JORDAN OPEN TO HOSTING GICNT EXERCISE

UNCLAS AMMAN 000086 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA AND ISN/WMDT:SJPRESCOTT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PTER PREL KGIC JO SUBJECT: JORDAN OPEN TO HOSTING GICNT EXERCISE REF: SECSTATE 116421 (SBU) PolOff met on January 5 with Khaled Takhayneh, Deputy Director of the MFA's Bureau of International Organizations and also pointman on non-proliferation issues, to convey reftel points and nonpaper proposing that the GOJ sponsor a Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT) Exercise on Detecting and Responding to Smuggling of Illicit Nuclear Material. Takhayneh said that as long as funds were forthcoming from the USG, it was very likely Jordan would be interested. He added that he would be in contact with the director of the Cooperative Monitoring Center-Amman (CMC-A) to discuss the matter. Separately, PolEconCouns raised the proposed exercise with officials at CMC-A and was told that they were interested in hosting such an event, given its intersection with their focus. Post will follow up with relevant GOJ actors to obtain a date once we have more details on the sources of funding. Visit Amman's Classified Website at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman Beecroft