DEMARCHE REQUEST: FR MUST NOT BLOCK NATO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 STATE 091387 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2018 TAGS: EUN NATO PREL SUBJECT: DEMARCHE REQUEST: FR MUST NOT BLOCK NATO COUNTER-PIRACY DISCUSSION REF: A. REF A: USEU 1139 ¶B. REF B: USEU 1300 ¶C. REF C: NAIROBI 2021 ¶D. REF D: STATE 78367 Classified By: EUR/RPM DIR BRUCE TURNER FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) AND (d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request; please see paragraph 4. ¶2. (C) With respect to UNSCR 1816 and increasing acts of piracy off the Horn of Africa, Washington requests that USNATO raise the possibility of a NATO counter-piracy role at the August 27 North Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting, and in advance with supportive Allies in Brussels, and propose tasking NATO Military Authorities (NMAs) for advice (including but not limited to possible roles for the Standing NATO Maritime Group,s planned October transit of the relevant area). In advance of the NAC, Washington requests Embassy Paris and Embassy Madrid demarche the GOF and GOS to support this discussion and to allow the NAC to task the NMAs to review options to respond to this emerging security threat to Allies. Embassies Paris and Madrid should make clear the USG welcomes current French and Spanish national efforts in the Horn of Africa. While we would welcome any potential ESDP mission, the USG is concerned that it not draw from NATO or Operation Enduring Freedom assets, or be used to preclude a NATO role if NATO so decides. In that regard, we believe it urgently important that the EU and NATO share information and consider what the other may be doing in order to ensure transparency and prevent duplication. ¶3. (C) Finally, Posts should emphasize that Washington views the positive steps President Bush and President Sarkozy made with respect to NATO-EU cooperation at Bucharest as signaling a new era of transparency and coordination. In this spirit, members of neither organization should block necessary discussion in the other. ¶4. (C) Please deliver by COB Tuesday, August 26, and report on response by email. Points of contact are Peter Chisholm and Laura Lucas in EUR/RPM, and please copy Alejandro Baez and Jeffrey Workman at USNATO and Apar Sidhu at USEU. ¶5. (C) Background: In the past month or more, French and EU officials have approached USEU to inform the USG of possible EU anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa under UNSCR 1816. The EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) tasked the EU Military Staff with exploring options for such a mission and reporting back by September 2 (REFs A, B). French and EU officials have requested nonspecific direct bilateral cooperation between such an EU force and the United States via our assets in CTF-150, a coalition counter-terrorism naval force that supports Operation Enduring Freedom. Such U.S. bilateral military cooperation with an ESDP mission would be counter to stated U.S. policy that when the U.S. cooperates with Europe on defense and security matters, we prefer to do so through NATO. ¶6. (C) We note that on August 22, CTF-150 deployed three U.S. and four coalition ships on a mission to track several pirate ships off the Horn of Africa in the wake of a series of attacks on August 21 (REF C). Earlier and of particular concern, on August 7, Canada already had diverted, by national decision, a ship previously committed to the Standing NATO Maritime Group, to take up escort duties for World Food Program ships threatened by pirates as they deliver food into Somalia in support of the UNSCR. ¶7. (C) Given the threat of piracy to NATO Allies, the current use of NATO and coalition assets in national counter-piracy missions, and the likely further peeling off of the same assets for an ESDP mission, Washington believes that it is critical that NATO members task the NMAs to review options for NATO response to piracy, and to consult with the EU on its planning already near completion. STATE 00091387 002 OF 002 NATO is a logical venue for European (including EU), Canadian, and other Alliance Partner nations to discuss cooperation and deconfliction of current and potential national, coalition, Allied, and/or EU missions. ¶8. (C) After waiting several weeks after initial socialization of the issue to give Paris and Madrid time to appreciate U.S. views of NATO equities, the U.S. will raise a tasking to NMAs in the August 27 NAC. ¶9. (U) Talking points: -- The U.S. Mission to NATO plans to raise the increasing threat to Allies of piracy in the Horn of Africa at the North Atlantic Council meeting on Wednesday August 27. The U.S. will ask that the NAC task the NMAs with reviewing possible NATO counter-piracy responses. -- It is clear that counter-piracy missions already involve a significant number of NATO Allies, given that Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 will be in the area on a training mission throughout much of the fall and that Allied members are diverting assets previously committed to this NATO Group, or committing assets from other coalition forces in the area, specifically CTF-150, to perform national counter-piracy missions and a potential ESDP mission in December. -- The United States is keen to work with Allies and EU partners to pursue greater security cooperation as effectively as possible, including potential counter-piracy efforts. As you know, our preference is to work together through NATO when we cooperate with Europe on security and defense issues. -- The U.S. understands that there are instances when the EU will decide to conduct its own operations where NATO is not engaged, such as the current Chad ESDP Mission. In instances in which NATO has not yet made a decision to be engaged, however, Allies should not block discussion of possible NATO action simply because the EU is already involved. In any situation where the U.S. may potentially be involved, we will continue to prefer to define that interaction with the EU in and through NATO. -- There is a single pool of capabilities of all kinds for crises where NATO, the EU, or both may be involved. Therefore, cooperation is a natural imperative. -- The U.S. is not a member of the EU; NATO offers a forum where we can sit at the same table with our European Allies on an equal footing. We believe that our European Allies recognize the political and practical capabilities that we contribute. There are also compelling practical military operational reasons for using NATO. -- More general NATO-EU talking points can be found in REF D. RICE