EXTRANCHECK: POST-SHIPMENT VERIFICATION: NATIONAL CENTRE

UNCLAS NEW DELHI 000345 SIPDIS SIPDIS USDOC FOR 532/OEA/M. NICKSON-D/JAY HATFIELD USDOC FOR 3131/USFCS/OIO/ANESA/KREISSL USDOC FOR 4530/MAC/ANESA/OSA ICE HQ FOR STRATEGIC INVESTIGATIONS STATE FOR EB/ESP E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ETTC ETRD BEXP IN SUBJECT: EXTRANCHECK: POST-SHIPMENT VERIFICATION: NATIONAL CENTRE FOR MEDIUM RANGE WEATHER FORECASTING, NOIDA, U.P., LICENSE NO. D344798 REF: USDOC 06362 ¶1. Acting Export Control Officer (ECO) David Nardella and BIS FSN Prem Narayan conducted a Post-shipment Verification (PSV) at the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), NOIDA, U.P., on January 11, 2007. ¶2. BIS requested a PSV at NCMRWF, a GOI entity under the Ministry of Earth Sciences. The Ministry of Earth Sciences was created in July 2006 to look after atmospheric sciences, ocean science and technology and seismology in an integrated manner. Earlier NCMRWF was under the administrative control of GOI Department of Science & Technology (DST). NCMRWF is located at A-50 Institutional Area, Sector-62, Phase-II, NOIDA 201307, Uttar Pradesh, Tel: 91-120-240-3727, Fax: 91-120-240-3626, Email:akbohra@ncmrwf.gov.in, Website: www.ncmrwf.gov.in. NCMRWF was listed as the ultimate consignee for one X1E computer, air-cooled with 2 chassis and 8 modules containing 64 multi-streaming processors, 256 gigabytes of memory and software all controlled under 4A003. The license applicant was Cray Inc. (Cray),Mendota Heights, MN. ¶3. ECO along with FSN Narayan met with B. Athiyaman (Athiyaman), Scientist 'E', Computer & Network Division, and S.C. Kar (Kar), Scientist 'E', and D. Praveen (Praveen),NCMRWF. Prashant Agrawal (Agrawal),Under Secretary (AMS),Americas Division, GOI Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),facilitated the meeting. Agrawal was also present at the meeting. ¶4. NCMRWF officials were aware of the BIS regulations. They have been party to previous BIS export licenses. Former ECO Rufe and BIS FSN conducted a favorable Pre-license Check (PLC) on October 4, 2005 at NCMRWF for this transaction. Prior to shipment, Cray provided BIS export license conditions to NCMRWF by giving a copy of the BIS export license. They were cooperative and provided a copy of the TSR Letter of Assurance for Export of Technology certifying that SIPDIS that NCMRWF will not re-export, release or export the technology to a national of a country in Country Groups D:1 or E:2, the direct product of the technology, if such foreign produced direct product is subject to NS controls; Cray End Use and Remote Access Statement; Statement by NCMRWF acknowledging the receipt and understanding of all restrictions governing the use of a Cray Computer system exported from U.S.A. under License Exception (CTP); Form BIS-711 and the NCMRWF Purchase Order. ¶5. Kar made a slide presentation on various activities that NCMRWF undertakes with regard to weather forecasting. Kar confirmed the end-use of the Cray X1E Supercomputer stating that it is used for operational weather and climate forecasting, medium range weather forecasting for the Agricultural Advisory Service (AAS) for the benefit of farmers and research and development in weather forecasting. NCMRWF purchased their first supercomputer in 1989 from Cray (Cray X-MP/14) that was upgraded twice in 1992 and 2001. ¶6. Kar stated that NCMRWF runs two global spectral models T-80 and T-170 that produce daily global forecasts. The horizontal resolution of these models is 150 kilometers and 75 kilometers. The systems used earlier did not support the T-170. In the earlier system the disk storage was limited as it could not process weather forecasting data fast enough and backlogs were difficult. With the help of the Cray supercomputer NCMRWF has been able to issue location-specific weather forecasts to farmers. The supercomputer is equipped with several advanced features to meet with NCMRWF requirements for more accurate location-specific medium range weather forecasting. It will also help NCMRWF for timely completion of seasonal predictions for meaningful use especially by farmers. ¶7. After the meeting, the ECO and FSN Narayan were given a tour of NCMRWF where the supercomputer and computer terminals connected with it are installed and operational. The supercomputer and computer terminals connected to it are operating in a fully secured area. Only authorized employees can enter the computer area. Approximately 35 NCMRWF scientists use the computer terminals connected with the supercomputer. Kar provided a sample computer-generated usage log. He stated that remote access is not possible. The systems can only be accessed in the NCMRWF building. The passwords to access the system are changed once every three months. NCMRWF confirmed their compliance with the Security Safeguard Plan (SSP). ECO Nardella and FSN Narayan recorded the serial and part numbers of supercomputer chassis. Each supercomputer chassis contains 32 processors making a total of 64 processors. The NCMRWF building is guarded 24 hours a day. ¶8. Established in 1988, NCMRWF is the premier institution in India to provide medium range location-specific weather forecasts through deterministic methods. It renders agricultural advisory services (AAS) to the farmers. It offers research opportunities in NWP, diagnostic studies, crop weather modeling and computer science. It provides NWP guidance to its various partners/user agencies on high impact weather, and customized forecast products for other applications. It is an active partner in several multi-institutional research programs at the national level involving many departments and research centers. ¶9. It has several on-going international collaborative research projects at Florida State University, the University of Maryland, North Carolina State University and the University of Washington. NCMRWF interacts actively with all the meteorological centers of neighboring countries. NCMRWF provides training on NWP techniques and the use of NWP products to personnel from various user agencies and to scientists from other developing countries. NCMRWF runs in three shifts and employs 50 personnel. ¶10. Recommendation: Post recommends the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting as a reliable recipient of the controlled U.S.-origin commodities. All indications are that the listed commodities are used in accordance with U.S. export control regulations. (DNARDELLA/PNARAYAN) Mulford