VZCZCXRO7373
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV
DE RUEHPG #0828/01 2021003
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 211003Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY PRAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7672
INFO RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 PRAGUE 000828 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE, PM/RSAT FOR DOWLEY, OSD/ISP FOR ZACCOR 
AND SADOWSKA, OSD/FP FOR IARROBINO AND MINATELLI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/20/2016 
TAGS: MARR PREL MASS MARS EZ
SUBJECT: CZECHS DISCUSS STRATEGY WITH U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE 
PRINCIPALS 
 
REF: A. PRAGUE 771 
     ¶B. PRAGUE 757 
     ¶C. PRAGUE 803 
     ¶D. PRAGUE 820 
     ¶E. PRAGUE 823 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William Cabaniss 
for reasons 1.4 (b) + (d). 
 
¶1. (S/NF) Summary:  Senior Czech officials July 19 hosted a 
joint OSD-Missile Defense Agency (MDA) policy team led by 
DASD Brian Green. Discussions were positive, with Czech 
questions focusing on information that could be used to 
manage the domestic political and public affairs dynamics of 
the Czech candidacy. The Czechs accepted DASD Green's 
invitation to send a joint MFA-MOD team to Washington in 
mid-August to continue the dialogue. End summary. 
 
¶2. (S/NF) Deputy Foreign Minister Thomas Pojar, joined by MFA 
Political Director Martin Povejsil and MFA Security Policy 
Director Veronika Smigolova, welcomed DASD Brian Green and 
MDA Deputy Director BG Keith McNamara July 19 to discuss the 
Czech Republic's candidacy to host a missile defense site. 
The MOD's Defense Policy Director Radomir Jahoda represented 
Deputy Defense Minister Martin Belcik, who was unexpectedly 
called away by his minister. 
 
¶3. (S/NF) DASD Green and BG McNamara thanked the Czechs for 
supporting the MDA site survey team currently operating in 
the Czech republic. DASD Green said he welcomed the 
opportunity to brief the Czechs on the issues and looked 
forward to discussing the Czech perspective in detail. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) DFM Pojar said he welcomed the opportunity to 
become fully educated on the MD project. He observed that 
information sharing would be essential in the coming weeks, 
noting the Czech Republic and the United States would have to 
work closely together to manage the political elements of 
missile defense. Pojar's questions focused on technical 
aspects: the area of the installation, the size of the 
personnel contingent, and major criteria used in assessing 
the competitiveness of each site. Pojar seemed surprised to 
learn that the radar dome would "only be 70 feet in 
diameter," joking that he could describe this to 
environmentalists as a "ping-pong ball." Pojar also asked 
about the U.S. decision-making and construction timelines. 
Finally, he cautioned that, although the Czech Republic would 
not/not request any kind of a quid pro quo for hosting an MD 
base, some in Czech society would use the media to call for 
such an arrangement. He asked that the U.S. to be mindful 
that much of the media debate would not reflect the final 
GOCR offer. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) Turning to public affairs issues, Security Policy 
Director Smigolova said both the MOD and MFA agreed the 
political benefits of MD outweigh the risks. Referring to a 
poll released July 19, Smigolova said that with a newspaper 
claiming 83% opposition to MD in the Czech Republic (Ref D), 
Czech officials would have to explain to the public that 
hosting the United States installation would be nothing like 
the experience with Russian bases. She also said they would 
have to address a public perception that an MD base would 
make the Czech Republic a target for terrorists. Political 
Director Povejsil said the Czechs would have to know what 
information would be publicly releasable from a U.S. 
standpoint. Such information would form part of a Czech-run 
public education campaign. For example, Japan's cooperation 
in the project by hosting a radar would resonate with the 
Czech public, because they would realize that they were not 
being singled out as a sole cooperating nation. Povejsil 
asked whether in the medium term the U.S. might be able to 
assist with Czech public diplomacy efforts, perhaps by 
hosting a visit of Czech journalists to a U.S. facility. BG 
McNamara said he would welcome the opportunity to develop a 
phased strategy, government then public representatives, for 
such outreach. Both sides agreed that maximum openness would 
be ideal, and agreed to stay in close contact. 
 
¶6. (S/NF) Pojar raised the issue of Czech high-tech companies 
that would welcome the opportunity to talk with U.S. experts 
to see if any of their technologies would be useful as future 
elements of U.S. missile defense architecture (Note: The 
Czechs are world-leaders in the area of certain remote 
sensing technologies. End note). He acknowledged that this 
could be an opportunity for future collaboration, rather than 
a defined part of the facility under consideration. BG 
 
PRAGUE 00000828  002 OF 002 
 
 
McNamara said such cooperation might be considered, and 
explained that members of his agency were always open to 
examining new technologies that might be useful. 
 
¶7. (S/NF) DASD Green invited the Czechs to send a team to 
Washington in the mid-August timeframe for a detailed 
discussion on all aspects of host-country cooperation. The 
Czechs accepted the U.S. offer, indicating that they would 
work carefully with the U.S. to craft the appropriate 
interagency team for the visit. 
 
¶8. (U) DASD Green and BG McNamara have cleared this cable. 
 
CABANISS 
CABANISS