SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF CRO MOD STATE SECRETARY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 000255 SIPDIS OSD FROM DATT DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO MOPS MARR NATO HR DEFENSE REFORM SUBJECT: SCENESETTER FOR VISIT OF CRO MOD STATE SECRETARY, PJER SIMUNOVIC Classified By: COL Brendan McAloon, DATT, for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d). ¶1. (C/NF) Atmospherics. Sir, the visit of Croatian State Secretary (Deputy Minister for Plans and Policy),Pjer Simunovic (P-YER sh-MUUN-o-vitch),is the first trip to the U.S. by a senior Croatian MOD official since Crotia joined NATO in April of this year. It comes at a time when the excellent security relationship between Croatia and the United States continues to strengthen. Croatia appreciated the United States being one of the earliest countries to ratify Croatia's NATO accession protocol and for the support we provided during the row with Slovenia that potentially threatened the timing of Croatia,s NATO accession. ¶2. (C/NF) Atmospherics continued. I don,t expect that the Croatians will have a laundry list of requests for support for you. Croatian pride normally keeps them from requesting financial assistance but if it is offered they won,t refuse. If on the other hand we have support requirements that we would like Croatia to fulfill, it would be best to couch them as requests for help to a friend and ally. ¶3. (C/NF) Budget. By NATO standards of accounting, the Croatian MOD exceeded NATO,s guideline of two percent of GDP. Due to the financial crisis, however, Croatia was forced to cut 100 million USD from its defense budget. These cuts will affect acquisitions not currently in the pipeline and training not directly tied to deployments. The Croatian government is looking anxiously at this year,s tourist season which provides up to 20 percent of GDP in hopes that it holds the seeds of recovery. ¶4. (C) OMLTs. Croatia currently has three OMLTs on the ground in Afghanistan as part of its 299 troop contribution to ISAF. Croatia mans both the Combat Arms and Garrison OMLTs fully, and shares the manning of its Combat Support OMLT with its state partner, the Minnesota National Guard. Croatia pays all expenses for the OMLTs with the exception of U.S.-provided stratlift. They have no operational limitations on deployment or ROE, but do have two caveats: no CT and no Counter-narcotics operations. Croatia has expressed a desire to deploy a PRT in the future but we assess that the current focus on OMLTs is the best use of its capabilities in the near to mid term. Mr. Simunovic has already pledged to us to re-examine the deployment of Croatia,s contingent with an eye to increasing the number of OMLTs and trainers it can provide. Additionally, the MOD has already started building the case to present to Parliament to increase the ISAF contingent from 300 to 400 in 2011. Regarding communications within Afghanistan, the Croatian OMLT was caught in a Catch-22 in that as a non-NATO force contributor, Croatia was not allowed to have the required NATO COMSEC systems. Although Croatia,s NATO accession has made the COMSEC problem moot, we still have to contend with the acquisition backlog for the required radios for some time. ¶5. (C) KFOR: The Croatian Parliament has authorized the deployment of two helicopters and 20 airmen to Kosovo in ¶2009. The Croatians will deploy two of their new MI-171Sh lift helicopters. This will be the first deployment outside of Croatia for the Air Force. Croatia has expressed a willingness to deploy two more helicopters to KFOR next year. ¶6. (C) Peacekeeping: Croatia prides itself on its transition from a security consumer with UN Peacekeepers on its territory to a security provider with Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) elements involved in UN peacekeeping operations around the globe, to include 98 CAF personnel on the UN mission in the Golan Heights. Croatia is in the process of implementing its plans to increase and sustain its PKO contributions from around 250 soldiers in 2007 to 600 soldiers by 2010. ¶7. (C) ASPA: The U.S. FMF and IMET programs were suspended in July 2003 due to American Serviceman Protection Act (ASPA) sanctions. As a result, in the past few years the CAF depended entirely upon national resources to accomplish its NATO partnership goals and to equip its forces for ISAF. Croatia is the only ISAF partner and new NATO invitee that accomplished its transformation and financed its ISAF commitments without FMF or Coalition Support Funding. The suspension of IMET during this time has had a telling impact throughout the CAF. Most notable is the lack of U.S.-educated staff officers at the senior and mid-grade officer level to fill critical billets on the MOD, CAF, and NATO Staffs. ¶8. (SBU) FMF/IMET levels. Croatia did not receive any FMF in FY08, and will receive only 1 million dollars in FMF in ¶2009. IMET is similarly under-funded for a NATO invitee with only 309K in FY08 (including the 9K in end-of-year fallout) and is projected to receive 500K in FY09. The proposed budget numbers trend better in FYs 10 and 11. BRADTKE