AMBASSADOR RAISES CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

S E C R E T KUWAIT 000598 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR DS/ATA, S/CT, NEA/ARP, EB/ESC/IEC; DOE FOR KOLEVAR; NSC FOR JESSEE E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2017 TAGS: EPET ASEC PTER KCIP KU SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RAISES CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION WITH KUWAITI LEADERSHIP REF: A. KUWAIT 419 ¶B. KUWAIT 448 ¶C. KUWAIT 506 ¶D. KUWAIT 460 ¶E. KUWAIT 431 Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: During meetings on April 23 and 24, the Ambassador raised the need for follow-up on critical infrastructure protection with the President of the National Security Bureau, the Prime Minister and Oil Minister, respectively. With each, the Ambassador praised the cooperation at the time of the U.S. team,s visit, noted that the final report would be done soon, and called for sustained action and cooperation. (End Summary) ¶2. (S/NF) On 23 April, Ambassador met with National Security Bureau (NSB) President Shaykh Ahmed Al-Fahd and briefed him on the preliminary findings and recommendations from the Dept-DOE-DHS Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection (CEIP) assessment conducted in Kuwait from 14-21 March (Ref A). Ambassador provided Shaykh Ahmed with a written summary of short-term and medium-to-long-term informal recommendations and explained that a final, detailed report from the assessment would be completed within a matter of days and that plans were underway to assemble a team to present the report, respond to questions, and advise the Kuwaitis on implementation. The Ambassador stressed that there were many recommendations that could be acted on immediately and explained the USG was eager to provide continuing cooperation to help fill in the gaps in Kuwait's CEIP regime. ¶3. (S/NF) Shaykh Ahmed agreed that CEIP is a critical matter requiring immediate attention and thanked the Ambassador for the USG's continuing support. He said the NSB had prepared its own report following the March assessment and agreed that it would be important for USG experts to sit down with their Kuwaiti counterparts to discuss the report and map out a plan of action. Shaykh Ahmed also urged the Ambassador to present the final USG report to the Prime Minister as soon as possible to ensure that our efforts to enhance CEIP have full support from the highest level of the government in order to enable the maximum cooperation of the various GOK agencies involved. ¶4. (S/NF) On 24 April, during a brief meeting on a number of topics, the Ambassador raised the CEIP study with Prime Minister Nasser Mohamed al-Ahmed Al-Sabah. The Prime Minister was aware of the consultations on infrastructure protection and pledged continued cooperation. The Ambassador emphasized the need for interagency coordination. ¶5. (S/NF) Also on 24 April, the Ambassador called on Oil Minister Shaykh Ali Jarrah Sabah Al-Sabah and thanked the ministry for its cooperation on the project to better protect oil infrastructure. The Ambassador mentioned two areas for greater emphasis: coordination across agencies and training. Shaykh Ali said that it appeared that the GOK would assign the coordination role to the Security Decision Follow-Up Committee led by retired General Mohammed Al-Bader, with whom the Ambassador met on March 28 (Ref B) as part of Post's ongoing CEIP follow-up (Refs C, D, E). The Oil Minister thought that assigning coordination responsibilities to this body would be effective since it reports directly to the Council of Ministers (cabinet). ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embssy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * LeBaron