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)

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SUMMARY
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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.

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Deployable, Sustainable, Interoperable Force
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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.


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Disaster Response Workshop
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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

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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.

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New U.S. Sales Opportunities?
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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.

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COMMENT: Fix the Procurement System
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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

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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