RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON CRITICAL

UNCLAS BERN 000099 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC ECON PTER PREL PGOV EAID EFIN SZ SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND KEY RESOURCES REF: STATE 015113 ¶1. Post has identified two entities that fit into the categories supplied by S/CT: the Swiss pharmaceutical industry and the Swiss banking system. ¶2. The Swiss pharmaceutical industry is located in Basel and produces internationally recognized products to combat Avian Influenza, cancer, tuberculosis, influenza, and other global illnesses. These same firms, lead by Novartis and Roche, import and store vast quantities of precursors to make the pharmaceutical products for the world and have supplies of drugs on their facilities, if needed, to react to global outbreaks of disease. Any actions that might disable or destroy these facilities could severely impact the World Health Organization's and the world's ability to react to a major pandemic or health crisis. ¶3. The Swiss financial system is the 4th largest in the world trailing only New York, London and Tokyo. The main center in Zurich and the secondary center in Geneva control one-third of the world's private overseas wealth (Sfr 3.82 trillion). Given the current global financial crisis, an attack that successfully shut down the system or severely crippled confidence in the banking system could significantly impact the global financial network and further escalate the severity of the global economic downturn. Institutions of note that are located in Switzerland include UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, Credit Suisse, and the Bank of International Settlements. CARTER