Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09UNVIEVIENNA76
2009-02-20 15:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UNVIE
Cable title:  

IAEA: MOVING NUCLEAR SECURITY INTO THE MAINSTREAM

Tags:  AORC ENRG TRGY KNNP IAEA PTER 
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VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUNV #0076/01 0511545
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201545Z FEB 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9039
RHMCSUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEANFA/NRC WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHII/VIENNA IAEA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000076 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO/T, ISN/MNSA, ISN/NESS, ISN/RA
NA-243-GOOREVICH/BRUNNS; NA-241 O'CONNOR, LAMONTAGNE
NRC FOR OIP - HENDERSON, SCHWARTZMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC ENRG TRGY KNNP IAEA PTER
SUBJECT: IAEA: MOVING NUCLEAR SECURITY INTO THE MAINSTREAM

Ref: A) UNVIE 52, B) UNVIE 65

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

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000076

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO/T, ISN/MNSA, ISN/NESS, ISN/RA
NA-243-GOOREVICH/BRUNNS; NA-241 O'CONNOR, LAMONTAGNE
NRC FOR OIP - HENDERSON, SCHWARTZMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC ENRG TRGY KNNP IAEA PTER
SUBJECT: IAEA: MOVING NUCLEAR SECURITY INTO THE MAINSTREAM

Ref: A) UNVIE 52, B) UNVIE 65

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


1. (SBU) In 2001, shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks,
the IAEA Board of Governors began a process of strengthening the
Secretariat's role in preventing nuclear terrorism. The Agency has
since adopted a "Nuclear Security Plan," the latest version of which
expires at the end of 2009. As Washington considers how to
operationalize the President's desire to strengthen the IAEA,
including via additional resources (ref A),Mission recommends
making it a key priority to give the IAEA's nuclear security
activities increased prominence. Director General ElBaradei
recommended in 2001 that nuclear security activities be viewed as a
core Agency function and funded from the regular budget. However,
today the Office of Nuclear Security (ONS) functions for all
practical purposes as an appendage of the old Department of Nuclear
Safety (albeit the department has been renamed "Nuclear Safety and
Security"). Of the approximately 45 professional staff in ONS, four
are funded from the regular budget. In total, 90 percent of nuclear
security program activities are funded via extrabudgetary
contributions from only a few member states, with a total investment
of 20 million representing 5 percent of the IAEA budget.


2. (SBU) Mission believes a significant increase in regular budget
for ONS, at least to cover the staff necessary to implement such a
high-priority program, is long overdue. At the same time, we should
continue to support specific IAEA security-related projects via
increased extrabudgetary funding. Enhancing the IAEA's nuclear
security activities is one issue on which we may be able to partner
effectively with DG ElBaradei for the remainder of his term, perhaps
even to lay the groundwork for making nuclear security a separate,
fully empowered department or office within the IAEA bureaucracy, as
we would recommend. Raising the profile of security as a core
function, while endorsing better communication and cooperation with

nuclear safety activities, is crucial. End Summary.

--------------
Maturing Nuclear Security Activities...
--------------


3. (SBU) The IAEA Board of Governors first approved a "Nuclear
Security Plan of Activities" in 2002. A refreshed and somewhat
expanded nuclear security plan covering the years 2006-2009 was
adopted by the Board in 2005. Agency activities pursuant to these
plans have established the IAEA as a critical resource for assisting
member states to meet their international legal obligations,
including UNSC Resolution 1540 and subsequent resolutions, as well
as for general assistance to states to prevent, detect, and respond
to malicious acts involving nuclear and other radioactive materials.
The Agency plays a major role in facilitating USG efforts to reduce
the terrorist risk by securing nuclear and other radioactive
materials, removing and disposing of dangerous excess and unwanted
radiological sources, and minimizing the use/availability of high
enriched uranium (HEU) via HEU fuel repatriation, conversion of
HEU-operated research reactors to low enriched uranium (LEU),and
shutting down underutilized reactors (to be replaced, perhaps, by
shared regional reactors). The Agency also plays a major role in
promoting security training and providing guidelines and regulatory
assistance to its Member States to build a strong nuclear security
culture worldwide.


4. (SBU) The general modus operandi for the Agency's nuclear
security activities is to provide specific assistance to member
states upon their request, but the Agency is increasingly proactive
in first helping member states define their needs, gaps, and
shortfalls in order to make such specific requests. This is a trend
the U.S. supports and the IAEA should reinforce. While the
responsibility for the security of nuclear and other radioactive
materials rests ultimately with States, and adherence to Agency
guidelines and recommendations related to enhancing security is
voluntary, the national authorities of most Member States rely
heavily on the Agency for technical support, assistance,
information, and funding to develop and implement an effective
nuclear security program within and across their national borders.


5. (SBU) Overlap with Technical Assistance (TC): The Technical
Cooperation Program has provided a mechanism for the delivery of
some nuclear security activities in Member States. Historically, TC
has served as a vehicle for the DOE Global Threat Reduction
Initiative (GTRI) to provide funding and technical assistance to
convert research reactors from HEU to LEU fuel. In addition,
projects established within the Technical Cooperation Program
provide the delivery vehicle for nuclear security training courses

and, in some cases, for technical assistance from the Office of
Nuclear Security. Other assistance is delivered directly or in
cooperation with other offices in the Department of Nuclear Safety
and Security, or through the Departments of Nuclear Energy,
Safeguards, the Legal Advisor, and EXPO.


6. (SBU) Funding: Activities included in the Nuclear Security
Program are primarily funded from extrabudgetary contributions to
the Nuclear Security Fund (NSF). A small amount of funding, for
limited personnel/administrative costs, is provided via the regular
budget. As a result, roughly 90 percent of the Agency's nuclear
security programs are funded by extra budgetary contributions from a
handful of Member States. This is in contrast to funding for
nuclear safety and safeguards, which are largely funded via the
regular budget, but also receive extrabudgetary contributions.


7. (SBU) While the overall budget of the IAEA is approximately 300
Million Euros for CY2009, the average overall budget of the IAEA's
Office of Nuclear Security (ONS) comes to approximately 15 Million
Euros (only 5 percent of the IAEA's annual budget),counting both
extrabudgetary and regular budget funds. It is important to recall
that in presenting the funding options to the Board in 2001 for
prospective IAEA nuclear security activities (GOV/2001/50),DG
ElBaradei said he believed regular budget funding was appropriate,
given that he believed nuclear security should be one of the core
activities of the Agency. At the time, however, due to the zero
real growth budget policy and in the interest of finding a funding
solution quickly to facilitate contributions, the Board decided to
create the extrabudgetary NSF. In so doing, Board members suggested
the funding mechanism be revisited at a later date.


8. (SBU) As of December 2007, a total of $62.8 million had been
contributed to the NSF from 31 Member States and one U.S.
nongovernmental organization (Nuclear Threat Initiative),with the
USG providing over $37.4 million (over 59 percent of the total extra
budgetary funding). The next largest contributors are the European
Commission, United Kingdom and Canada, who together with the USG
make up 90 percent of all extrabudgetary contributions for nuclear
security activities to date. Several Member States have made
in-kind contributions to the program by providing cost-free experts,
offers of services, equipment and/or the use of facilities. The
majority of contributions come with conditions for use. Specific
use of the donations is discussed and agreed with a donor State
before the contribution, in order to preclude gaps in funding of
activities and overlapping donations. About 20 percent of the
Agency's Member States provide funds to the NSF. Continuing to rely
on a small number of major donors via extrabudgetary funding puts
long-term optimal implementation of nuclear security programs at
risk.

--------------
... Should Be Given Increased
Budgetary, Bureaucratic Prominence
--------------
-

9. (SBU) At the March 2002 Board meeting, when the NSF was
established, DG ElBaradei expressed the recommendation that the
funding of security-related activities in the future be addressed in
the context of a budget that responded to real needs and not a
budget with an a priori ceiling. In light of ref A discussion of a
possible IAEA regular budget increase, Mission believes the time is
now for the sort of review to which the DG referred. At this
writing, ElBaradei's staff is proposing in its 2010-2011 budget
(septels) a first step in the direction of redressing Security's
lack of regular funding, to raise to approximately 35 percent the
share of ONS funds provided from the regular budget.

--------------
Comment and Recommendation
--------------


10. (SBU) Effective nuclear security is a critical component in the
fight against nuclear terrorism. Nuclear security should no longer
be "the poor step child" amongst the IAEA's core missions of safety,
safeguards, and security. Security is the only activity that has
cross activities with both safeguards and safety, yet it has the
least resources. Nuclear security activities are directly linked to
the efforts to prevent terrorist acts; elevating security to an
office or department in its own right and giving the office proper
funding would signal that the fight against terrorist acts is a top
priority and part of the IAEA's core mission. UNVIE is aware of
concerns, e.g., expressed by NRC Chairman Klein, that the
integration of safety and security activities, already inadequate,
would suffer further if the staffs were separated bureaucratically.
Improving communications and coordination within the Secretariat is,
in our observation, a systemic and cultural challenge and one that
requires our effort whether Safety and Security ultimately remain
one department or not. With that consideration in mind, UNVIE
recommends the USG begin working with the Office of Nuclear security
to include in its next Nuclear Security Plan (likely to come before
the Board in September 2009) a strategy to achieve:

-- Regular budget funding consistent with appropriate levels of
staffing necessary for this critical IAEA mission, as well as at
least some portion of ONS projects.

-- A plan to approach the key IAEA Donor States to gain buy-in on
maintaining additional extrabudgetary funding necessary to fully
implement the Agency's Nuclear Security Plan

-- A plan to move security out from under the wing of the Agency's
safety activities by creating an independent office or department
that reports directly to the Director General.


11. (SBU) Achieving support for such a plan in the Board will not
be easy and will be weighed against other budget priorities.
However, we may already have potential allies. In the past the
Dutch, in particular, as well as the French and Canadians, were
among those most supportive of funding nuclear security programs
from the regular budget. No doubt, even likeminded states will
resist regular budget increases, and G-77 states will look to link
any such increase for security to increases in TC or other
promotional/assistance activities. However, in light of the Obama
Administration's calls for a strengthened IAEA, along with our
stated willingness to back that call with more funds, there may
never be a better time to launch an initiative to mainstream
security activities at the IAEA. Doing so only after the world
experiences a major nuclear or radiological terrorist event would be
tragic. Moreover, DG ElBaradei is on record as supporting such
mainstreaming (at least on the budget front),and it is possible,
perhaps likely, that the next DG will want to put his/her stamp on
the Agency by being seen to preside over a substantial strengthening
of this essential core function.

-------------- -
Realigning UNVIE on Nuclear Security/Terrorism
-------------- -


12. (SBU) Reflecting Mission's view of the increasing role we
believe the IAEA will play on nuclear security, we are realigning
responsibilities within UNVIE on nuclear terrorism. This will be
addressed septel.

SCHULTE