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 TIRANA 00000803 002 OF 003 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 TIRANA 00000803 003 OF 003 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.