COUNTERTERRORISM -- TRILATERAL GROUP MEETS TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000571

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/RSP, S/CT, INL,
DS/ICI/RFJ, DS/IP/EAP, DRL
INR FOR CHARLIE ZENZIE, HEIDI PANETTA
DOJ FOR CTS THORNTON, AAG SWARTZ
NSC FOR E.PHU

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2018
TAGS: PREL PTER PINS ID AS JA
SUBJECT: COUNTERTERRORISM -- TRILATERAL GROUP MEETS TO
COORDINATE ASSISTANCE

REF: 07 JAKARTA 2562

Classified By: Pol/C Joseph Legend Novak, reasons 1.4 (b+d).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Trilateral CT Working
Group--comprising the U.S., Australia, and Japan--held a
regular meeting on March 14 in Jakarta. The group reviewed
CT assistance programs. Mission continues to find the
Working Group highly useful in coordinating programs and
maximizing donor assistance. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Mission participated in a regular meeting of the
Trilateral CT group hosted by the Australian Embassy on March

14. (Note: The USG hosted the previous meeting held late
last year -- see reftel.) The group met to review and
coordinate CT assistance programs. At USG request, each
Mission brought a matrix of its programs.

AUSTRALIAN PROGRAMS


3. (C) Regarding its assistance programs, Australian
representatives related that the John Howard government had
originally approved over $9 million for maritime security
programs. The Rudd Administration has canceled the funding,
however, for budgetary reasons. If funding is re-instated
(which seems possible),the Australians want to provide
Indonesia port security training, including vessel and cargo
auditing and verification processes. A short course of 3-4
days is planned at seaports in Jakarta, Surabaya and Papua.
Each course will have about 25 attendees from the GOI port
authority.


4. (C) The Australians are also planning to build a police
communications center in the seaport of Manado, North
Sulawesi. Manado is in the heart of the tri-border region
(the area bordered by Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines) and is an active transit point for illegal
activity. The Indonesian Marine Police in Manado recently
received four USG-funded patrol boats to help monitor the sea
lanes for illegal trafficking in persons, terrorist activity,
weapons smuggling and other activities. Australian Customs
is working with GOI Customs officials to strengthen
interagency border cooperation by providing some seaports in
the tri-border area with on-line communications capabilities.

JAPANESE PROGRAMS


5. (C) According to Japanese representatives, the GoJ has
several small-scale CT projects with the GOI. These include
seminars on immigration control, border document examination
and training for immigration officers. The GoJ also provides
aviation security training through seminars, providing
security equipment like x-ray machines and closed-circuit
television monitors, and emergency planning exercises for
airport staff.


6. (C) The largest GoJ project involves training for
community policing. The GoJ trains INP officials on the
concept and practical application of community policing in
large cities and small towns alike. The value of community
policing is recognized by the INP, which has implemented it
in conflict areas like Poso, Central Sulawesi and Ambon,
Maluku. The GOJ also recently sent four Indonesians to its
Coast Guard Academy in Japan for a one-year course. The GOJ
plans to continue its CT support to the GOI for several more
years and review how the situation develops.

USG PROGRAMS


7. (C) U.S. representatives briefly reviewed our robust list
of projects in Indonesia, including in the tri-border region.
As touched on above, projects include the DOJ ICITAP
purchase of small patrol boats (30 feet in length) for the
Marine Police and building a Command Information Center in

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Jakarta to coordinate Marine Police patrols. ICITAP is also
providing training to the police regarding environmental
crimes, i.e., illegal logging, fishing and wildlife
smuggling. The Diplomatic Security Anti-Terrorism Assistance
(ATA) program is continuing to train the INP's elite
anti-terrorist unit, Special Detachment 88, in basic and
advanced tactical skills, and will host a U.S. Army Special
Forces training team in late July. The team will teach
helicopter medical evacuation techniques and emergency
medical skills to SD-88 members.


8. (C) USAID is continuing its Financial Crime Prevention
Project which began in 2004, as well as its Anti-Corruption
and Peace and Democracy Projects. The Department of Justice
is also supporting the Attorney General's taskforce on
Terrorism and Transnational Crime, while the Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) continues to work with the GOI on
counternarcotics investigations and arrests. The USG and
Australia are also sponsoring a Bulk Cash Courier workshop in
late April for regional law enforcement officials.

LEVERAGING ASSISTANCE


9. (SBU) Mission continues to find the Working Group highly
useful in coordinating programs and maximizing donor
assistance. The conversations at these meetings are often
frank: the Australian side, for example, mused about its
concern that Indonesia's interest in CT is lagging somewhat
due to its successes in this area. They noted that the GOI
seems increasingly interested in transnational crime. The
USG team responded that we have not observed a waning of GOI
interest in CT. Aside from the back-and-forth about the
general CT situation, the meetings are especially useful as
fora for information exchange and discussion of program
prioritization, factors that are key in this era of tight
budgets.

HUME