the development of Brunei's own defense industry through economic enhancement programs (otherwise known as offsets). Managing an offset program in a way that develops local capacity without sucking a defense budget dry and creating industrial white elephants will be a significant new challenge for MinDef. It remains to be seen how long it will take for MinDef to rationalize the BANDAR SER 00000160 003 OF 003 procurement system and develop a sensible offset program so that the soldiers and sailors of the RBAF can get down to the work of creating the capabilities the Sultan wants his military to have. FRIEDMAN