SECTION 1206 PROPOSAL FINAL COORDINATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L JAKARTA 001734 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PM/PPA AHERN AND ROSATI E.O. 12958: DECL: FINAL APPROVAL OF FY2007 PROJECTS. TAGS: MASS PREL ID SUBJECT: SECTION 1206 PROPOSAL FINAL COORDINATION REF: STATE 84956 Classified By: A/DCM Larry Mandel, for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Embassy Defense Cooperation and Political Officers met with Director General for Defense Strategy MG Dadi Susanto of the Indonesian Department of Defense (DEPHAN) and representatives of the Indonesian Navy (TNI-AL) on May 14 to discuss the Navy's request to delay the FY2007 project in order to give the TNI-AL time to mobilize the budgetary and personnel contributions on the Indonesian side that the project would entail. We explained that if the project were delayed the funds would no longer be available. At that meeting, Susanto accepted the project as proposed. ¶2. (C) Subsequent meetings by the Office of Defense Cooperation with TNI-AL representatives resolved some of the practical concerns and elicited the TNI-AL's confirmation that it could execute the project within the required time frame. We have scheduled a program review with the TNI-AL on July 24 to work through the details of implementation. ¶3. (C) The Indonesian concerns about absorptive capacity and timing are typical of the initial response we receive in regard to a project of this size. These concerns have been resolved in the past and we have every reason to believe this will be the case with the FY2007 project. All indications are that the project is executable. ¶4. (C) In these and other discussions, DEPHAN and TNI officials have requested that some of the landed sensor sites in the Sulawesi Sea be moved closer to the mouth of the Makassar Strait. We believe we will be able to accommodate this request without compromising the performance of the overall network. We note that the provisional additional sensors mentioned reftel for the Eastern Fleet Ships would allow the TNI-AL additional coverage of the Makassar Strait as the ships transited to and from the Sulawesi Sea. This dimension of the project has been briefed to and accepted by DEPHAN and the TNI. HEFFERN