BISHKEK LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING GROUP MEETING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BISHKEK 001288 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KG SUBJECT: BISHKEK LAW ENFORCEMENT WORKING GROUP MEETING BISHKEK 00001288 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: DCM chaired the Embassy's Law Enforcement Working Group (LEWG) meeting on September 19. In addition to reports from Bishkek-based officers, the meeting included presentations by the regional Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer and the regional FBI Legal Attache. The regional LEWG afforded Embassy Bishkek a good opportunity to meet and share ideas with regional partners from DEA and FBI. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) On September 19, the DCM chaired a meeting of the Embassy's Law Enforcement Working Group (LEWG). Attending the meeting were the Bishkek-based Department of Justice Resident Legal Advisor (RLA),the Senior Law Enforcement Advisor (SLEA),the Assistant Regional Security Officer (ARSO),and the Defense Attache (DATT). In addition, two regional officers with responsibility for Kyrgyzstan attended the meeting: the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer from Tajikistan and the FBI Legal Attache from Astana. ¶3. (SBU) The regional LEWG afforded Embassy Bishkek a good opportunity to meet and share ideas with regional partners from DEA and FBI. Each agency described its mission and programming at post and addressed key issues and areas of concern. Bishkek ARSO discussed the anti-terrorism assistance program and detailed the concern of providing training to the Kyrgyz in light of the non-renewal of the counterterrorism assistance program provided by Louisiana State University. The ARSO expressed the need to continue such programs and intimated that funding for necessary equipment may be available, but personnel training may not be available in FY 08. ¶4. (SBU) Bishkek SLEA discussed his ongoing programs with the Drug Control Agency (DCA),Traffic Police, and the Police Academy. The SLEA and DEA debated the importance of setting narcotics seizure rates for the DCA, as well as the importance of ridding all law enforcement entities of corruption. SLEA, DEA, and FBI discussed the importance of providing crisis management and hostage negotiation training for the Kyrgyz Ministry of Interior (MVD). All three entities vowed to explore avenues of mutual cooperation in funding and providing such trainings. ¶5. (SBU) The Defense Attache provided information about numerous Department of Defense projects planned for Kyrgyzstan in the next fiscal year. One such project is a comprehensive narcotics interdiction plan, utilizing mobile interdiction teams within the DCA and case management software and equipment for the Procuracy which would be utilized to ensure narcotics offenders are successfully prosecuted and sentenced appropriately ¶6. (SBU) The DEA country attache, based in Tajikistan, discussed the DEA mission of providing funding and training to Kyrgyz law enforcement for operational purposes to interdict narcotics. He outlined DEA's goal of eschewing investigating lower level narcotics dealers in order to turn law enforcement attention to the large-scale narco-traffickers. He again expressed DEA's desire to establish a resident presence in Embassy Bishkek. However, the lack of space within the embassy will be a large stumbling block to overcome. ¶7. (SBU) The Astana-based Legal Attache explained the FBI's role in the region as primarily operational: to facilitate ongoing federal investigations that have a nexus to the U.S. In addition, the FBI invited other represented agencies to nominate local contacts as potential FBI National Academy students for the upcoming fiscal year. ¶8. (SBU) Bishkek RLA discussed his programs for the enhancement of the Rule of Law. RLA discussed ongoing criminal law reform within Kyrgyzstan and solicited other agencies' assistance in supplementing training for law enforcement agents in developing capacity to investigate and prosecute complex criminal cases, such as corruption, organized crime, and money laundering cases. BISHKEK 00001288 002.2 OF 002 YOVANOVITCH