BRUNEI (ALMOST) READY TO SIGN TERRORIST SCREENING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000203

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR CA/VO, EAP/MTS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/03/2017
TAGS: CVIS CMGT CPAS KFRD PREL PINR BX
SUBJECT: BRUNEI (ALMOST) READY TO SIGN TERRORIST SCREENING
INFO SHARING MOU

REF: A. FRIEDMAN-FRELICK E-MAILS OF 6/27 AND PREVIOUS

B. STATE 83571

C. BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 69

Classified By: DCM Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (b) & (d)

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) The GoB is ready to sign an HSPD-6 Memorandum of
Understanding to share terrorist screening information with
the USG. The Foreign Ministry is looking to a high level
meeting as a hook to push the Brunei bureaucracy to give
approval to the text as it currently stands. The GoB says it
is still on track to begin issuing new e-passports in
September to bring it back into full compliance with Visa
Waiver Program requirements. The new passports will also
address a current weakness in tracking lost & stolen
passports (LASP). Brunei would prefer to share LASP data
informally with the USG via its Washington Embassy. Post
recommends we delay a formal request for LASP sharing until
after an HSPD-6 MoU is signed to avoid overloading the GOB
bureaucracy and so further delaying an HSPD-6 agreement. END
SUMMARY.

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HSPD-6 MOU Text at Ad Ref
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2. (C) DCM negotiated an ad ref text of an HSPD-6 Memorandum
of Understanding (MoU) with the GoB on June 27 (ref A).
The GoB interagency team consisting of representatives from
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MoFAT),the MoFAT
Research Department (external intelligence and analytical
service),Internal Security Department (internal intelligence
service),Police, Immigration Department, and Attorney
General's Chambers agreed to the final USG changes and will
soon provide us with a cleaned up document for final
Washington review.

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NEED A HOOK TO SIGN
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3. (C) On July 3, Dato Shofry Ghafor, the dual-hatted
Permanent Secretary of MoFAT and Director of the Research
Department told the Ambassador that he had been able to move
the sluggish Brunei bureaucracy forward on the MoU based on
the deadline of the on-again, off-again meeting between
President Bush and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah. (At this time no
such meeting is on the schedule.) Shofry cautioned that
without the deadline of some kind of high-level meeting, it
would be difficult for him to push the Attorney General's
Chambers to give final clearance on the ad ref text.

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E-PASSPORT COMING
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4. (U) During the negotiations for the MoU, the GoB confirmed
that it is still on track to begin issuing e-passports in
September of this year (ref C). Assistant Director of the
Immigration Department Azmi Hafneh told DCM that the new
passports would have unique passport numbers, a change from
the old practice of using the Brunei citizen's personal
identity card (IC) number as his/her passport number. This
old system created confusion when dealing with lost and
stolen passports as the new passports would have the same
number as the lost/stolen passport. The only difference
between passports was the new issuance date. The new
passports will also contain the IC number as well, but will
have unique passport numbers.

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OK IN PRINCIPLE ON LASP DATA SHARE
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5. (C) In response to ref B, the Immigration Department
informed us that the GoB routinely informs INTERPOL of all
lost and stolen passports (LASP). On a monthly basis, the
Immigration department forwards new LASP data to all Brunei
Embassies. In response to our request to be included on
distribution for this data, Assistant Director Azmi said that
in principle, the Immigration Department would have no
objection to sharing this information with the USG. However,

BANDAR SER 00000203 002 OF 002


his preferred method would be to have the Brunei Embassy in
Washington provide the data directly and informally to the
Department.


6. (C) COMMENT: Post believes that Brunei embassy officials
in Washington will be reluctant to share LASP data without
specific instruction from MoFAT. Given our experience
negotiating the HSPD-6 MoU, a formal approach for LASP data
sharing would likely be confused by the GOB bureaucracy with
the HSPD-6 MoU, complicate GoB consideration of the HSPD-6
MoU, and slow down securing the final GoB approval. We
recommend finalizing the HSPD-6 MoU and establishing a track
record of data sharing before making a more formal pitch for
LASP data sharing.
SKODON