SCENE-SETTER FOR FBI DIRECTOR MUELLER'S VISIT TO

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 �0A;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