BUDAPEST RESPONSE FOR INFORMATION ON SECURITY

UNCLAS BUDAPEST 000821 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PM CHRISTOPHER PETRONE AND EUR/CE JAMIE MOORE. E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR HU SUBJECT: BUDAPEST RESPONSE FOR INFORMATION ON SECURITY DIALOGUES REF: SECSTATE 112900 ¶1. (SBU) Post provides the following responses to the questions posed in reftel: ¶2. (SBU) Does the United States currently have an established security dialogue with your country? -- There are currently no Bilateral Defense Cooperation (BDC) talks scheduled with Hungary. That said, within our Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) there are several on-going bilateral meetings. These include an FMF working group, which meets at a minimum bi-monthly to coordinate status of cases. On a yearly basis, these meetings will involve, as needed, senior Defense Logistics Agency leaders. Additionally, ODC holds periodic meetings with the Hungarian Link-16 community on the program status and coordination. ODC also conducts frequent meetings with the Hungarian Special Forces community on a wide range of issues, to include the status of a U.S.- provided Mobile Training Team. ODC also maintains a regular dialogue with the Hungarian Defense Ministry and Joint Forces Command (JFC) on current and future planning for the combined Ohio National Guard/Hungarian Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT),as well as the End Use Monitoring program for inspection coordination. There are also a series of general officer and staff officer visits from EUCOM and other U.S. agencies that are not part of a scheduled recurring dialogue, but which happen regularly enough to constitute meaningful engagement on a wide range of shared interests. ¶3. (SBU) When was the dialogue or mechanism first established? By what means was it established? Is the frequency of such meetings controlled through a binding agreement, or is this dialogue regulated by an informal understanding? -- The initial Bilateral Defense Cooperation talks and ODC dialogues were established in the 1990s. The existing ODC dialogues are conducted through informal understandings with the Hungarian MOD and Joint Forces Command. ¶4. (SBU) When did the group last meet? Does the USG or host government have a set schedule or any general expectations regarding the frequency of this exchange? When is the next scheduled meeting? -- The last Bilateral Defense Cooperation talks were with the Joint Staff in January 2005. -- However, two MINDEF trips to the U.S., in April 2007 and March 2009, included talks with senior U.S. officials, which successfully advanced understanding of shared goals and paths to meet them. -- DAO Budapest understands that OSD is considering establishing a regional BDC, combining a group of Central European countries for pol-mil talks, tentatively scheduled for 2010. ¶5. (SBU) Does the USG or host government hold any expectations as to the level of leadership hosting the exchange? -- Post would anticipate U.S. OSD DASD, Joint Staff Deputy Director, J-5, as the lead representatives for BDC talks. Hungarian participation would likely be led by the J-3 or the JFC Commander. ¶6. (SBU) Post's assessment regarding the overall utility of the dialogue. Are new issues frequently broached, or has the dialogue devolved into a stagnant exchange of power point slides? -- Post views the ODC bilateral dialogues as very useful for program planning and coordination. While formal BDC talks occurred almost five years ago, Post believes that bi-lateral discussions with the Hungarian MOD and HDF are beneficial in supporting Hungarian efforts to continue their force modernization and enhanced military capabilities in support of U.S. objectives. LEVINE