LEAHY VETTING FOR UPCOMING SWEDISH JCET

S E C R E T STOCKHOLM 000413 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/08/2019 TAGS: MARR PREL SW SUBJECT: LEAHY VETTING FOR UPCOMING SWEDISH JCET Classified By: A/DCM Marc Koehler for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (S) Post has reviewed electronic and other files on the Swedish unit, SSG S3, and its commander, Colonel Urban Molin, who have been invited to participate in a Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) in Sweden between US Naval Special Warfare Unit Two and the Swedish Special Forces to take place between November 2 and November 20, 2009. We have found no derogatory information or record of gross human rights violations for the unit or its commander listed below. Officer Name: Urban Molin Position: Swedish Special Forces, Commander DOB: May 19, 1960 Unit Name: SSG S3 ¶2. (S) The only notable incident found regarding the Swedish Special Forces occurred during EUFOR's Operation Artemis, a French-Swedish Mission in the Congo in July 2003. In this incident, French soldiers captured a Congolese man and brought him to the French-Swedish camp, where he reportedly was assaulted and tortured. Several Swedish soldiers notified their commander, Hans Alm, who had the French commander stop this activity. Alm, however, did not inform his superiors of this incident. An official report on this incident was not filed until 2007. ¶3. (S) Comment: Post does not feel that this incident marks a gross human rights violation on the part of the Swedish Armed Forces because no Swedes participated in the assault and the Swedish soldiers who did see the event reported it to their commander, who was involved in ending the incident. After the incident report in 2007, Hans Alm was removed from his position as SSG commander and replaced by Urban Molin, about whom there is no derogatory information. KIRKCONNELL