PANAMA: GREATER COORDINATION NEEDED ON TDN NOTES

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 000568

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM
SUBJECT: PANAMA: GREATER COORDINATION NEEDED ON TDN NOTES
FOR SOFA PRIVILEGES

Classified By: CHARGE DAVID R. GILMOUR FOR REASONS 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (U) This is an action request. See paragraph 4.

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Late Dipnotes Causing Problems
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2. (C) The process of obtaining privileges for U.S.
military forces operating on training or high value transit
(HVT) missions in Panama is not functioning adequately, due
to long delays by DOD and DOS in clearing the dipnotes needed
to request such privileges from the GOP. Because there is no
Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with Panama, SOFA-like
privileges require the exchange of a dipnote for each
mission, called Temporary Duty Notices (TDNs). The text of
the dipnote has been negotiated between the USG and the GOP,
and never changes, except for five specific data points for
each exercise. Despite the limited number of changes in each
note, the clearance process has become a serious challenge to
timely submission of these notes, which require a minimum of
ten business days lead time to give the MFA sufficient time
to process the requests. Post has experienced repeated
problems with late arrival of cables authorizing Post to send
the dipnotes to the MFA. The latest example was a six month
blanket request for SOFA-like privileges for the Mobile
Security Detachments that protect nuclear submarines
transiting the Panama Canal. Post was able to get the note
signed by the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs at 1703 local
time on July 4, minutes before the cut off time for canceling
the transit, and two days before the transit itself. Vice
Minister Meliton Arrocha signed the note despite not fully
understanding the process on his third day on the job, due to
the urgency of the case.


3. (C) A timeline of the dipnote process supplied by Post's
Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC) indicates that the draft
note was sent from SOUTHCOM to Joint Staff/OSD on December
16, 2008, and returned to SOUTHCOM for clarification on May

19. The note was not returned to JS/OSD until June 16, after
which it was sent to DOS on June 18, and sent to Post on June

22. The refusal of the outgoing government to sign anything
in the week before the Presidential Inauguration on July 1
held matters up until July, after which EmbOffs had to
heavily engage their new GOP counterparts immediately to
clear the note. Post had had to similarly engage with the
outgoing GOP a few weeks before to get a TDN approved for a
MARFORSOUTH marksmanship training exercise. The same thing
has happened on numerous occasions over the last year,
requiring Post to continually ask favors of high ranking MFA
officers to clear TDN requests that Post has submitted late.
In all cases, the extremely slow clearance process has been
responsible for the delay, with both DOD and DOS offices
responsible. In several cases, Post has had to consider
postponing training exercises or transits due to the delay in
receiving the TDN notes, and the short fuse requests to the
MFA. Post would like to point out that up to now, every event
has been able to go forward due to the outstanding
cooperation of the MFA in approving dipnotes that they had
received late.

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Please Take Ownership
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4. (C) Post requests that the component commands that
require TDNs for their engagement with Panama take
responsibility for tracking their TDN requests through the
clearance process. Post also requests that offices
responsible for clearing these notes in DOD and DOS aim to
have them ready for transmission to Post 30 days prior to
"boots on the ground" date when time allows, and at least ten
days out when it does not. Ten days is the GOP imposed
minimum, but does not provide an adequate margin for the
GOP's poor internal coordination, and unforeseen
contingencies. Post reminds clearing offices that the
language of the TDN dipnote cannot be changed, per our
agreement with the GOP, except for the five data points in
the first paragraph that related to the specific training
event.

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Points of Contact
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5. (U) For any questions on this issue please contact

Pol/Mil officer Eric Geelan, (geelane@state.gov, office
507-207-7002, cell 507-6400-4142) or ODC Navy Section Chief
LCDR Cory Christensen (cory.christensen@tcsc.southcom.mil,
office 507-207-7330, cell 507-6670-8336)
GILMOUR