VZCZCXRO1747
OO RUEHJS
DE RUEHKL #1720/01 3480906
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 140906Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0384
RHMFIUU/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE
RHHMUNB/JIATF WEST IMMEDIATE
RHMFIUU/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
INFO RUEHBD/AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN PRIORITY 0509
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 3182
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA PRIORITY 1723
RUEHML/AMEMBASSY MANILA PRIORITY 2585
RUEHGP/AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE PRIORITY 4476
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA PRIORITY 0085
RHHMHAA/COMPACFLT PEARL HARBOR HI PRIORITY
RUEABND/DEA HQS WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001720
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EAP, ISN, INL, S/CT
DHS FOR CBP, ICE
USCG FOR INTERNATIONAL TRAINING DIVISION
PACOM FOR J5, JIATF-W, JIACG, DET 14
BANGKOK FOR COMLEY
SINGAPORE FOR KING, DARVAS, HIGHSMITH
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV PREL ID RP MY
SUBJECT: 1207 - MALAYSIA'S TRI-BORDER CAPACITY BUILDING
PRIORITIES
REF: A. EAP/COMLEY - USCG/MARKOWITZ E-MAIL 20 JUL 2007
B. EAP/COMLEY - DHS/FUJIMURA E-MAIL 20 AUG 2007
1. (SBU) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST: Embassy Kuala Lumpur
seeks to utilize USD 1 million in allocated FY 2007 Title
1207 funding during FY 2008 to conduct civilian maritime law
enforcement training and to enhance border control capability
in the tri-border region of Malaysia's eastern state of
Sabah. The Title 1207 projects are part of the Southeast
Asia Regional Strategic Initiative (RSI) and reflect a top
Embassy priority as defined in its Mission Strategic Plan
Goal No. 1 - sub-point 3 and as affirmed at the October 2007
meeting of the Southeast Asia RSI Ambassadors. FY 2007 1207
funds have been transferred to the State Department. To
assure that they are disbursed to the appropriate USG
implementing agency, Embassy Kuala Lumpur requests Department
and action addressees to identify by 15 January 2008 USG
interagency personnel with expertise in training management
planning and course facilitation to develop, manage and
execute planned Tri-border training. END SUMMARY AND ACTION
REQUEST.
THE SOUTHEAST ASIA TRI-BORDER INITIATIVE
2. (SBU) The Tri-border Title 1207 funding proposal
submitted in FY 2007 was developed jointly by the State
Department, PACOM, and USAID. Given that the 1207 authority
"is intended to improve U.S. capacity and interagency
coordination for immediate reconstruction, security, and
stabilization assistance," DHS and the U.S. Coast Guard were
kept appraised of the proposal's progress throughout the
summer of 2007 in order to plan for resource allocation in FY
2008 (Refs A and B). The Tri-border Initiative projects have
been fully endorsed by the respective country teams and PACOM
representatives. They accord with and support MSP priority
goals as well as priorities identified by RSI Ambassadors in
Honolulu this fall.
MALAYSIA'S PROJECTS
3. (SBU) The two projects in the Tri-border proposal for
Malaysia focus on strengthening civilian maritime law
enforcement and border security in the tri-border region of
Sabah. They are the result of analysis conducted in early
2007 by the subject matter expert exchange by the U.S. Coast
Guard to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and
by the interagency Border Control Assessment Initiative.
Embassy Kuala Lumpur seeks to direct approximately
three-fourths (USD 750,000) of its 1207 funds toward tailored
maritime law enforcement training. The remaining quarter
(USD 250,000) should be directed toward border security
training and the acquisition of limited equipment associated
with the training.
4. (SBU) The exact configuration of the training programs
will be determined by Embassy Kuala Lumpur working with the
training management planners in their engagement with
Malaysian counterparts. Analyses to date have identified a
range of subject areas where capacity building is needed.
These areas include, but are not limited to: domain
awareness, targeting and risk management, interdiction, use
of force, evidence management, prosecution, chain of custody,
information sharing/cueing, border enforcement, and
fraudulent document detection. Post has shared further
information on the 1207 projects in Malaysia with USG
agencies via separate communications.
INTERAGENCY AND REGIONAL COOPERATION
KUALA LUMP 00001720 002 OF 002
5. (U) The success of the Tri-border 1207 funding proposal
was due in significant measure to the extensive regional and
interagency cooperation that went into its development. The
project implementation phase we are now entering offers
similar opportunities to succeed cooperatively. For example,
while the Tri-border proposal identifies the U.S. Coast Guard
as the USG implementing agency for maritime law enforcement
training, other civilian law enforcement expertise could
supplement or complement a Coast Guard-led team.
6. (U) As we utilize 1207 funding in FY 2008 to bring an
immediate whole-of-government solution to the critical
problem of transnational crime and terrorism in the
tri-border region, we also encourage our host nations to
follow suit. Subject to Malaysian government priorities and
concurrence, Embassy Kuala Lumpur will focus capacity
building primarily on the MMEA but will also include customs
and immigration personnel and, where possible, the Malaysian
maritime police as well as trainees from Indonesia and the
Philippines.
THE WAY AHEAD
7. (SBU) Successfully and quickly implementing the
Tri-border Initiative can demonstrate, at a critical time,
interagency cooperation in addressing pressing bilateral and
regional security needs. Embassy Kuala Lumpur appreciates
interagency USG support in bringing the necessary expertise
to bear to meet the immediate maritime law enforcement and
border security capacity building needs, which together we
have identified. In order to plan and initiate activities
before the end of FY 08, Embassy Kuala Lumpur requests
responses to this message by 15 January 2008 via e-mail to
1207 POC Jason Donovan (via unclassified e-mail at:
DonovanJ@state.gov, or classified e-mail at:
DonovanJA@state.sgov.gov).
KEITH