CROATIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000749 SIPDIS SENSITIVE PLEASE PASS TO EUR/SCE, S/CT: RHONDA SHORE, AND NCTC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC PREL EFIN CR SUBJECT: CROATIA: 2009 COUNTRY REPORT ON TERRORISM REF: SECSTATE 109980 ¶1. (SBU) Per reftel, the following is Embassy Zagreb's submission for the 2009 Croatia Country Report on Terrorism: Croatia There were no terrorist attacks in Croatia during 2009. As part of international efforts to counter violent extremists, Croatia had approximately 300 troops participating in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Croatia joined NATO in April and began contributing to the Alliance's counterterrorism efforts as a member. In 2009 Croatia started the drafting process for an action plan to implement Croatia's national strategy for the prevention and suppression of terrorism. Croatian expanded its extensive counterterrorism legal framework by passing the Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Act which entered into force in January. In March, Croatia also adopted a new regulation on the internal organization of the Ministry of Finance. This restructuring resulted in the Anti-Money Laundering Office establishing a number of departments such as an International Cooperation Department, an Information System and Strategic Analysis Department, a Prevention and Supervision of the Reporting Entities Department, and a Financial Intelligence Analysis Department, which includes a Suspicious Transactions Division and a Division for Analytic Processing of Transactions and a Terrorist Financing. The Croatian Interagency Working Group on Suppression of Terrorism amended its mandate adding UNSCR -1624 to the UNSC Resolutions it was already charged with implementing such as UNSCRs 1267, 1373 and 1566. The Interagency Working Group also broadened its membership, by including a number of new entities such as the Office of the National Security Council, the Office for Human Rights, the Ministry of Tourism, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency, and the Agency for Public-Private Partnership. Croatia is currently issuing biometric passports, and starting in July 2010 all new passports will be required to be biometric. In addition, as part of its negotiations to join the Visa Waiver Program Croatia signed a number of agreements in 2009 with the United States that strengthened information sharing and cooperation between U.S. and Croatian immigration, law enforcement, and security agencies. Croatia also worked with EXBS to improve security along its 750 mile border with Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia as well as to monitor the country's 6,000 miles of coastline. In 2009 Croatia chaired the UN Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee. Croatia supported U.S. efforts in the 1267 Sanctions Committee on Al Qaeda and Taliban. Croatia also advocated providing further financial support to the work of the Counterterrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF). Croatia cooperated with the CTC,s Executive Directorate on the preliminary assessment of national implementation of UNSCR 1373, and UN experts recognized Croatia's achievements in this field. The multinational special forces military exercise "Jackal Stone 09" held in September in Croatia had approximately 1500 participants from 10 countries, including the United States, and developed the capabilities of the participants in countering terrorism. Within the EU accession process Croatia cooperates closely with the European Union so that its national counterterrorism efforts are being kept in line with the requirements of the EU acquis communautaire, as well as with the official EU justice and home affairs and common foreign and security policies. During 2009 Croatia also chaired the Council of Europe's Committee of Counterterrorism Experts (CODEXTER). Following up on a Croatian initiative to develop cross-regional cooperation in counterterrorism, the CoE, Spain and the Organization of American States jointly organized a Conference on Cyber Security in Spain in April. Under the CODEXTER's umbrella Croatia also keeps an updated self-assessing Country Profile that summarizes Croatia's counterterrorism activities. Croatia worked closely with the OSCE's Action against Terrorism Unit (ATU). This resulted in a joint Croatian OSCE workshop addressing cyber-security issues such as terrorist use of the Internet, held in Zagreb in November. More than 140 national representatives as well as 20 internationally recognized experts from academia, business, and government participated in this event. ¶2. (U) The Embassy POC is Peter D'Amico, (D'Amicopn@state.gov). WALKER