UNITED NATIONS PARTICIPATION IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000160

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FROM AMBASSADOR KHALILZAD FOR D, M, IO, L AND DSS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OFDP AEMR AMGT UN
SUBJECT: UNITED NATIONS PARTICIPATION IN CRISIS MANAGEMENT



1. I have received a February 5 letter from Vijay Nambiar,
SYG Ban's chief of staff, in which he asks me for assistance
in arranging engagement between the UN and the USG "at the
highest level" to ensure operational cohesion and "prudent
planning in the event of a security crisis" presumably
resulting from a natural disaster, pandemic, or terrorist
attack. The text of the letter follows in paragraph 2 below.
The UN's Under-Secretary-General for Security, Sir David
Veness, was invited to participate in the Summer 2007 TOPOFF
IV exercise and found it very useful and productive. Nambiar
and Veness and their teams would like to be kept abreast of
new developments and plans in the area of crisis management
response so that the UN's own security plans function in
tandem with those of the USG and state/local authorities.
The UN would also like to participate as appropriate in
DHS-led or interagency security exercises especially in New
York, but elsewhere as may be indicated. I endorse the UN's
request and would like to be responsive to Nambiar as to how
and with whom coordination might best be achieved.


2. Begin text of Nambiar letter: I have the honour to
write to you on the subject of crisis management and response
as it relates to the possible needs of the United Nations in
emergency circumstances.

I am cognizant of the fact that since 2005, great strides
have been made in the United States domestic preparedness and
coordination mechanisms, including the National Response Plan
(NRP) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS). At
the same time, the United Nations have also been working
diligently to improve its crisis management resources under
the auspices of its Senior Emergency Preparedness Team (SEPT)
which I chair, and which is composed of the senior-most
management within the United Nations Secretariat. The SEPT
oversees our Crisis Operation Group (COG),which is chaired
by Mr. David Veness, Under-Secretary-General for Safety and
Security.

In October 2007, Mr. Veness had the opportunity to engage
with your authorities in their latest biennial exercise
TOPOFF IV. Many valuable lessons emerged from Mr. Veness,
participation in this exercise, but more importantly, it only
confirmed how vital it is for the United Nations to be known
and understood in the middle of an emergency by those
entities in the United States system who would be leading and
coordinating the host country response in the event of a
crisis, for example, the Department of Homeland Security.

To proceed with our efforts, we have identified those organs
and departments of the United Nations Secretariat that are
core to the essential functioning of the United Nations and
would need to be able to continue to function in the event of
domestic crisis, assuming different scenarios. These include
the Security Council, the General Assembly, the
Secretary-General and his office, the Department of

SIPDIS
Peacekeeping Operations, Situation Centre, the Office of
Humanitarian Affairs, the Department of Management (essential
functions),as well as the SEPT, COG and, of course, the
Department of Safety and Security.

Although many of our senior officials are already engaged on
a very cooperative and productive working level with their
counterparts in various host country agencies on a variety of
safety, security and operational concern, we still need,
nevertheless, to ensure prudent planning with those United
States authorities who would be leading the response in the
event of a crisis. In this respect, I would be very grateful
for your assistance in furthering our engagement with the
relevant United States authorities at the highest level.
This would indeed be a very valuable action and one that
would ensure that we have optimum crisis management
capabilities in place that function in tandem with the crisis
management capabilities of our host country.

I should welcome the opportunity to meet with you at your
convenience, to provide any further clarifications you may
need at this point or to discuss how best to move this
proposal forward.

Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest
consideration. End Text.
KHALILZAD