ARGENTINA: AMBASSADOR, DEFENSE MINISTER WORK THE DETAILS OF MIL-MIL COOPERATION DESPITE RISING BILATERAL TENSIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BUENOS AIRES 001305



SENSITIVE

SIPDIS



E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2028

TAGS: PREL, MARR, PGOV, PHUM, AR

SUBJECT: ARGENTINA: AMBASSADOR, DEFENSE MINISTER WORK THE

DETAILS OF MIL-MIL COOPERATION DESPITE RISING BILATERAL

TENSIONS



REF: A. BUENOS AIRES 1300

B. SECDEF 110144Z SEP 08



1. (C) Summary: Ambassador paid a call on Argentine Defense

Minister Nilda Garre September 15 to take stock of

cooperative efforts over the coming year and to address a

handful of obstacles to deeper collaboration. Garre took

note of the new areas of cooperation that would become

available if the GOA followed through on its announced plans

to pay off Paris Club debt, thereby overcoming Brooke

Sanctions. She was noncommittal on the Fourth Fleet, but

interested in the fact that Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, among

others, had assigne liaison officers to its headquarters.

She was also non-committal toward reconsidering participation

in UNITAS Gold, though her deputy Secretary Forti asked about

details of available USG support if Argentina chose to

participate. Garre voiced appreciation for U.S. assistance

in training and reform efforts at the Ministry and left open

the possibility of working out differences over a previously

agreed Information Assurance/Cyber Security program.

Secretary Forti raised concerns about our recent experience

of rejecting a Peruvian and a Colombian military officer for

a U.S.-sponsored training within the Argentina National

Defense School and requested greater advance notice of

vetting requirements (MilGP Commander encouraged the MOD to

get participant names to us early in the process). Garre's

decision to follow through on the meeting with Ambassador was

significant given current difficulties in the U.S.-Argentina

relationship flowing from the Miami trial of Franklin Duran

(reftel),and she evinced no disposition to scale back

collaboration. End Summary.



2. (SBU) Ambassador called on Defense Minister Nilda Garre

September 15 to review current and planned U.S.-Argentina

military cooperation and to touch base following Garre's

September 4 meeting with Secretary Gates at the Western

Hemisphere Defense Ministerial in Banff, Canada. Garre was

accompanied by her two senior deputies, Secretary for

International Affairs Alfredo Forti and Secretary for

Military Affairs German Montenegro. Ambassador was

accompanied by Mil Group Commander, Naval Attache, and by

Pol-Mil Officer (notetaker). Garre was pleasant and

professional throughout, if occasionally non-responsive on

some issues raised by the Ambassador. She raised no agenda

items on her own in the meeting.



Brooke Sanctions, UNITAS, Fourth Fleet

--------------



3. (C) Ambassador began by congratulating Garre on her

government's decision to pay its Paris Club arrears, noting

that payment of the U.S. portion of that debt would

facilitate the removal of Brooke Sanctions and potentially

make avaQable to Argentina Foreign Military Financing (FMF),

Global Peacekeeping Operations Initiative (GPOI) material

support, and access to Excess Defense Articles (EDA). Garre

agreed these could be useful tools, while Forti clarified the

nature of FMF and EDA programs. Ambassador then noted that

we remained hopeful that Argentina would reconsider

participation in UNITAS Gold exercises, explaining that the

U.S. Government had USD 900,000 available to support

Argentine participation. Forti asked for confirmation that

this could be used for such things as fuel, which we

provided. Garre was noncommittal on the point.



4. (SBU) Garre was also neutral when the Ambassador raised

the establishment of the Fourth Fleet, which she has publicly

questioned. Garre took on board the Ambassador's suggestion

that Argentina consider a visit to the fleet headquarters in

Mayport, Florida, or the establishment of a permanent liaison

officer. Garre asked for confirmation that Brazil, Chile,

and Ecuador had established liaison officers and seemed

surprised that they had.



Cruz del Sur

--------------



5. (SBU) Ambassador reiterated to Garre that the U.S.

Government stood ready to support the introduction of the

Argentine-Chilean peacekeeping brigade within the UN system

when the two countries were ready to move forward. The

Minister said that they hoped to establish the brigade,

designated Cruz del Sur (Southern Cross),by the end of the





year, but that this depended in part on the Argentine

Congress giving its authorization. She said she would be

discussing the brigade during a visit to Chile September 18

for its national day (at which, she said, she had planned to

see the Bolivian Defense Minister as well, though she doubted

that would be possible). Garre said she was pleased to host

the PKO Americas exercise in 2009. Asked whether Cruz del

Sur could formally participate, Garre said that would not be

possible until it was officially established, but that

Chilean and Argentine militaries would participate

separately.



Training and Reform

--------------



6. (SBU) Garre noted the challenges she was facing in

reforming Argentina's defense procurement procedures and was

pleased that the U.S. would be sending experts to an end of

October conference on defense logistics. She said that

Argentina sought to learn from the U.S. experiences and that

progress had been made. The Ambassador agreed it was a

difficult challenge in any country, noting U.S. controversies

around the contract for an aerial refueling tanker.

Separately, Garre said that her Ministry was nearly done with

the establishment of a comprehensive travel plan and training

request system to facilitate faster turnaround on training

opportunities. MilGrp Commander noted the importance of

avoiding cancellations within 30 days of planned trainings,

which made it impossible to nominate alternatives or preserve

the funding. Garre and her Secretaries acknowledged the

importance of making their new procedures work. Montenegro

asked that the USG consider bringing back an expert in

capabilities based strategic planning to assist a small

high-level group in the Ministry.



Information Assurance/Cyber Security

--------------



7. (C) Ambassador raised our disappointment that the planned

project on information assurance/cyber security, the subject

of an agreed-upon bilateral MOU and an approved initial USD

100,000 in funding, had been brought to a point where the

funding would be lost due to continuing disagreements over

procedures and participation. Garre had asked her

Secretaries to be prepared on this point, and they argued

that the MOD had only modified its approach upon recognizing

that other parts of the government had equities in the

effort, in particular the Public Operations Secretariat

(SGP). The GOA recognized that the funding was about to be

lost. MILGP Commander pointed out that we had no problem

including other parts of the GOA, but that our understanding

from the GOA's response was that the SGP along with the MOD

would each receive a place on the steering committee,

compared to one seat for the USG. Forti and Montenegro said

that this was not their understanding of what was being

asked. Garre noted that the Sub-Secretary for Legal Affairs

was in Germany, further complicating prospects to conclude

the deal, but agreed it would be worthwhile to follow up to

see if the differences could be overcome.



Helos

--------------



8. (SBU) Garre voiced appreciation for the delivery of two H3

Sea King helicopters at Bahia Blanca, saying that she had

just seen them but had been prevented from flying because at

the time a minor part or issue had yet to be resolved.

Ambassador invited Garre to consider joining him for a

ribbon-cutting once they were operational. Ambassador later

congratulated Garre on the Army's Aviation branch's success

in qualifying with Bell Helicopter/Textron to perform Huey II

Kit upgrades for Argentine as well as Uruguayan and

Paraguayan operators.



Vetting Challenge

--------------



9. (SBU) Secretary Forti raised the one issue initiated by

the Argentine side during the meeting, requesting our help to

avoid a repeat of the vetting issue that has arisen for two

non-Argentines (one from Peru, one from Colombia)

participating in a U.S.-funded Defense Logistics program as

part of their year-long course of study at the Argentine





National Defense School. Both had been identified for

associations with human rights violations by Department

vetting, long after they had joined the Argentine program in

which the U.S. training was one element. Forti, seconded by

Garre, asked what could be done to avoid such an embarrassing

situation for Argentina, which had had to prevent the

visitors' participation. MilGrp Commander noted that he had

discussed with a MOD official in mid-August the emergence of

the first rejection and had coordinated on solutions (Garre

complained to her deputies that she had not been informed

until the eve of her September 4 meeting with Secretary

Gates). We agreed that the early sharing of information on

proposed participants was key. Garre said that in fact

Argentina too wished to avoid hosting human rights violators,

but that early notification of our findings was key (Note:

Her comment was significant, because it represented the first

time an Argentine interlocutor has implicitly supported the

basis of our refusal).



Comment: Positive, Restrained

--------------



10. (C) Coming as it did amidst virulent anti-U.S. bashing by

some members of Government and non-government supporters of

the Kirchners outside government (reftel),the meeting was

notably free from ideological posturing by Garre or her

lieutenants as has been the case in Ambassador's previous

meetings with her. That she agreed to follow through with

the meeting was itself a positive - though Secretary Forti

intervened before the meeting to cancel the Embassy

photographer. (During our previous period of Miami

case-related bilateral tension, the Ambassador was embargoed

from official meetings with Cabinet ministers except for the

Foreign Minister.) She gave a slightly positive signal, even

if lQly too late, on the information assurance project, and

was restrained in her remarks this time on the Fourth Fleet.

In all, it was a constructive meeting in which she gave her

clear approval for continued collaboration on several fronts.

End Comment.



WAYNE