U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES WITH GREECE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 000089 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2020/02/10 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR GR SUBJECT: U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES WITH GREECE REF: 09 STATE 112900 CLASSIFIED BY: Deborah A. McCarthy, Deputy Chief of Mission; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (U) The United States has two ongoing security dialogues with Greece dating back to 1991. Emerging out of the Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement (MDCA) of 1990, the Joint Commission (JC) and the High-Level Consultative Committee (HLCC) aim to foster U.S.-Greek dialogue on security issues, and provide venues for practical decisions. ¶2. (SBU) Of the two security dialogues, the Joint Commission is intended to meet with a greater frequency (quarterly),and involve American and Greek officials based in Greece. Co-chairs are the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission, and the Greek MFA's North America Director. The Joint Commission is meant to resolve questions or differences which may arise concerning the interpretation and implementation of the MDCA. The U.S. has generally taken the initiative in scheduling formalized meetings. In practice, formal meetings, which alternate between Athens and the U.S. Naval Support Activity at Souda Bay, Crete have met on average once per year, the last being held on April 7, 2009. The JC co-chairs meet frequently however, and the relevant interactions have been considered informal JC session. ¶3. (SBU) According to the language of the MDCA, the High-Level Consultative Committee is intended to conduct a comprehensive review of the defense relationship. The HLCC alternates between Washington and Athens, and the last meeting was held in Athens in November 2009. While there is no set list of participants per the MDCA, delegations are from capitals, typically led by a senior Defense policy official, accompanied by relevant uniformed and civilian Defense officials and Foreign Ministry regional and pol-mil officials. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Affairs Vershbow led the U.S. delegation in November ¶2009. We are increasingly engaged in an exchange of strategic policy views during HLCC sessions. Typically, pol-mil and defense cooperation working groups have also been organized on the margins of the principals' discussion to develop recommendations on thorny technical issues. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: The Joint Commission, meeting both formally and informally, is an important in-country venue to address the numerous practical aspects of the bilateral political-military relationship stemming from the presence of the U.S. Naval Support Activity at Souda Bay. The HLCC has evolved in recent years in the direction of becoming a forum for the exchange of strategic policy views among senior Greek and American defense officials. In practice, the United States has sought to turn the HLCC into a more dynamic exchange of views of views among senior officials, and to use the HLCC to focus Greece on pressing global challenges such as ISAF and the need for enhanced Greek contributions to multinational operations. Greece sees value in such discussions, but remains more tied to a traditional format can tend to lead to more stilted dialogues and exchanges of views read verbatim from staff-prepared papers. The most recent HLCC in November 2009 struck a better balance between enabling a free exchange between principals, and providing working groups the opportunity to delve into other issues. Speckhard