INTERIM BILATERAL DEFENSE DIALOGUE EXPANDS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000278 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/01/2017 TAGS: MARR MASS PREL ID SUBJECT: INTERIM BILATERAL DEFENSE DIALOGUE EXPANDS ACTIVITIES REF: JAKARTA 0167 Classified By: DCM John A. Heffern, for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) Summary: An interim session of the annual U.S.-Indonesian Bilateral Defense Dialogue (BDD) in Jakarta on January 30-31 reached agreement on several important additions to the FY2007 agenda. Those included a multi-tiered set of exercises on humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HA/DR) with PACOM, increased ship visits, the first brigade-level Command Post Exercise and agreement to initiate peacekeeping training under the Global Peace Operations Initiative (GPOI). The Hawaiian National Guard also announced it would invite the TNI to a state disaster relief exercise. The Indonesian side was represented by about two dozen officers representing all the services and was led by BG Imam Safaat, Deputy Assistant for Operations (WASOPS). The U.S. delegation, led by the Office of Defense Cooperation, included representatives from USPACOM, Department and Embassy Jakarta. End summary. HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE/DISASTER RELIEF ¶2. (C) The three HA/DR events, all scheduled for June 2007, consist of separate Disaster Management Workshops for policy makers and for operational planners and a Disaster Management Exercise for tactical forces and local authorities. The first two will be held in Jakarta, the third in Yogyakarta.. The policy-level workshop, to be co-hosted by PACOM's Center for Excellence (COE),will include the National Coordination Agency (BAKORNAS) and other civilian counterparts on the Indonesian side. The operational-level workshop, co-hosted by PACOM's Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT) and USAID's Office of Disaster Assistance (OFDA) will constitute Tempest Express 12 and be an initial step toward the creation of an HA/DR capability within the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).. All three events will have an interagency dimension, i.e., coordination with civilian agencies, and will involve the international community and NGOs. The TNI also agreed to participate in a DR exercise and a triborder workshop in the Philippines, both including interagency partners. The TNI has in the past been critical of BAKORNAS' capabilities but encouraged the agency's inclusion in these events as a necessary partner in future operations and therefore equally needful of training or at least the benefits of participation in these events. ¶3. (U) In a further development in this area, the Hawaiian National Guard announced its intention, as part of its cooperation under the State Partnership Program (SPP) with the TNI, to invite TNI and possible civilian Indonesian officials to its state-level disaster management exercise, Makani Pahili, in May. ¶4. (C) At the same time, TNI sensitivity to U.S. participation in HA/DR activities in more distant regions was apparent, notably the proposed visit of the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu to eastern Indonesia and Papua. It was unclear whether this stemmed from the disparity between U.S. and Indonesian capabilities, which operations in far-flung areas would make especially obvious, or the optics of conducting full-scale, combined bilateral operations with the United States. This is an issue which will need further exploration. Mission has subsequently decided to drop this visit from the BDD agenda. GLOBAL PEACE OPERATIONS INITIATIVE (GPOI) TRAINING ¶5. (C) Indonesian defense officials have cited the formal establishment of the TNI's planned Peacekeeping Training Center, expected in March 2007 (ref a),as the event that will allow peacekeeping training assistance with the United States to proceed. However, the TNI revealed that the Indonesian chief of Staff (Panglima) had signed the order to establish the center. USPACOM offered to provide briefings and background materials on the GPOI program to relevant agencies, if needed. The TNI did not officially respond to the U.S. training offer but did not indicate any such briefings were necessary and evinced interest in GPOI training. Assistant for Operations (ASOPS) MG Bambang Darmono has gone on record within the TNI command in support for GPOI training. ¶6. (U) The TNI also agreed to increased participation in KHAN QUEST, a major GPOI exercise that will be held in Mongolia in summer 2007. Depending on the fate of the annual COBRA GOLD JAKARTA 00000278 002 OF 002 in Thailand this year, the TNI could send up to 30 participants for the command post exercise and one or two platoons for the field training exercise. BRIGADE CPX, MORE SHIP VISITS ¶7. (U) The TNI also agreed to hold the first-ever brigade-level Command Post Exercise (CPX) with US Army Pacific (USARPAC) in April. As the TNI does not normally conduct operations above the battalion level, this will represent an important step toward interoperability of larger units. The TNI also agreed in principle to accepting a higher number of ship visits, currently about two per year. PASCOE