AGENCIES INVOLVED IN BRAZIL'S SHOOTDOWN PROGRAM

S E C R E T STATE 070837 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2018 TAGS: MOPS PREL SNAR BS SUBJECT: AGENCIES INVOLVED IN BRAZIL'S SHOOTDOWN PROGRAM REFS: A. STATE 54183 ¶B. BRASILIA 806 ¶C. BRASILIA 805 ¶D. TELEPHONE CALL JUNE 13 ERATH-LEWANDOWSKI W/CHIANG-WIERZYNSKI Classified By: WHA DAS CHRISTOPHER J. MCMULLEN - REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See para 4 and 5. ¶2. (S) In response to reftels, State reiterates the critical importance of reviewing U.S. assistance to Brazil's Aerial Bridge Denial (Shootdown) program. This information is necessary to satisfy a specific request from POTUS prior to making the 2007 PD. The information would also allow Washington to make a better assessment on how to proceed with the 2008 Presidential Determination of Brazil's shootdown program. ¶3. (S) Prior to signing the 2007 Presidential Determination for Brazil's shootdown program, the President specifically asked which USG personnel and contractors were protected under the PD. To answer the President's inquiry, the NSC has requested that we provide information in the 2008 Memorandum of Justification describing which USG personnel and contractors are covered under the PD. By statute the President must sign the Presidential Determination by October 15, 2008. ¶4. (S) Action request: In order to assist the Department in preparing a response to the President's question, Post is requested to again query agencies represented at post for an evaluation of any USG assistance (defined broadly as funding, intelligence, information, equipment, training, or other types of assistance) to the GOB that could be used to locate, identify, track, or intercept a civilian aircraft. An evaluation of each type of relevant assistance should include: (a) a description (including the nature and frequency) of such assistance; (b) the manner in which it could be used to locate, identify, track or intercept a civilian aircraft; and (c) the names and titles of U.S. personnel and contractors who are involved in providing such assistance. ¶5. (S) Action request continued: The Department understands that, once this information is collected, parent agencies in Washington would need to be consulted to answer the separate question of whether the assistance described is enabled by the PD. To this end, we ask post to query the individual agencies at post for the names of their respective Washington policy and legal contacts, so that the Department may follow up on post's findings here in Washington. We emphasize that discussions with policy and legal staff here in Washington are not a substitute for the fact-gathering requested of post. Such fact-gathering is a prerequisite for further analysis in Washington, for satisfying the President's request, and for, ultimately, the PD itself. Post is best-situated to gather the facts in question. Post is requested to provide WHA/BSC complete descriptions of relevant assistance and the contact information by July 21. ¶6. (U) Please direct questions and responses to Benjamin Chiang in WHA/BSC, chiangbx(at)state.sgov.gov, and/or Greg Wierzynski in L, wierzynskigb2(at)state.sgov.gov. RICE