REPORT OF FIRST G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 BERLIN 000321

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SNAR KCRM OTRA PTER UNGA KJUS GM
SUBJECT: REPORT OF FIRST G-8 LYON-ROMA MEETING OF GERMAN
PRESIDENCY: FEBRUARY 12-15, 2006

ENTIRE TEXT SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. NOT FOR INTERNET
DISTRIBUTION.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The first meeting of the G-8 Lyon-Roma
Anti-Crime and Terrorism Group (LR/ACT) under the German
Presidency was held in Berlin from February 12-15, 2006. The
U.S. delegation was co-chaired by INL DAS Elizabeth Verville
and S/CT Director for Trans-Regional Affairs Roopa
Rangaswamy, and included representatives from the Departments
of State, Justice, and Homeland Security. Highlights
include:

- Substantial German resistance to moving forward in
Lyon-Roma on any aspect of the U.S. cash smuggling initiative
(perhaps based for some on lack of understanding of discrete
law enforcement aspects on which they invited a U.S.
follow-on paper);
- Resistance by the Japanese to the text of the political
declaration on the need for all states to adopt and enforce
effective child pornography laws including possession (U.S.
to coordinate follow-on);
- Cooperative counterterrorism efforts between the G-8 and EU
and recommendations on how to implement the efficiency and
effectiveness of the UN CT work;
- Agreement to three U.S. project proposals on Critical
Energy Infrastructure;
- Cooperative actions to promote UN Convention Against
Corruption and UN Transnational Organized Crime Convention
implementation; and
- Finalizing a U.S.-led best practices paper on quality
control of data submitted to Interpol's lost and stolen
travel document database for use by Interpol's advisory
group. END SUMMARY

CASH COURIER INITIATIVE
--------------


2. (SBU) The U.S. urged support for its initiative/project
that sought to address law enforcement aspects of the use of
bulk cash smuggling as means for financing terrorist
activities. The German chair expressed strong opposition,
denied that bulk cash smuggling is a means of financing
terror, saw no role for the Lyon/Roma group, and recommended
that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) or Finance
Ministers tackle the issue. Italy also suggested that the
initiative be pursued by Finance Ministers, but was willing
to consider Lyon-Roma participation for any law enforcement
related projects. Japan thought the project could help raise
awareness of the threat and also thought that Lyon-Roma could
address law enforcement related projects. The United Kingdom
and Canada both provided support for the U.S. proposal, but
observed that in their territories bulk cash smuggling was
largely an issue related to organized crime and narcotics
trafficking. The UK noted that the cash courier projects
could provide valuable intelligence relating to the strategic
routes used by smugglers to transfer funds across borders.
The European Commission noted that on July 15 new legislation
will go into effect requiring states to put measures in place
to detect the physical cross-border transportation of
currency over Euros 10,000. The United States agreed to
revise its concept paper by the end of February to further
refine the threat posed by cash smuggling and to delineate
work that Lyon-Roma could appropriately address to complement
FATF.

DECLARATION ON COMBATING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY
--------------


3. (SBU) The U.S. presented its draft declaration intended
for JHA Ministers outlining the serious nature of the problem
of child pornography and the need for strong action to
implant the international legal framework against it. Most
delegations support a strong statement, but Japan expressed
concerns with its emphasis on addressing all forms of
criminal activity relating to child pornography, including
possession and receipt, as Japan does not criminalize receipt
or possession without intent to distribute. Side discussions
with Japan produced possible compromises, but U.S. and others
made clear that dilution of the statement was not acceptable.
Several delegations will provide written comments and we

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will send out another draft.

UN RELATED COUNTERTERRORISM EFFORTS
--------------


4. (SBU) Germany briefed the L/R Heads on UN actions in New
York including the adoption of the UN global counterterrorism
(CT) strategy and the establishment of a CT Implementation
Task Force. The group discussed a Russian draft non-paper
containing possible G-8 CT priorities. G-8 partners decided
not to pass the Russian paper to the UN task force and
clarified that the 2006 St. Petersburg CT Summit Statements
should serve as a blueprint for advancing CT work at the UN.
Partners agreed to convey bilateral priorities separately.


5. (SBU) As part of the 2006 St. Petersburg Declaration on
Counter-Terrorism, the G-8 agreed to report in 2007 on
results of efforts to support and strengthen UN CT efforts
and to enhance the role of the entire UN system in
coordinating its work. Germany agreed to circulate a draft
report in the next month for consideration by the G-8
partners.


6. (SBU) CCIT: All G-8 partners reiterated support for the
conclusion of the UN's Comprehensive Convention on
International Terrorism and shared initial reactions to the
proposed Greek draft compromise on section 18.5. All members
agreed that the original draft remains optimal, and supported
Germany's proposed tactic to await a response from the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) before formally
responding to the new proposed compromise text.


7. (SBU) UNSCR 1624: The United Kingdom distributed a
compilation of reports prepared by G-8 partners on
implementation of UNSCR 1624. Given that only 69 countries
have submitted reports on implementation of UNSCR 1624, the
UK stressed the importance of sharing G-8 experiences on
implementation to serve as an example for other states. The
United States and Japan referred to Constitutional and other
limitations on the ability of their governments to
participate in an effort to develop best practices. Canada
raised the diversity of G-8 partners, legal systems. The UK
acknowledged these sensitivities and proposed a discussion of
next steps at a meeting in New York in three weeks.

RADICALIZATION AND RECRUITMENT OF TERRORISTS
--------------


8. (SBU) The UK circulated a proposal to hold a seminar on
deradicalization in September/October. The project would
enable the G-8 to learn from the experiences of countries
that have established deradicalization and rehabilitation
programs for terrorists. While the G-8 would be heavily
involved in organizing the seminar, it would not be
characterized as a G-8 event. The European Commission
reported it is spending Euros 750,000 on radicalization
projects and studies focused on cross-cultural dialogue,
ideologies and youth awareness.

TWO PROBLEMATIC GERMAN CT PROPOSALS
--------------


9. (SBU) The U.S. Delegation worked closely with Germany and
Russia to successfully narrow the scope of two problematic
German counterterrorism proposals. Germany's proposed
project to examine expulsion and surveillance measures for
terrorists was revised to focus on elaboration and sharing of
domestic laws and authorities to facilitate the removal of
persons with a known or suspected terrorist background. The
German proposal to examine measures taken against news
broadcasters was revised to focus on television and radio
broadcasters owned or controlled by, or acting on behalf of
terrorist organizations.

Afghanistan Ad hoc Experts Group
--------------


10. (SBU) The ad hoc meeting on Afghanistan experts met on
February 12. Despite broad areas of agreement, there was no
consensus on eradication, and the U.S. was alone in its

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support of herbicides. The UK will be handing over the G-8
CN matrix to the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and
will be developing a new matrix to address G-8 lobbying
targets. The European Commission offered to develop an
"action oriented" paper to enhance coordination on CN and
justice issues. Italy will be hosting a Rome Conference in
May to address the justice sector and rule of law. Lastly,
the Russian Federation handed out a draft resolution on Drug
Trafficking Routes. They would like for it to be a G-8
sponsored resolution for the CND; however, Canada and Germany
expressed concern about a G-8 sponsored resolution. The U.S.
reserved its position. Germany reported on the Experts Group
in Heads, and several countries praised the usefulness of the
meeting, and Germany announced plans for another one in
April.

Subgroups
--------------


11. (SBU) The Migration Experts Subgroup finished the final
Secure and Facilitated Travel Initiative (SAFTI) project on
the facilitation of visa issuance processes. The best
practices paper emphasized the need to abide by domestic law
and policies, while enhancing security and streamlining
procedures. The subgroup also revised and finalized the U.S.
best practices paper on quality control of data submitted to
Interpol's lost and stolen travel document database. The
subgroup requested that Lyon-Roma heads approve the work and
provide it for use by Interpol's advisory group. In
addition, the subgroup agreed to conduct another joint
interdiction exercise aimed at fraudulent passports from
Brazil and Korea.


12. (SBU) The Criminal-Legal Affairs Subgroup discussed the
U.S. project on extraterritorial jurisdiction for child sex
offenses, but was unable to agree on best practices for
prosecuting such cases. Participation by other states was
limited, as they had not brought experts or submitted the
U.S. paper for review prior to the meeting. We intend to
continue efforts to produce a report by April on the
experience of G-8 countries. The group also agreed to pursue
a Canadian proposal to hold an eight-way video conference in
April to discuss developments in mutual legal assistance and
extradition and promote the use of video conferencing
technology.


13. (SBU) The Law Enforcement Subgroup focused on several new
projects. The German IPR project was approved subject to the
U.S. caveats that the nature of the project's final product
be reconsidered after questionnaire responses have been
provided and that it not duplicate the principles developed
by the IPR experts' group last November. There were initial
discussions on two of the three U.S critical energy
infrastructure projects. Russia offered to cosponsor both
projects.


14. (SBU) On UK child protection proposals, the international
most wanted web site was approved and the G-8 Day of Action
was deferred pending completion of the HODs JHA Ministerial
declaration on child pornography. The revised U.S. proposal
addressing distribution of controlled drugs via the Internet
was also approved. Russia informally broached a project that
would share best practices for counter narcotics and
counterterrorism personnel training methods.


15. (SBU) LEPSG addressed several ongoing projects. Under
the UK lead, agreement has now been reached on a DNA Search
Request Network utilizing the Interpol 24/7 secure
communications system. Initial testing of the network will
occur this spring. The Group was briefed on the outcome of
the Radicalization and Recruitment/Neighborhood Policing
experts' meeting and all agreed that the project is complete.
The UK will present a follow-on proposal on
de-radicalization at the next meeting. The U.S. briefed the
prison radicalization project, and all agreed that an
experts' meeting will be held in conjunction with the April
meeting to review the project's conclusions and consider
whether a follow-on project should be proposed.


16. (SBU) The Counterterrorism Practitioners enjoyed a

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productive session. The subgroup agreed to update the
U.S.-drafted analytic assessment on terrorist safe havens and
circulate it for final review at the April meeting, after
which it will be provided to Heads of Delegation's (HODs) for
their use within Counterterrorism Action Group (CTAG). On
the projects relating to securing critical energy
infrastructure, the subgroup agreed to expand the existing
project of compiling analytical assessments of the terrorist
threat to oil and gas infrastructure to include all other
aspects of critical energy infrastructure. There was also
consensus to hold several ad hoc experts meetings in the
coming months, including a March 14 meeting in Moscow for G-8
Improvised Explosive Device (IED) experts to update a
compendium of IEDs used in combat zones, and two meetings to
be held in Berlin on the Monday preceding the April meetings,
dealing with prison radicalization and aviation security
issues. The U.S. also agreed to raise a German request that
we will consider hosting this year's annual gathering of G-8
hostage rescue and personnel recovery experts in the fall.
Germany and Canada hosted the previous two meetings of the
group.


17. (SBU) The High-Tech Crime Subgroup's continuing mandate
is to enhance the abilities of law enforcement to prevent,
investigate and prosecute criminal and terrorist acts that
make use of computer networks and other new technologies. To
this end, the HTCSG agenda focused both on terrorist
exploitation of the Internet, and law enforcement use of the
Internet for criminal investigations and open-source data
collection on terrorist groups. Other topics of discussion
included malicious software (viruses and worms),online
payment systems, and critical information infrastructure
protection. The HTCSG also discussed the current state of
the 24/7 Network of high-tech crime points of contact which
is managed by the group.


18. (SBU) The Transportation Security Subgroup considered and
agreed upon next steps for three projects led by the United
States related to explosives detection technology research
and development, the use of behavior observation techniques
in the aviation environment and identifying future threats to
civil aviation. Canada furthered its project on security
management systems and addressed a new project approved in
November 2006 in the area of transportation security
clearances. Canada and Japan sponsored a new project to
establish best practices in auditing the security of port
facilities, which is undertaken for the purpose of sharing
results with the International Maritime Organization (the
reference to which was removed as a result of interventions
by European Commission observers, a point of contention for
the U.S.). One other new project led by France was
considered as a future proposal. It deals with Chemical,
Biological, Radiological (CBR) decontamination and business
recovery.

Conclusion
--------------


19. (SBU) Prior to the Lyon-Roma meeting, the Egyptians
demarched some of the Eight bilaterally to gauge whether they
could attend the LR/ACT meeting as observers. The Germans
responded informally that observer status for Egypt was not
possible. After extensive discussion, including
possibilities for engaging Egypt in other ways and fora, the
Heads of Delegation decided that the informal German response
was adequate and agreed to pursue any relevant CTAG issues
with the Egyptians bilaterally.


20. (SBU) COMMENT: The Germans ably chaired the first
meeting of LR/ACT. As outlined above, we have been able to
identify several projects for presentation at the Justice and
Home Affairs Ministerial. As we have not received any
indication on possible CT deliverables for the German
Presidency, we should continue to press the Germans for a
robust CT initiative, including our cash courier and
Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA) proposals, which we
outlined for Heads. END COMMENT


21. (U) This cable was drafted and cleared by the U.S.
delegation prior to departure from post.

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TIMKEN JR