1207 - MALAYSIA'S TRI-BORDER CAPACITY BUILDING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001720 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP, ISN, INL, S/CT DHS FOR CBP, ICE USCG FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING DIVISION PACOM FOR J5, JIATF-W, JIACG, DET 14 BANGKOK FOR COMLEY SINGAPORE FOR KING, DARVAS, HIGHSMITH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ID RP MY SUBJECT: 1207 - MALAYSIA'S TRI-BORDER CAPACITY BUILDING PRIORITIES REF: A. EAP/COMLEY - USCG/MARKOWITZ E-MAIL 20 JUL 2007 ¶B. EAP/COMLEY - DHS/FUJIMURA E-MAIL 20 AUG 2007 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST: Embassy Kuala Lumpur seeks to utilize USD 1 million in allocated FY 2007 Title 1207 funding during FY 2008 to conduct civilian maritime law enforcement training and to enhance border control capability in the tri-border region of Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah. The Title 1207 projects are part of the Southeast Asia Regional Strategic Initiative (RSI) and reflect a top Embassy priority as defined in its Mission Strategic Plan Goal No. 1 - sub-point 3 and as affirmed at the October 2007 meeting of the Southeast Asia RSI Ambassadors. FY 2007 1207 funds have been transferred to the State Department. To assure that they are disbursed to the appropriate USG implementing agency, Embassy Kuala Lumpur requests Department and action addressees to identify by 15 January 2008 USG interagency personnel with expertise in training management planning and course facilitation to develop, manage and execute planned Tri-border training. END SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST. THE SOUTHEAST ASIA TRI-BORDER INITIATIVE ¶2. (SBU) The Tri-border Title 1207 funding proposal submitted in FY 2007 was developed jointly by the State Department, PACOM, and USAID. Given that the 1207 authority "is intended to improve U.S. capacity and interagency coordination for immediate reconstruction, security, and stabilization assistance," DHS and the U.S. Coast Guard were kept appraised of the proposal's progress throughout the summer of 2007 in order to plan for resource allocation in FY 2008 (Refs A and B). The Tri-border Initiative projects have been fully endorsed by the respective country teams and PACOM representatives. They accord with and support MSP priority goals as well as priorities identified by RSI Ambassadors in Honolulu this fall. MALAYSIA'S PROJECTS ¶3. (SBU) The two projects in the Tri-border proposal for Malaysia focus on strengthening civilian maritime law enforcement and border security in the tri-border region of Sabah. They are the result of analysis conducted in early 2007 by the subject matter expert exchange by the U.S. Coast Guard to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and by the interagency Border Control Assessment Initiative. Embassy Kuala Lumpur seeks to direct approximately three-fourths (USD 750,000) of its 1207 funds toward tailored maritime law enforcement training. The remaining quarter (USD 250,000) should be directed toward border security training and the acquisition of limited equipment associated with the training. ¶4. (SBU) The exact configuration of the training programs will be determined by Embassy Kuala Lumpur working with the training management planners in their engagement with Malaysian counterparts. Analyses to date have identified a range of subject areas where capacity building is needed. These areas include, but are not limited to: domain awareness, targeting and risk management, interdiction, use of force, evidence management, prosecution, chain of custody, information sharing/cueing, border enforcement, and fraudulent document detection. Post has shared further information on the 1207 projects in Malaysia with USG agencies via separate communications. INTERAGENCY AND REGIONAL COOPERATION KUALA LUMP 00001720 002 OF 002 ¶5. (U) The success of the Tri-border 1207 funding proposal was due in significant measure to the extensive regional and interagency cooperation that went into its development. The project implementation phase we are now entering offers similar opportunities to succeed cooperatively. For example, while the Tri-border proposal identifies the U.S. Coast Guard as the USG implementing agency for maritime law enforcement training, other civilian law enforcement expertise could supplement or complement a Coast Guard-led team. ¶6. (U) As we utilize 1207 funding in FY 2008 to bring an immediate whole-of-government solution to the critical problem of transnational crime and terrorism in the tri-border region, we also encourage our host nations to follow suit. Subject to Malaysian government priorities and concurrence, Embassy Kuala Lumpur will focus capacity building primarily on the MMEA but will also include customs and immigration personnel and, where possible, the Malaysian maritime police as well as trainees from Indonesia and the Philippines. THE WAY AHEAD ¶7. (SBU) Successfully and quickly implementing the Tri-border Initiative can demonstrate, at a critical time, interagency cooperation in addressing pressing bilateral and regional security needs. Embassy Kuala Lumpur appreciates interagency USG support in bringing the necessary expertise to bear to meet the immediate maritime law enforcement and border security capacity building needs, which together we have identified. In order to plan and initiate activities before the end of FY 08, Embassy Kuala Lumpur requests responses to this message by 15 January 2008 via e-mail to 1207 POC Jason Donovan (via unclassified e-mail at: DonovanJ@state.gov, or classified e-mail at: DonovanJA@state.sgov.gov). KEITH