BOSNIAN SECURITY AGENCY HEADS PLEDGE COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 001986

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2017
TAGS: BK KCRM PGOV PINR PREL PTER
SUBJECT: BOSNIAN SECURITY AGENCY HEADS PLEDGE COOPERATION

Classified By: DCM Judith B. Cefkin. Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

Summary
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1. (C) DCM, September 10, hosted heads of security and law
enforcement agencies to lunch to discuss maximizing
interagency cooperation. Agency heads stressed their
commitment to interagency cooperation but complained that
political leaders make effective police and intelligence work
difficult. Several agency heads openly criticized Minister
of Security Tarik Sadovic for obstructing effective law
enforcement and undermining intelligence assessments.
Agency directors expressed awareness of the threat to posed
by the presence in Bosnia of former foreign fighters such as
Abu Hamza and worried that the required legislation to carry
out effective deportations is not in place. The entity
police directors steered clear of any discussion of police
reform simply stating that they will implement the decisions
of political leaders. End Summary.


2. (C) On September 10 the DCM hosted directors of Bosnian
law enforcement and security agencies at a lunch meeting to
discuss interagency and bilateral cooperation. Present at
the meeting were State Border Police (SBP) Director Vinko
Dumancic, Intelligence and Security Agency (OSA) Director
Almir Dzuvo, Foreigners Affairs Service (FAS) Director Dragan
Mektic, Assistant Minister of Security Vjekoslav Vukovic,
Federation Police Director Zlatko Miletic and Republika
Srpska Police Director Uros Pena. Although invited, Sead
Lisak, Acting Director of the State Investigation and
Protection Agency, was unable to attend.

OSA Director Dzuvo
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3. (C) OSA Director Almir Dzuvo opened the discussion by
stating that the difficult political environment in Bosnia is
undermining cooperation and effective law enforcement among
security agencies. He noted that the chronic lack of trust
among Bosnian politicians has infected relations among the
security agencies they direct. Dzuvo cited the example of
Minister of Security Tarik Sadovic who, after OSA had
recently commented on the threat posed by foreign extremists
in Bosnia, publicly criticized the agency and disputed its
findings. Dzuvo said it was outrageous that a cabinet
Minister would publicly undermine his government's
intelligence agency. He was pessimistic in his assessment of
the ability of law enforcement agencies to operate free from
political interference. Dzuvo also warned that Bosnian
security agencies are not taking a long-term strategic
approach to analyzing security threats. Rather, the
government, and the Ministry of Security in particular,
approach the topic on an ad hoc basis.

State Border Police and Foreigners Affairs Service
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4. (C) SBP Director Vinko Dumancic emphasized that U.S.
assistance has been critical in the development of his agency
and requested continued material and financial support. He
noted that he was personally committed to active interagency
cooperation among his counterparts and would use as a model
the interagency cooperation he had witnessed during a recent
ATA-sponsored visit to the United States.


5. (C) Dragan Mektic noted that the Foreigners Affairs
Service is very aware of the threat posed by certain aliens
present in Bosnia such as Abu Hamza. Mektic noted that in
his recent public comments Abu Hamza has directly threatened
national security. However, FAS is struggling with a weak
legislative foundation and operational shortfalls. He
lamented that, at present, FAS cannot adequately address
these challenges. Mektic noted that the draft amendments to
the Law on Movement and Stay of Aliens are badly needed and,
if passed, will ameliorate a number of these difficulties.

Vukovic on the CRC
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6. (C) Assistant Minister of Security Vukovic said that as
Chair of the Citizenship Review Commission he has presided
over the revocation of 616 citizenships of individuals who
could potentially pose a terrorism threat to Bosnia. He
hoped that the actions of his panel will be followed up by
concrete enforcement by the security agencies. Implicitly
criticizing his own Minister Tarik Sadovic, Vukovic said that
"hesitation by certain individuals" is complicating the
likelihood that this enforcement will take place soon.


7. (C) Vukovic noted that he had recently met with OHR
representatives to finalize amendments to the Criminal Code
imposing criminal penalties for public statements advocating
or supporting terrorism, such as Abu Hamza's recent comments
to the press. After legal review by OHR the amendments will
be conveyed to the Council of Ministers for review and
approval.

Entity Police Directors
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8. (C) Federation Police Director Zlatko Miletic stated that
he feared that the country's law enforcement agencies have
failed the citizens of Bosnia. In particular, progress on
apprehending war criminals and combating organized crime in
particular has been slow. Police reform, in whatever form
politicians finally agree on, will both address these
shortcomings and facilitate Bosnia's path to Europe, Miletic
said. Law enforcement agencies can easily implement whatever
politicians decide and it is up to the country's leaders to
provide direction to the police forces.

9. (C) RS Police Director Uros Pena said he agreed with
Miletic on developments at the national level. However, he
emphasized that entity police agencies are doing a good job
at maintaining security on a day to day basis noting that
both the RS and Federation police have very high rates of
solved crimes, higher that in many European countries. Pena
acknowledged that while the threat of terrorism is real,
certain political figures exaggerate the threat level for
political purposes giving the impression that there are
"terrorists around ever corner." The security situation in
Bosnia, on the contrary, is very good.


10. (C) Turning to police reform, Pena said he was angry that
the international community had focused on the state level
law enforcement at the expense of entity agencies. While he
acknowledged a role for state level agencies, they are only
as strong as local police agencies.


11. (C) Pena noted that entity police forces bear the brunt
of manipulations by political leaders. He cited the example
of the directive to suspend and investigate 50 RS police
officers for involvement with war crimes. While
appropriate, the timing of the High Representative's
directive on the heels of the July 11 Srebrenica
commemoration, had been engineered by party leaders for
political purposes, Pena asserted. The timing of the
decision at such a sensitive time could have caused public
unrest and constituted a serious security risk, Pena said.

Comment
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12. (C) Given the distrust and manipulation with which
Bosnian political leaders approach their security
architecture it is rare for agency heads to meet together in
a group. Agency heads were clearly appreciative of the
opportunity and seemed to appreciate the message that
interagency coordination is essential to combating terrorism
and crime. Each agency head expressed their commitment to
close interagency and interjurisdictional cooperation. We
hope this discussion will stimulate additional efforts to
break down law enforcement stovepipes here. End Comment.
MCELHANEY