EXBS ALBANIA REPORTING CABLE FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2009

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TIRANA 000803

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

STATE FOR ISN/ECC - JFRIEDMAN, ACHURCH, JBALDWIN, LSPRINGER
STATE FOR EUR/ACE
USCBP INA FOR BSUBER
SECDEF FOR DTRA MMYERS
VIENNA PLEASE PASS TO ICE ATTACHE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP AL
SUBJECT: EXBS ALBANIA REPORTING CABLE FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2009


1. (U) BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS

--None.


2. (U) COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD

See paragraphs 4 and 5 below discussing equipment and training.


3. (SBU) MEETINGS DURING REPORTING PERIOD

--October 14-15: Maritime Advisor (MA) met with the State Export
Control Agency and Customs in connection with a USG interagency
assessment team (Prototype Deployable Assistance and Assessment
Team) to discuss USG assistance provided to these agencies in an
effort to identify gaps and commonalities. Both agencies reported
excellent and much needed support by the USG and EXBS as well as the
international community. Specific items of note from the meetings
are that AKSHE is now working with the State Intelligence Service,
Customs will have joint regulations with the Border Police by the
end of 2009, and Customs has a judicial police team on payroll; this
team reports to the Prosecutor's Office but Customs pays their
salary. The team's assessment report will be forthcoming in December

2009.

--October 22: MA met with the Commander of RENEA (Unit for the
Neutralization of Armed Elements),Luigj Vathi, the Deputy
Commander, Besim Sakajani and Equipment Specialist, Pellumb Nili.
Training for dealing with a radiological event as well as a
radionuclide identifier were requested; MA suggested setting up a
meeting with the Radiation Protection Office and Center for Applied
Nuclear Physics to discuss roles, responsibilities and response
options and RENEA was agreeable. RENEA also requested a dive course;
there seem to be issues with obtaining dive certification as RENEA
stated that there is no entity in Albania licensed to certify divers
so they must travel outside of Albania to obtain certification.
They cited concerns that if there was a dive incident, RENEA could
be faulted if they were using uncertified divers.

--November 9: MA met with the new Commander of the Naval School,
Commander Bekim Godo in conjunction with the start of the USCG
Coastal Search and Rescue Course. MA informed him of inbound
equipment that EXBS has ordered for the school based on discussions
with the previous school commander.

--November 11: MA met with the Commander and Deputy Commander of the
Navy's Southern Flotilla, Captain Mecollari and Commander Agastra to
discuss personal protective equipment (PPE) for Navy/Coast Guard
personnel. There are approximately 150 personnel total from the
Northern and Southern Flotillas that need to be outfitted with PPE.
They also requested assistance with equipment to establish a
training facility (laptop, projector and printer). Due to the Naval
School currently being under TRADOC rather than directly under the
Navy CNO, there is a significant lag time to get an officer to
training at the school because requests must be approved through
multiple channels. Southern Flotilla would like to have an in-house
capability to provide training for its officers to counter this lag
time.

--November 17: MA participated in bilateral meetings between NAVEUR
representatives and the Chief of Staff at Albanian Naval
Headquarters, Captain Roland Nasto. Key topics included upcoming
training and coordination between EXBS, ODC and DAO's office. Since
EXBS is sending several officers to the USCG International Maritime
Officers Course, ODC will reprogram some of the funding it would
have used to send officers to this course and use it in areas where
EXBS cannot provide support, such as information technology training
and radar operation and maintenance training. The warranty on the
Lockheed Martin radar system will end in March 2010 and the Albanian
Navy will be responsible for all maintenance and repairs and are
presently ill-equipped to meet this need. During the meeting, it was
noted several times that language skills for Albanian Naval
Officers is a problem. ODC asked why this was the case since ODC had
sent two officers to the US for language training and had provided

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equipment to set-up a language lab at every unit to teach Level 1
and 2 English and a language lab at the Naval School to teach Level
3 and 4 English. The issues with the Naval School being under TRADOC
were cited as the reason for the lack of use of the language lab
there and said that one of the officers trained in English had left
the service and the other had been transferred to another unit.
Other requests for training include mechanical and electrical
training for ships and the radar system, anti-terrorism courses,
crisis management courses, tactical level courses and on-the-job
training and specialty courses for non-commissioned officers.

--November 20: MA met with the Durres Port Director in conjunction
with the closing of the USCG Coastal SAR Course. The Durres Port
Director has assisted EXBS with providing the use of the Port's
training room for EXBS events and agreed to provide use of the
training room again for an upcoming Container Inspection Course.

--November 24: In discussions with Arben Ibroja, former Durres
Customs House Director, MA learned that he had been transferred from
that position and now serves in the Foreign Relations Directorate at
Customs Headquarters. The new Director of the Durres Customs House
is the former Deputy General Director of Customs, Mr. Bujar Vukaj.
MA discussed the upcoming Container Inspection Training and provided
the agenda for input from Mr. Ibroja as well as Mr. Vukaj to ensure
a tailored course that meets the needs of the Durres officers.

MONTENEGRO

--November 18: MA met with the Montenegro (Mne) Border Police
Maritime Unit at the Port of Bar, specifically, Mr. Darko
Vasilijevic, Head of Maritime Unit; Mr. Dejan Jankovic, Deputy of
Maritime Unit and Mr. Zoran Gogic, Patrol Boat Commander; to discuss
issues with outboard engines donated by the USG through the
Montenegro Border Security Program. In February/March 2005, the Mne
Border Police received two aluminum hull 25' Workskiff boats
outfitted with two outboard engines per boat. The outboard engines
on these boats were replaced with greater horsepower engines in
April/May 2006. These replacement engines were Mercury Verados,
each 250 horsepower. They received five engines total - two engines
for each boat with a fifth engine as a spare. After running the
Verados for approx 300 hours, the Border Police started having
problems with the engines not holding oil. They have been working
with the Mercury dealer in Salzburg and the local representative in
Montenegro who is authorized to service Mercury engines for the past
2+ years to fix this problem, to no avail. The latest fix took place
in October 2009 when new engine long blocks were replaced in four of
the five engines. The fifth engine has never been run and nothing
has been done with it. To date, the Border Police have tested two of
the four engines since the replacement of the long blocks and are
already having problems with one of the engines after 20 working
hours. Border Police will start testing the other two engines
during the remainder of November. EXBS course of action is to pursue
complete replacement of these outboards if this latest attempt to
repair the current outboards fails.

--November 25: MA met with Mr. Dejan Jankovic of the Mne Border
Police to inspect the boats/engines that they are currently
operating. The Border Police are still in the process of running the
trials on the Mercury Verado outboards, one of two is inoperable
after approximately 20 hours so that boat is not being used and they
are still in the process of running trials on the second boat with
the remaining two outboards to test their performance. An update
will be provided by the Border Police in early December. The Border
Police also have one Mercury Optimax outboard engine that is
inoperable due to vandals putting sugar in the tank. This engine is
now being used for parts. One Evinrude outboard is inoperable and
the Border Police requested diagnostic software so they can diagnose
and repair the problem.


4. (U) TRAINING CONDUCTED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD

--October 26-30: DOD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency conducted a
five-day course entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction Investigative

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Analysis Course". Twenty-one participants from Customs, Border
Police, State Intelligence Service, Civil Emergencies Directorate,
Center for Applied Nuclear Physics and the Prosecutor Generals
Office attended the course.

--October 26-November 6: A representative from the State Export
Control Agency and a representative from Customs attended a two-week
session at the University of Georgia's Export Control Academy.

--November 2-5: EXBS, in conjunction with IAEA, provided a Combating
Illicit Trafficking in Nuclear and Radioactive Materials course.
Participants from Customs, Border Police, Navy/Coast Guard, State
Intelligence Service, RENEA, Radiation Protection Office, Center for
Applied Nuclear Physics and the Civil Emergencies Directorate
participated in the course.

--November 9-20: EXBS funded a Coastal Search and Rescue Course
delivered by instructors from the U.S. Coast Guard in Vlore and
Durres. The purpose of the course was to hone the navigation skills
of maritime law enforcement officers. Forty-eight officers total
from Border Police, Customs, Delta Force, Harbor Master and the
Navy/Coast Guard participated in the training.


5. (U) EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD

--October: Maritime Advisor delivered twelve personal radiation
detection pagers to RENEA (Unit for the Neutralization of Armed
Elements).


6. (SBU) IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS REPORT:

--December 3-4: EXBS is funding delivery of an Investigating and
Prosecuting Export Control Violations Course to be delivered by the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Participants from Customs, Border Police, Prosecutor General's
Office, State Export Control Agency and the State Intelligence
Service will participate in the course.

--January 7-May 5: EXBS is funding the participation of one
Navy/Coast Guard officer to attend the USCG's Officer Candidate
School followed by a Boarding Officer Course and two weeks of
on-the-job training.

--December: Equipment for the State Export Control Agency is due to
arrive in early December. This equipment is for implementation of
the TRACKER automated licensing system.



7. (SBU) SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS,
NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY

--None.


8. (U) PORTAL MONITOR ALERTS

-- None.


9. (U) RED FLAG ISSUES

-- None.


10. (U) POC: LT Cari Bower, email: bowerc@state.gov.