VZCZCXRO6901
PP RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #2023/01 3061917
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021917Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6835
INFO RULSJGA/USCG WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0823
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR NORAD PETERSON AFB CO PRIORITY
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USNORTHCOM  PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 1759

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002023 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2017 
TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS NORAD CA
SUBJECT: CANADA: (5/5) 220TH MEETING OF THE U.S.-CANADA 
PERMANENT JOINT BOARD ON DEFENSE - MILITARY COOPERATION, 
MARINE SECURITY, EMERGING ISSUES 
 
Classified By: PolMinCouns Scott Bellard, reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  U.S. Co-Chairman George Nethercutt and 
Canadian Co-Chairman Rick Casson, M.P. convened the 220th 
meeting of the Permanent Joint Board on Defense (PJBD) at the 
Canadian Maritime Warfare Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia 
October 9 - 11, 2007.  This is the fifth in a series of five 
telegrams (septels).  It documents the Board's deliberations 
on the Military Cooperation Commission, Marine Security 
Operations, Emerging Issues and New Challenges, and the 
proposed location of the 221ST PJBD in spring 2008.  End 
Summary. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Military Cooperation Commission Update 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Military Cooperation Committee (MCC) Canadian 
Co-Chair BG J.C. Collin delivered a brief update of progress 
since the Committee's April 19 meeting in Halifax, where 
members had discussed Canada's Maritime Security Framework, 
the NORAD Maritime Warning Mission, U.S. Maritime Domain 
Awareness (MDA) ConOps, the Vancouver Olympics, and the 
Tri-Command study.  Collin highlighted the challenges for 
those charged with developing NORAD's Maritime Warning 
Mission, noting that legislative constraints and 
non-congruous systems were getting in the way of progress. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The next MCC will occur in Washington, D.C. November 
27-28.  The agenda will likely include: lessons learned by 
Canada Command and NORAD at the North American Leaders 
Summit; an update on the Tri-Command Study; updating the 1968 
CANUS Cross-Border Agreement; Canada-US Threat Assessment; 
Vancouver 2010; and, Maritime Warning ConOps. 
 
-------------------------- 
Marine Security Operations 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) BG Collin briefed on Canadian Marine Security 
Operations (MSOC), observing that, while Transport Canada had 
the policy lead, DND was the operational leader for 
coordinating responses to water-borne threats.  He described 
the MSOC ConOps as a work in progress that was under review 
by staff lawyers but should go in effect in November 2007. 
His team had worked hard to align authority to capacity while 
dealing with cross-border legal challenges. 
 
¶5. (SBU) MG Davis noted that many impediments to interagency 
and cross-border cooperation remained and that the two 
governments should set about fixing these things.  DG 
Sinclair asked where NORAD fit in to the MSOC.  Collin 
responded that a NORAD role was not included in the MSOC's 
new ConOps. 
 
¶6. (C) NORAD Deputy Commander LtGen Bouchard reviewed NORAD's 
new role in the maritime domain, citing the need for 
awareness to conduct the mission.  Information-sharing is key 
to success, he argued, particularly among law enforcement and 
defense officials.  Operators in the maritime domain need to 
shift from a "need to know" standard to a "need to share" 
standard, as we did in the aerospace domain after 9/11.  As 
distinctions between the aerospace and maritime spaces blur, 
having two standards of information sharing makes our jobs 
more difficult, he commented.  Co-Chairman Casson opined that 
Qmore difficult, he commented.  Co-Chairman Casson opined that 
this was an area requiring more work.  Co-Chairman Nethercutt 
agreed. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Emerging Issues and New Challenges 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) Co-Chairman Rick Casson led off the final session by 
asking whether it was time to revisit continental missile 
defense.  The PJBD was designed to be a place where both 
Allies could take on sensitive subjects, he said, so perhaps 
it should have the discussion here.  Coast Guard RADM Lloyd, 
Military Advisor to the DHS Secretary, agreed to the 
desirability of tackling tough issues, and noted that one of 
the PJBD's strengths is that it serves as a forum where 
 
OTTAWA 00002023  002 OF 002 
 
 
policy-makers can see issues coming and discuss and recommend 
protocols and policies to deal with them.  Referring to the 
Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) reaffirmed by the 
August 2007 North American Leaders Summit in Montebello, 
Lloyd underlined the role that the PJBD could play to advance 
a security agenda, such as the recent successful Ship Rider 
joint operations in the St. Lawrence Seaway. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Turning to meeting agendas, DG Sinclair suggested 
that the PJBD consider having a core group of stake-holders 
focus on agenda items earlier, and complete preparations 
further in advance of board meetings.  Co-Chair Nethercutt 
agreed, and suggested that the PJBD find a way to engage 
between meetings that would not be too onerous or 
bureaucratic.  In response to a suggestion that the PJBD 
consider reducing attendance at the meetings, Chairman 
Nethercutt observed that he was comfortable with the current 
level of representation. 
 
¶9. (C) Participants suggested numerous other agenda items, 
some covering more traditional PJBD concerns: 
-- ongoing missile defense discussions at NATO and what 
implications they might have in the NORAD context. 
-- defense and security in the Arctic; 
-- changing nature of Russian foreign and defense policy and 
its influence on North American security; 
-- U.S.-Canada defense industrial base, and its engagement in 
Latin America; 
-- strategic communications on defense and security issues; 
-- PJBD, its role in national decision-making processes, and 
how its members can best use it to influence policy outcomes. 
 
¶10. (C) Other suggestions included less traditional items: 
-- the defense/security nexus in combating terrorism 
emanating from the Middle East and South Asia, to include 
Pakistan's FATA; 
-- NATO's mission in Afghanistan and its importance to the 
U.S. and Canada; 
-- near-term prospects for peace in the Middle East; 
-- briefing on U.S. AFRICOM, and Canada's 2008 Africa policy 
review. 
 
---------- 
221st PJBD 
---------- 
 
¶11. (U) Co-Chairman Nethercutt noted that the U.S. would host 
the 221st PJBD.  The recommendation for a location was at the 
Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South facility in Key 
West, Florida, to highlight both hemispheric cooperation and 
the nexus between defense and security operations embodied in 
JIATF South. 
 
Visit our shared North American Partnership blog (Canada & Mexico) at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap 
 
WILKINS