Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA2378
2007-09-11 14:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
SCENE-SETTER FOR FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S VISIT TO
how-toVZCZCXYZ0010 PP RUEHWEB DE RUEHVI #2378/01 2541429 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 111429Z SEP 07 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUCNFB/FBI WASHDC PRIORITY RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8534
UNCLAS VIENNA 002378
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
FBIHQ FOR DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, DIRECTOR'S RESEARCH GROUP
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER KHLS AU
SUBJECT: SCENE-SETTER FOR FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S VISIT TO
VIENNA
UNCLAS VIENNA 002378
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
FBIHQ FOR DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, DIRECTOR'S RESEARCH GROUP
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER KHLS AU
SUBJECT: SCENE-SETTER FOR FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S VISIT TO
VIENNA
1. Summary: The Ambassador and the rest of Embassy Vienna's
team are looking forward to your visit. The Embassy's Legal
Attache Office (Legat) has an excellent working relationship
with its Austrian counterparts and routinely nominates and
facilitates training for Austrian officials at the FBI
National Academy. In October 2006, the Deputy Director for
National Security attended a two week leadership course at
the FBI.
2. In a joint effort by the FBI and Austrian law enforcement
agencies earlier this year, both countries exposed a globally
operating internet child pornography ring. Ambassador McCaw
congratulated the Austrian police in February 2007 on the
successful conclusion of this operation. End Summary.
COUNTER-TERRORISM ISSUES
--------------
3. Austria's view of the HSPD-6 Initiative on the exchange
of terrorist screening data remains positive. Talks on
concluding a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and
Austria are progressing. In November 2006, a joint team from
the State/Homeland Security Terrorist Screening Center
visited the Ministry of the Interior to discuss the proposed
MOU.
4. Austria has no independent lookout list on terrorists.
Austrian watch lists draw mainly from the Schengen
Information System and the domestic EKIS system (the latter
contains the names of individuals who are wanted by the
police or Interpol as well as criminal records and a DNA
database).
5. In February 2006, the director of Austria's Federal
Criminal Office (BKA) met with FBI officers in Washington,
San Diego, and New York to discuss counter-terrorism,
homeland security, and transnational organized crime. In
April 2006, Legat hosted a terrorist finance seminar in
Budapest for EU law enforcement services, including the
Austrian BVT.
6. FBI Special Agent Antonio Santiago participated in a
strategy workshop in Vienna in June 2006 and praised
cooperation with Austria in the area of economic crime,
internet crime and terrorism.
IMMIGRATION
--------------
7. Austria also has no specific immigration database to
track entries and exits. Certain non-EU passports are
scanned at the airport or land borders to check whether there
is any prohibition on entry to Austria or the Schengen
Agreement area. However, Austrian law requires all visitors
to register with local authorities within three days of
arrival, and to report any change of address thereafter.
8. Also, Austria does not have biometric scanners, such as
finger scanners or iris readers, at its ports of entry.
However, the GOA plans to issue passports and visas
containing fingerprints. These will be used as pointers to
database information rather than for criminal record check
purposes. Austrian passports and ID cards contain digital
photos for biometric purposes and are ICAO compliant. All
Austrian adult, non-emergency passports are chipped.
OSI AGREEMENT
--------------
9. The so called OSI Agreement, named for the Justice
Department's Office of Special Investigations, is designed to
make Austrian records more accessible for researching World
War II era crimes against humanity. It creates a formal
channel for requesting assistance in connection with OSI
investigations into the wartime activities of suspected war
criminals who immigrated to the U.S.
ORGANIZED CRIME AND MONEY LAUNDERING
--------------
10. Organized crime is active and very well entrenched in
Austria. In recent years, particularly Vienna and the state
of Lower Austria have experienced a dramatic increase in
crime attributed to Eastern European mafia. Vienna, along
with Moscow and Tel Aviv, is one of the Russian mafia's
centers of activity. Organized crime is involved in money
laundering in connection with narcotics trafficking and
trafficking in persons, but apparently is not connected with
contraband smuggling.
11. Austria is an important financial center for central and
southeastern Europe. It is not an offshore tax haven. Like
any highly developed financial marketplace, Austria's
financial and non-financial institutions are vulnerable to
money laundering. Money laundering occurs within the
Austrian banking system as well as in non-bank financial
institutions and businesses.
12. Austria criminalized money laundering in 1993.
Terrorist financing is a separate crime. Laws are stricter
for money laundering by criminal organizations and terrorist
"groupings." In these cases no proof is required that the
money stems directly or indirectly from prior offenses. May
2004 amendments to the Customs Procedures Act and the Tax
Crimes Act address the problem of cash couriers and
international transportation of illegal-source currency and
monetary instruments.
NARCOTICS
--------------
13. Austria is a transit country for drug trafficking along
major trans-European routes. Criminal organizations from the
former East Bloc countries, Turkey, West Africa, and Central
and South America dominate the organized drug trafficking
scene. Production, cultivation, and trafficking by Austrian
nationals remain insignificant.
14. Cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies is
excellent. Recent joint investigations resulted in
significant narcotics seizures, including Austria's largest
seizure of over 200,000 ecstasy tablets in 2003, and the
takedown of a Polish-based narcotics ring in 2004. In early
2005, Austrian authorities also disrupted a major Balkans
drug smuggling ring and made seventy-two arrests in the case.
15. Austria plays a leading coordination role in the
European Union's border management and security initiatives
in the Western Balkans and Central Asia. Austria is active
in the United Nations' efforts against narcotics trafficking
and organized crime. Austria is considered a "major donor"
to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with
an annual pledge of approximately $440,000. In 2004,
together with Italy, Austria initiated a project within the
UNODC to reform the justice system in Afghanistan.
Additionally, Austria is working with the UNODC, the EU, and
Iran to establish border control checkpints on the
Afghan-Iranian border.
McCaw
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
FBIHQ FOR DIRECTOR'S OFFICE, DIRECTOR'S RESEARCH GROUP
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER KHLS AU
SUBJECT: SCENE-SETTER FOR FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S VISIT TO
VIENNA
1. Summary: The Ambassador and the rest of Embassy Vienna's
team are looking forward to your visit. The Embassy's Legal
Attache Office (Legat) has an excellent working relationship
with its Austrian counterparts and routinely nominates and
facilitates training for Austrian officials at the FBI
National Academy. In October 2006, the Deputy Director for
National Security attended a two week leadership course at
the FBI.
2. In a joint effort by the FBI and Austrian law enforcement
agencies earlier this year, both countries exposed a globally
operating internet child pornography ring. Ambassador McCaw
congratulated the Austrian police in February 2007 on the
successful conclusion of this operation. End Summary.
COUNTER-TERRORISM ISSUES
--------------
3. Austria's view of the HSPD-6 Initiative on the exchange
of terrorist screening data remains positive. Talks on
concluding a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and
Austria are progressing. In November 2006, a joint team from
the State/Homeland Security Terrorist Screening Center
visited the Ministry of the Interior to discuss the proposed
MOU.
4. Austria has no independent lookout list on terrorists.
Austrian watch lists draw mainly from the Schengen
Information System and the domestic EKIS system (the latter
contains the names of individuals who are wanted by the
police or Interpol as well as criminal records and a DNA
database).
5. In February 2006, the director of Austria's Federal
Criminal Office (BKA) met with FBI officers in Washington,
San Diego, and New York to discuss counter-terrorism,
homeland security, and transnational organized crime. In
April 2006, Legat hosted a terrorist finance seminar in
Budapest for EU law enforcement services, including the
Austrian BVT.
6. FBI Special Agent Antonio Santiago participated in a
strategy workshop in Vienna in June 2006 and praised
cooperation with Austria in the area of economic crime,
internet crime and terrorism.
IMMIGRATION
--------------
7. Austria also has no specific immigration database to
track entries and exits. Certain non-EU passports are
scanned at the airport or land borders to check whether there
is any prohibition on entry to Austria or the Schengen
Agreement area. However, Austrian law requires all visitors
to register with local authorities within three days of
arrival, and to report any change of address thereafter.
8. Also, Austria does not have biometric scanners, such as
finger scanners or iris readers, at its ports of entry.
However, the GOA plans to issue passports and visas
containing fingerprints. These will be used as pointers to
database information rather than for criminal record check
purposes. Austrian passports and ID cards contain digital
photos for biometric purposes and are ICAO compliant. All
Austrian adult, non-emergency passports are chipped.
OSI AGREEMENT
--------------
9. The so called OSI Agreement, named for the Justice
Department's Office of Special Investigations, is designed to
make Austrian records more accessible for researching World
War II era crimes against humanity. It creates a formal
channel for requesting assistance in connection with OSI
investigations into the wartime activities of suspected war
criminals who immigrated to the U.S.
ORGANIZED CRIME AND MONEY LAUNDERING
--------------
10. Organized crime is active and very well entrenched in
Austria. In recent years, particularly Vienna and the state
of Lower Austria have experienced a dramatic increase in
crime attributed to Eastern European mafia. Vienna, along
with Moscow and Tel Aviv, is one of the Russian mafia's
centers of activity. Organized crime is involved in money
laundering in connection with narcotics trafficking and
trafficking in persons, but apparently is not connected with
contraband smuggling.
11. Austria is an important financial center for central and
southeastern Europe. It is not an offshore tax haven. Like
any highly developed financial marketplace, Austria's
financial and non-financial institutions are vulnerable to
money laundering. Money laundering occurs within the
Austrian banking system as well as in non-bank financial
institutions and businesses.
12. Austria criminalized money laundering in 1993.
Terrorist financing is a separate crime. Laws are stricter
for money laundering by criminal organizations and terrorist
"groupings." In these cases no proof is required that the
money stems directly or indirectly from prior offenses. May
2004 amendments to the Customs Procedures Act and the Tax
Crimes Act address the problem of cash couriers and
international transportation of illegal-source currency and
monetary instruments.
NARCOTICS
--------------
13. Austria is a transit country for drug trafficking along
major trans-European routes. Criminal organizations from the
former East Bloc countries, Turkey, West Africa, and Central
and South America dominate the organized drug trafficking
scene. Production, cultivation, and trafficking by Austrian
nationals remain insignificant.
14. Cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies is
excellent. Recent joint investigations resulted in
significant narcotics seizures, including Austria's largest
seizure of over 200,000 ecstasy tablets in 2003, and the
takedown of a Polish-based narcotics ring in 2004. In early
2005, Austrian authorities also disrupted a major Balkans
drug smuggling ring and made seventy-two arrests in the case.
15. Austria plays a leading coordination role in the
European Union's border management and security initiatives
in the Western Balkans and Central Asia. Austria is active
in the United Nations' efforts against narcotics trafficking
and organized crime. Austria is considered a "major donor"
to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) with
an annual pledge of approximately $440,000. In 2004,
together with Italy, Austria initiated a project within the
UNODC to reform the justice system in Afghanistan.
Additionally, Austria is working with the UNODC, the EU, and
Iran to establish border control checkpints on the
Afghan-Iranian border.
McCaw