AUSMIN 2008: SESSION IV: ALLIANCE AND DEFENSE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 05 CANBERRA 000180 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR D, NEA/I, PM AND EAP E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2018 TAGS: OVIP GATES ROBERT OVIP NEGROPONTE JOHN MARR MOPS, PREL, AS SUBJECT: AUSMIN 2008: SESSION IV: ALLIANCE AND DEFENSE PARTNERSHIP Classified By: Ambassador Robert D. McCallum, Jr, for reasons 1.4 (b),( d). ¶1. (U) February 23, 2008, Parliament House, Canberra, Australia. SUMMARY -------------- ¶2. (S) Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Australian Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbon led the fourth and last U.S.-Australia Ministerial (AUSMIN) session, which focused on bilateral alliance issues, primarily in the defense arena. Secretary Gates made the following points: 1) The U.S. looked SIPDIS forward to cooperating with Australia on three areas designed to enhance defense cooperation: the Joint Combined Training Capability; Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief; and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance for the next year; 2) the United States welcomed the signing of two statements of principle to further strengthen information and intelligence sharing, one on Satellite Communications cooperation and a second on geospatial intelligence collaboration; 3) it has taken the United States longer to finalize the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty exemptions list than originally anticipated but the U.S. still hoped to send the treaty implementing arrangements to the Senate for ratification by early March; 4) the United States stands ready to brief the new Labor government on missile defense technologies and activities as they review their missile defense policy; and 5) the United States encourages Australia to continue to keep interoperability with the U.S. as a key decision factor in all capability requirements analysis. Minister Fitzgibbon made the following points: 1) Australia is undertaking a comprehensive review of its future capability acquisitions as part of its Defense White Paper process and said it would make a pro forma request regarding possible sale of the F-22 to respond to domestic pressures; 2) they were still finding their footing on missile defense, with lukewarm support for in-theater missile defense but as part of their review were open to advice from the United States; 3) they valued the close intelligence, defense planning, and exercise and training relationships with the United States; 4) they appreciated the Secretary's frankness on the delay in finalizing the implementing arrangements of the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty; and 5) they welcomed the efforts in enhanced defense cooperation. This is the fourth of four AUSMIN 2008 reporting cables. End Summary. ¶3. (U) Participants: UNITED STATES Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates SIPDIS Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte QDeputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte Ambassador Robert D. McCallum, Jr. Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Timothy J. Keating, Commander, U.S. Pacific Command Acting Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Stephen Mull Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs James Shinn Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian & Pacific Affairs Glyn Davies Tim Davis, Carol Hanlon, Aleisha Woodward, John Crowley, Jessica Powers (Notetakers) AUSTRALIA CANBERRA 00000180 002 OF 005 Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith Minister for Defence Joel Fitzgibbon Michael L,Estrange, Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Nick Warner, Secretary of the Department of Defence Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston, Chief of the Defence Force Duncan Lewis, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Peter Varghese, Director General of the Office of National Assessments Dennis Richardson, Australian Ambassador to the United States Berenice Owen-Jones, Alistair McEachern, Alanna Mackay, Antony Horrocks, Marina Tsirbas, Amanda Pickrell, John Feakes, Peter West (notetakers). ENHANCED DEFENSE COOPERATION -------------- ¶4. (S/REL AUS) The Secretary of Defense kicked off the discussion, noting U.S. and Australian agreement to focus on some key areas following the September 2007 announcement by Prime Minister HOWARD and President Bush at the APEC Summit to cooperate more closely. Secretary Gates signaled U.S. agreement to sign an updated memorandum of agreement on the Joint Combined Training Capability (JCTC) when the text was finalized, allowing for even greater combined management of the JCTC. He also mentioned that the U.S. and Australia had agreed to move forward on prepositioning of Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) equipment. On both HA/DR and JCTC, the two sides agreed to Joint Investment Programs. In the last area of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR),the Secretary agreed with the Australian proposal for a Joint Project Definition Study to help inform a DECISION for consideration at the 2009 AUSMIN. He noted that the lessons learned most recently in IRAQ and Afghanistan had allowed the United States to take its ISR capability to a completely different level. Lastly, the Secretary pushed Australia to continue its review of combined SIPDIS command and control arrangements and U.S. willingness to assist with this review, with the hope that by the 2009 AUSMIN, the two sides might agree to take the next step in this area. Minister Fitzgibbon concurred that these areas of mutual cooperation were of immense benefit to Australia. INFORMATION SHARING -------------- ¶5. (S/REL AUS) In a public ceremony, Minister Fitzgibbon and Secretary Gates signed the U.S.-Australia Military Satellite SIPDIS Communications (SATCOM) Partnership Statement of Principles, which will allow the United States and Australia to take advantage of modern technologies to further strengthen Qadvantage of modern technologies to further strengthen intelligence cooperation. Minister Fitzgibbon noted this would continue to operate under the long-standing principle of full knowledge and concurrence that guide current intelligence cooperation. During the closed session, they also signed a Statement of Principles on geospatial intelligence cooperation to take GEOINT cooperation to the same level that signals intelligence has reached between the two countries. As an illustration of how much the political environment had changed in Australia, Secretary Gates noted that the SATCOM cooperation agreement was not expected to generate any public controversy. DEFENSE TRADE COOPERATION TREATY -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Minister Fitzgibbon noted ongoing concerns of the CANBERRA 00000180 003 OF 005 Australian defense industry created by U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and export controls that he hoped the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty would help to minimize. Secretary Gates shared with the Minister that the development of the exemptions list for the treaty had taken longer than initially expected because the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics had worked closely with other DOD components to cull the list down to a minimum that would be in accordance with the export rules and regulations, but also remain within the spirit of the treaty. He indicated that he expected the list to move to the Department of State soon for a narrow legal review with regard to export controls, after which the State Department would be able to forward the implementing arrangements to the Senate in early March so the treaty could be ratified. FUTURE CAPABILITY ACQUISITIONS AND AUSTRALIAN DEFENSE WHITE PAPER -------------- -------------- ¶7. (S/REL AUS) Minister Fitzgibbon explained that the new Australian government had four major priorities in defense: 1) developing a new White Paper; 2) continuing growth in defense spending at three percent in real growth; 3) ensuring maximum capability; and 4) addressing the personnel and skills shortage in the military. The new Defense White Paper that the Labor government was writing would be a strategic re-assessment that would guide decisions on capability requirements and force structure as well as plan for future defense budgets. He expected the paper to be completed by early 2009 but hoped that it would not hold up some key projects for which the Labor government had already expressed support, including the three Air Warfare Destroyers and the two large amphibious ships already agreed to under the HOWARD government. Simultaneously, the new government had convened an Air Combat Capability Review that would be completed by the end of April 2008 and would review the DECISION by the Howard government to retire the F-111s by 2010, review the status of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, revisit the F-22 issue and the HOWARD government's DECISION to purchase 24 Super Hornets as a stopgap between the retirement of the F-111s and the arrival of the first JSF fighters. He expressed his opinion, however, that the review would likely not result in any DECISION other than to keep the JSF and continue with the Super Hornet purchase, explaining that the Qcontinue with the Super Hornet purchase, explaining that the government felt it had to respond to Australian public concerns that the previous government had not based these decisions on capability requirements but rather on political expediency. He also mentioned the ALP's commitment to submarines. Secretary Gates acknowledged that it was reasonable for a new government to undertake a review of large procurement decisions. He stressed the hope that a key decision factor would be for Australia to remain interoperable with the United States, and offered U.S. assistance to the review efforts. MISSILE DEFENSE AND SPACE POLICY -------------- ¶8. (S/REL AUS) Defence Minister Fitzgibbon noted that missile defense became an issue in Australian politics in the lead up to the November 2007 election. The Australian Labor Party (ALP) adopted a position of lukewarm support for in-theater missile defense but rejected national missile defense because it risked upsetting the regional/global balance. The new government was willing to discuss the issue, however, and was undertaking a review of missile defense as part of the White CANBERRA 00000180 004 OF 005 Paper. On the multilateral missile defense conference that had been scheduled to convene in Sydney in September 2008, he explained the government's DECISION to cancel hosting it as one of domestic political management. The government could not be seen to host a major missile defense conference before completing its internal review and making public the government's DECISION on future missile defense. He conceded that Australia would be willing to host a future iteration of the conference, perhaps in 2010. (France has already agreed to host the 2009 conference.) Acknowledging the sensitivity of the issue, Secretary Gates encouraged Australia to allow a U.S. expert on missile defense to brief them on the latest technology and issues as they began their internal review. He also asked that Australia provide assurances publicly that the cancellation of the multilateral conference was not a signal of their direction on missile defense should the issue be leaked. In the area of Space Policy, Minister Fitzgibbon thanked the United States for continued and growing close cooperation, acknowledging the benefits that Australia derives from such cooperation with the United States. ¶9. (S/NF) Comment: A sign of the inchoate deliberations of the new government on missile defense was evidenced later in the day as both sides prepared for the concluding press conference. Minister Fitzgibbon seemed prepared to make positive statements about the recent successful shootdown of a U.S. satellite, while rejecting missile defense concepts. In the end, he refrained from saying anything discordant in the press conference itself, but the back and forth discussion on the Australian side demonstrated that the new government is still feeling its way, and missile defense is one area where we can expect them to struggle. End comment. AUSMIN DEFENSE ACQUISITION COMMITTEE (ADAC) MEETING -------------- -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Air Chief Marshal Houston, Chief of the Defence Force, briefed the results of the ADAC meeting earlier in the month that had examined capability and procurement issues. Key outcomes included technology transfer issues that were resolved; discussion of implementation of the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaty after it is ratified; and the DECISION to embed the outcomes from the Interoperability Statement of Principles into ongoing efforts. MILITARY REPRESENTATIVES (MILREPS) REPORT -------------- ¶11. (S/REL AUS) Air Chief Marshal Houston also briefed the Q11. (S/REL AUS) Air Chief Marshal Houston also briefed the results of the September 2007 MILREPS meeting that he hosted with Admiral Keating. The meeting resulted in 22 action items focused on counterterrorism; maritime security collaboration, particularly in Indonesia and the Philippines; China and combined efforts; intelligence sharing, and exercises and training. Both Admiral Keating and Air Chief Marshal Houston noted that exercises like Talisman Sabre remained the bedrock of training for both sides. Talisman Sabre was a high-end capability exercise that provided an opportunity to test significant air and naval capabilities. Houston called such interaction "invaluable" to Australia's ability to maintain its strategic capabilities and was pleased that these exercises continued despite the high operational tempo maintained by both countries. POLICY PLANNING PARTNERSHIP -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Both sides noted the growing cooperation and CANBERRA 00000180 005 OF 005 efforts to exchange classified planning guidance and personnel, as well as to cooperate on defense planning scenarios. Minister Fitzgibbon indicated that Australia looked forward to commencing work in mid-2008 on further developing plans. COFFEE SESSION: AFGHANISTAN AND NATO, MISSILE DEFENSE, AND AIR COMBAT CAPABILITY REVIEW -------------- -------------- ¶13. (S/REL AUS) In an pre-AUSMIN early morning meeting, many of the topics were briefly discussed between Secretary Gates and Minister Fitzgibbon, including their mutual frustration with bringing NATO along on Afghanistan. Gates noted the need to make the process work better and move NATO ministerials from stilted, sterile processes to more dynamic sessions. France's return to NATO was an opportunity to restructure how NATO does business. At Bucharest, the United States and Australia should press NATO ministers to take up the public statement on Afghanistan to strengthen European public support for the long-term vision. Minister Fitzgibbon rejoined that Australia would like to get more visibility into internal NATO deliberations. On missile defense, Minister Fitzgibbon reiterated the need to postpone the multilateral missile defense conference until after the ALP conference and that the cancellation of the conference this year should not be seen as "a matter of policy change but of political management. We need to get our party platform on missile defense in order before holding the conference." He reassured Secretary Gates that there would be no public announcement of the postponement to avoid the perception of a policy change on missile defense. Minister Fitzgibbon discussed the Air Combat Capability Review that had just been announced. The Defence Minister stated that "aircraft acquisition is now a topic of broad public discussion; every man in every hotel (bar) is talking about F-18 Super Hornets" so the Labor government needs to do a public review. As part of that review, he asked for reassurance that the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) was on track, which Admiral Mullen confirmed. As for the F-22, Minister Fitzgibbon stated he has to ask for political reasons and asked for guidance as to what to do. Secretary Gates noted the Obey Amendment prohibiting foreign sales of F-22s was unlikely to change anytime soon. (Note: OSD/APSA advised Secretary Gates that any letter should be sent to DOD rather than to Congress.) ¶14. (U) Secretary Gates, PM Acting Assistant Secretary Mull, Q14. (U) Secretary Gates, PM Acting Assistant Secretary Mull, and EAP Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Davies cleared on this cable. MCCALLUM