EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL STRATEGIC

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 NICOSIA 000194

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019
TAGS: PTER PREL EAID ASEC GR TU CY
SUBJECT: EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL STRATEGIC
INITIATIVE (RSI) CHIEFS OF MISSION MEETING, FEBRUARY 24,
2009

Classified By: Ambassador Frank C. Urbancic for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)

Summary
--------------


1. (C) Meeting in Nicosia February 24, U.S. Ambassadors and
interagency representatives covering the Eastern
Mediterranean RSI region discussed ways to strengthen
counterterrorism efforts in an environment characterized by
new migration waves from the Middle East to Europe, the
aftermath of the Israeli operation in Gaza, best practices
developed to date for countering violent extremism, and the
potential for new developments in the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process and the international community's relationship
to Syria. Participants agreed on the desirability of
bundling regional projects--including current proposals for
U.S. law enforcement training in a
number of Eastern Med countries--in order both to
maximize the return on our investment and to build a
stronger regional base for combating transnational
threats. Participants also discussed the most effective ways
to reach populations at risk of radicalization as well as
other audiences, with an emphasis on thinking through
messaging strategies in advance of potential changes in the
international context. End Summary.

The Migration Challenge in the Region
--------------


2. (C) The meeting, hosted by Ambassador Urbancic and Embassy
Nicosia, was attended by U.S. Embassies Athens, Sofia,
Ankara, Beirut, Amman, Tel Aviv, Cairo, the Consulate General
in Jerusalem, interagency representatives from State (S/CT,
DS, and INR),Justice, DHS, Treasury, USAID, the National
Counterterrorism Center (NCTC),and DOD COCOMs (SOCOM,
CENTCOM, and EUCOM),as well as UK FCO Counterterrorism
Director Robert Chatterton Dixon. Embassy Damascus was
unable to attend. S/CT Coordinator Dailey launched the
discussion by noting the importance of thinking regionally or
sub-regionally to identify problems and possible solutions.
Several Ambassadors quickly provided an example: the
cross-cutting problem of illegal migration. Ambassador
Speckhard (Greece) stressed the importance of a multinational
solution, incorporating all countries on the migration route
in an effort to manage flows and identify terrorists. He
noted that Greece had been particularly hard hit, with over
140,000 illegal migrants in 2008, many of whom came from
conflict zones in the Middle East and transited Turkey before
entering Greece. He called for creating a searchable
biometric database of known terrorists that could be put in
the hands of borderofficials, stressing that the EU should be
more active of support of EU front line states.


3. (C) Ambassador Urbancic (Cyprus) added that Cyprus
shared the same migration problems. He said that although
the numbers were lower, the risk was exacerbated by the lack
of border enforcement against illegal aliens who enter Cyprus
in the areas administered by Turkish Cypriots and then cross
the Green Line, the UN- patrolled buffer zone, into the
Republic of Cyprus and the EU. Noting that half of the
people who take the ferry from Syria to Turkish
Cypriot-administered northern Cyprus do not go back -- not to
mention those who arrive in the north on small boats --
Urbancic warned that this "back door" to Europe was almost
totally open. Embassy Sofia DCM Karagiannis said Bulgaria
was increasingly facing illegal migration challenges as well,
and that while the country had not received funding from the
EU to address migration, it had imported EU requirements that
made enforcement more difficult.


Building Capacity of Law Enforcement
--------------


4. (S) Ambassador Dailey announced that he expected
larger budgets for a number of counterterrorism programs,
including Anti-Terrorism Assistance (ATA),countering
terrorist finance, TIP-PISCES, and RSI. The PISCES increase
would expand the software program to supplement the current
name-based records with biometric information. A number of
participants stressed the importance of biometric information
to make any database effective. Dailey noted that S/CT would
soon be traveling to Jordan in connection with a conference
on this subject, and said he would be in touch with other
Eastern Med posts about the possibility of expanding the
PISCES program geographically. DOD participants described
ongoing efforts to make PISCES compatible with other
intelligence-derived bio databases, and expressed hope that
this would open the door to law enforcement doing real-time

NICOSIA 00000194 002 OF 003


checks of suspect individuals against this data in the field.
DHS DAS Warrick described the Passenger Name Record (PNR)
and related initiatives to identify air travelers, and U.S.
efforts with the EU and Turkey to improve cooperation.


5. (C) A number of Eastern Med embassies have recently
submitted overlapping requests for law enforcement
training, much of it with DS/ATA. Cyprus, Greece, Bulgaria,
Jordan, and Lebanon, among others, share problems related to
illegal migration and/or limited local capacity. Ambassador
Speckhard noted that Greece faces the threat of both
transnational terrorist networks who could make use of the
migration waves and an increasingly violent home-grown
terrorist presence. Both categories are anti-American and
they could potentially cooperate with each other. Those
posts with current ATA programs spoke favorably of their
effectiveness, and ConGen Jerusalem added that it hoped to
expand the programs beyond the Palestinian Authority's
Presidential Guard. Ambassador Sison (Lebanon) said there is
political will in Lebanon to tackle certain Sunni extremist
groups, as has been recently demonstrated, even if there is
none for taking on Hizballah or certain Palestinian
rejectionist groups. She also cited section 1207 and INL
funding for community policing of the Nahr al-Bared
Palestinian refugee camp once it re-opens as an example of
feasible ways to conduct counterterrorism and countering
violent extremism (CVE) training in Lebanon. Amman DCM
Mandel noted the extensive regional law enforcement training
taking place in Jordan, and the Jordanians' active approach
and willingness to expand training in a number of
counterterrorism areas.


6. (C) Ambassador Dailey pointed to the Nicosia, ATA-funded
law enforcement training proposal as an example of
effectively drawing together multiple countries in the
region, and all participants agreed on the value of bundling
such proposals into regional or sub-regional packages.
Ambassador Speckhard noted that posts may be able to develop
a strategy for framing training programs when presenting them
to host governments, in order to help senior leadership
understand the goals of the programs and undertake
institutional reforms to make the training stick. DS/ATA
Deputy Director Tibbetts welcomed the idea. DOJ OPDAT
Director Berman briefed on plans for a model two-year program
to bring together a group of officials from Eastern
Mediterranean countries for counter-terrorism training and
exercises.

Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)
--------------


7. (S) S/CT Strategic Communications Officer Goldman
briefed the group on best practices and current programs for
CVE, including addressing the grievances terrorists exploit.
Several Embassies and ConGen Jerusalem expressed interest in
expanded CVE work. USAID's Cairo-based OMEP Director Barth
stressed the importance of understanding "routes to terror,"
including alienation, and how to deal with them by reaching
out to youth and facilitating social networks. S/CT
officials cited the new women's organization Sisters Against
Violent Extremism
(SAVE) as a promising example. RADM Tillotson (CENTCOM)
offered a preview of the conclusions of the Joint Strategic
Assessment Team (JSAT),noting that they would have a strong
focus on CVE -- including understanding causes and
synchronizing efforts -- as well as strengthening partner
nations' counterterrorism laws and capacity building.
Tillotson also stressed the importance of interagency
cooperation in measuring the success of CVE efforts, while
NCTC Admiral Maguire said work was ongoing within the
Administration on CVE and messaging for dealing with
different environments. Ambassador Dailey asked participants
to think through potential messaging strategies in the event
the situation in the Middle East shifted, including if there
was progress on the peace process or a change in U.S.
relations with Syria.

Prospects in the Middle East
--------------


8. (C) Middle Eastern posts briefed on the situation
following the Israeli operation in Gaza, with Tel Aviv
PolCouns Sievers saying the two options in Gaza were the
Egyptian-negotiated cease-fire, including stopping the
smuggling of weapons and re-opening of the border crossing
with Egypt, or Israel returning to Gaza to destroy the Hamas
regime. A consensus of participants believed that Hamas had
lost popularity in Gaza, but it was unclear what alternatives
existed because no one would want to rule Gaza, including
Fatah, if the scenario made it look like the Israelis had

NICOSIA 00000194 003 OF 003


installed Fatah in power, according to the ConGen Jerusalem
representative. Ambassador Sison said that Hizballah
remained strong in Lebanon, and was viewed as the
"resistance" rather than a terrorist organization by more
than just the country's one-third Shia
population. Sison noted that key Lebanese leaders are
interested in overturning the past precedent of not
policing Palestinian refugee camps and in shutting down the
existing armed Palestinian military bases in Lebanon (the
latter being suspected conduits for smuggling to Hizballah).
These moves would be in U.S. interests as well -- and the
re-opening of Nahr al-Bared could be a step in that
direction. Several participants stressed the role of Iran as
primary financial backer of Hizballah and other extremist
groups, although Sison noted that Iran's "train-the-trainer"
efforts had significantly improved Hizballah's capacity to
administer its own affairs.


Kongra Gel (PKK)
--------------


9. (S) Ambassador Dailey told participants that S/CT Deputy
Coordinator Schlicher would soon travel to key capitals to
share declassified information about PKK financial networks.
Ankara PolCouns O'Grady said this would be welcomed by
Turkey, which is concerned that European capitals are turning
a blind eye to the PKK's funding and criminal acts. O'Grady
reviewed the elements of Turkey's approach to the Kurdish
region, and said upcoming local elections would be an
indication of how well the ruling party's efforts have
succeeded there.

Next Steps
--------------


10. (S) Participants agreed on the following steps coming out
of the meeting:

-- Move ahead with bundling regional law enforcement
training proposals, especially those already submitted by
several posts. Consider options for a DS/ATA assessment
team, likely to visit Cyprus in the summer, to also conduct
an assessment in Greece on the same trip. Look for
opportunities to do multi-country training sessions.
Embassies will negotiate with host countries on receptiveness.

-- Coordination between S/CT, Embassy Athens and other
relevant posts about options for expanding the PISCES progam.

-- Look for further opportunities for CVE efforts,
including putting the SAVE organization in contact with Greek
Foreign Ministry organizers of a planned women against
terrorism conference.

-- Ensure strong interagency participation in an upcoming
June 3-5 conference in Istanbul on sharing best practices for
preventing terrorist travel in the region. Participants will
include Eastern Med countries, the EU, and others, with input
to be sought from posts.

-- Engage with EU counterparts on the PKK, including during
the upcoming Schlicher trip.

-- Continue to work on turning the multi-country DOJ program
into a reality, dealing with country arrangements, site, and
other issues.

-- Synchronize CENTCOM JSAT assessment with priorities of
National Intelligence Program (NIP).

-- Resolve outstanding DS security issues related to VIP
visits to the region, including possible DS re-engagement in
Gaza.

-- Engage the Government of Turkey to encourage their
acceptance of an Advanced Passenger Information/Passenger
Name Record system.


11. (SBU) Athens volunteered to host the next RSI meeting.
Ambassador Dailey proposed including a short time early in
the next RSI meeting for separate smaller-group discussions
focused on the northern and southern halves of the Eastern
Med region.



12. (U) This cable has been cleared by S/CT Ambassador Dailey.

Urbancic