This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ROME 000811 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR DS/DSS/ITA, AND DS/IP/EUR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PTER IT ANTITERRORISM FORCE PROTECTION
SUBJECT: ROME SECURITY ENVIRONMENT PROFILE QUESTIONNAIRE 
(SEPQ) 
 
REF: STATE 162859 
 
This cable is Sensative But Unclassified protect accordingly. 
 
 (SBU) Answers are keyed to questions in reftel: 
 
¶1. (SBU) Political Violence: 
 
¶A.   Yes 
¶B.   Yes 
¶C.   Yes 
¶D.   200 individuals in front of the Embassy, but more for 
some sensitive issues, like the war in Iraq, can attract up 
to twenty thousand when the demonstration is held in the city 
center and then moves to the Embassy. 
¶E.   Can be for U.S. foreign policy, military and/or domestic 
issues, all the above. 
¶F.   Generally peaceful, with a trend towards increased 
levels of civil disobedience. 
¶G.   Currently no.  Objects have been thrown at the Embassy 
and into the compound but to date no damage. 
¶H.   No 
¶I.   Yes, anti-government demonstrations are common 
throughout Italy.  In particular there will be a General 
election in April of 06 and we anticipate more and larger 
demonstrations in the next two/three months. 
¶J.   Yes, in the last twelve months we have had 
demonstrations against the U.S. and U.S. policies in front of 
all our major facilities (U.S. Embassy and the three 
consulates), as well as in front of all the U.S./Italian 
Military Bases. 
¶K.   Demonstrations vary greatly in size, depending on the 
issue and the organizers, but labor demonstrations frequently 
attract numbers in the thousands and recent &hot-button8 
causes drew upwards of 300. 
¶L.   Generally peaceful; however, based upon the recent trend 
of increased levels of civil disobedience they can turn 
violent. 
¶M.   Currently no. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Macro Conflict Conditions: 
 
¶A.   Yes ) coalition activity in Iraq, Kosovo and 
Afghanistan. 
¶B.   N/A 
¶C.   N/A 
¶D.   N/A 
 
¶3. (SBU) Host Country Capabilities: 
 
¶A.   Yes 
¶B.   From time to time, USG agencies offer specialized 
training.  Italy does not meet the requirement for Anti 
Terrorism Assistance. 
¶C.   No 
¶D.  Yes 
¶E.   Yes 
¶F.   Yes, arrests, expulsions and disruption of the 
activities of Islamic extremists engaged in international 
logistical support activity and possible planned attacks 
against US Interests. 
¶G.  Yes 
¶H.  Good 
¶I.   Average 
¶J.   Average, due to long coastline and mountainous borders 
with its neighbors. 
 
(SBU) Indigenous Terrorism: 
 
¶4. (SBU) Anti-American Terrorist Groups 
¶A.   Yes 
¶B.   Numbers are uncertain.  There are the New Red Brigades 
) Communist Combatant Corps (BR-PCC) and the Nuclei 
Territoriali Anti-Imperialisti (NTA).  These groups are not 
believed to have large memberships and suffered several 
arrests of personnel in the past year.  They are primarily 
directed against the host government, but espouse 
anti-Americanism as well.  Of the Islamic groups the Tunisian 
Combatant Group is know to be active in Italy 
¶C.   No 
¶D.   N/A 
¶E.   Attempted, In January 2001 Sami Ben Khemais Essid, the 
leader of a Tunisian Combatant Group cell, and four other 
North Africans were arrested for a plot to attack U.S. 
Government assets in March 2001.  A different attempt in 
2002, that was to target the U.S. Embassy water system, was 
foiled by the Italian police who confiscated approximately 10 
lbs. of a chemical compound containing cyanide in an 
apartment in Rome.  The police also confiscated maps 
highlighting the U.S. Embassy and showing the city,s water 
system. 
¶F.   Yes.  In March of 2005 Anti-Globalists used IEDs to 
attack a McDonalds and a Blockbuster, two U.S. businesses, in 
Milan.  In 2004 an American fast food chain was attacked in 
Brescia. 
¶G.   Countrywide 
¶H.    The attacks are not limited to any particular region 
but than there are U.S. Government facilities in all regions 
of Italy so they are all potentially in harms way. 
 
¶5.   (SBU) Other Indigenous Terrorist Groups 
 
¶A.   There are numerous Anarchist groups and the BR-PCC and 
NTA, noted above, which are definitively identified as 
terrorist groups. 
¶B.   The Italian Anarchist Federation (FAI), the Informal 
Anarchist Federation (FAI), Cooperative of Artisans, Cooks 
and Affiliates (CACA) and the Black Bloc 
¶C.   In 2005, two timed IEDs were detonated at police 
stations in Milan and Genoa, the Cooperative of Artisans, 
Cooks and Affiliates (CACA), a participating affinity group 
of the F.A.I., claimed responsibility. There were over 
seventy attacks in 2004 by anarchist groups throughout Italy, 
small scale and non lethal.  The Italian Government is still 
compiling the 2005 statistics. In 2003 a synagogue in Modena 
was attacked.   In December 2002, in Milan, at the Metro 
station, an attack against police assets at the Cathedral of 
Cremona was foiled.  News reports stated that some of the 
suspects arrested had direct ties to Ansar al-Islam. 
   A group claiming to be the &Red Brigade8 murdered an 
advisor to the Italian minister of Labor in May 1999 in Rome. 
 A group claiming to be the BR-PCC murdered another advisor 
to the ministry of Labor in Bologna on 19 March 2002.  In 
February 2003, a shoot-out on a Rome to Florence train left 
one policeman dead, one wounded and a known member of the 
resurgent Red Brigades dead and one captured. 
   Anarchist groups continue to engage in low-level attacks 
using improvised explosive and incendiary devices against 
mostly Italian and European Union-related targets.  European 
Commission President Prodi received a mailed incendiary 
device at his Bologna home.  Anti-U.S. sentiment does not 
feature prominently in anarchist propaganda although over the 
past several years Esso gas stations in Sardinia and an IBM 
office elsewhere have been targeted.  No deaths have so far 
resulted from anarchist activity but Italian authorities have 
noted an increase in attacks over the past year with the 
potential to do serious bodily harm.  Also, there is a 
concern of a possible shift in tactics and the use of lethal 
secondary devices intended to target police officers 
examining the first attack site. 
   The Treno Alta Velocita (TAV), the under construction 
high-speed train network from Lyon to Turin, is seen as a 
symbol of State repression by the anarchist groups and by the 
green groups it is seen as environmentally destroying the 
Susa Valley, a very contentious issue for them.  It has been 
a site of protests in the tens of thousands and attacks since 
¶1996.  Leading up to the Winter Olympics in Turin protest 
groups took advantage of increased World attention to 
mobilize more and larger protests.  During the Games protests 
were in abeyance but will probably begin again in the near 
future. 
¶D.  Some of the attacks listed in C. (above) were lethal. 
¶E.  Not in recent memory, although in 1984, the Red Brigade 
killed the Director General (a retired U.S. Department of 
State Foreign Service Officer) of the Multi-national Forces 
and Observers in Rome. 
 
6.(SBU) Transnational Terrorism: 
 
¶A.   Several Islamic terrorists groups including Al-Qaida, 
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM), Armed Islamic Group 
(GIA), Tunisian Combatant Group, Salafist Group for Call and 
Combat (GSPC), Ansar al-Islam, HAMAS and Hizballah have 
access to and can make use of support infrastructure provided 
by various Islamic extremists located in Italy.  Italy-based 
cells facilitate terrorist operations globally by: 
recruiting, fundraising, forging documents, maintaining safe 
houses and running local crime enterprises.  There are clear 
connections to activity in Iraq, at least five suicide 
bombers in Iraq are known to be from Italy, possibly 
originating from Milan.  There have been arrests and or 
expulsions of several extremists over the past year for their 
suspected support to international terrorist causes, 
including individuals connected to the March 2004 Madrid 
bombing. 
¶B.  Logistical support, financial, and propaganda support to 
international groups. 
¶C.   No.  The government has demonstrated a willingness to 
aggressively pursue groups and individuals identified as 
elements or supporters of terrorist groups. 
¶D.  No 
¶E.  Yes.  Italy is home to a relatively large number of North 
African and Middle Eastern immigrant communities.  Some of 
these groups, and certainly individual members of them, are 
already sympathetic to Islamic extremist groups for a variety 
of reasons.  There are no indications that these groups were 
spurred to anti-American activity as a result of the 
hostilities in Iraq. 
¶F.   We continue to be concerned.  Sympathy to Islamic 
extremist groups may increase based upon continued/long term 
presence in Iraq, possible translating into acts against 
American interests. 
¶G.  Quite available. 
¶7.  This cable constitutes response for all Italian posts. 
SPOGLI