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RUEHKG/AMEMBASSY KINGSTON PRIORITY 4924
RUEHBH/AMEMBASSY NASSAU PRIORITY 5845
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C O N F I D E N T I A L BRIDGETOWN 000744 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR, S/CT 
DEPARTMENT PASS TO DHS FOR CHARLES STALLWORTH, 
BYLLE PATTERSON, AND MIKE LOONEY 
CARACAS FOR DAO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/17/2016 
TAGS: PREL PINR PTER ASEC CPAS XL
SUBJECT: CLARITY OF PURPOSE ACHIEVED ON CWC REGIONAL 
ENTRY-EXIT SYSTEM 
 
REF: BRIDGETOWN 505 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Kramer for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY:  Barbados Deputy Prime Minister Mottley 
hosted a meeting between Embassy officials and the Department 
of Homeland Security (DHS) Director of Foreign Operations in 
Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Charles Stallworth, 
April 18, 2006.  The meeting proved to be beneficial as it 
defined the entry-exit immigration project and clarified 
roles and responsibilities.  If DHS funds the project, it 
will serve as a pilot program for the larger Western 
Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) and allow the U.S. to 
track visitors coming to the region for Cricket World Cup 
(CWC) in 2007.  CWC is expected to attract a large number of 
visitors from south Asia, where the largest concentration of 
cricket fans resides.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Participants:  Barbados Deputy Prime Minister Mia 
Mottley, Barbados Permanent Secretary for Special Assignments 
related to Cricket World Cup Juanita Thorington-Powlett, and 
former Barbados Senator Phillip Goddard, now serving as 
Science and Technology Advisor to the Prime Minister. 
 
U.S. Participants:  Ambassador Mary Kramer, Deputy Chief of 
Mission Mary Ellen Gilroy, DHS Director of Foreign Operations 
Charles Stallworth, and NAO Patricia Aguilera (notetaker). 
 
¶3. (C) During an April 18 meeting with Deputy Prime Minister 
(DPM) Mottley, Charles Stallworth addressed concerns that 
lingered after an initial meeting on April 10 between DHS 
contractors and officials from Barbados and CARICOM.  Mr. 
Stallworth prepared a white paper that assisted in his 
presentation to DPM Mottley.  He outlined the hurdles the USG 
had to overcome before committing to 
the regional entry-exit smart card project.  Mr. Stallworth 
made it clear that there was no secured USG funding as of 
yet, and that the time frame needed to implement a project of 
this magnitude would be challenging. 
 
LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR SHARING INFORMATION 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ambassador Kramer raised concerns over the legal 
framework necessary to share information with the USG.  DPM 
Mottley replied that a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 
between the U.S. and CARICOM would suffice, obviating the 
need to negotiate bilateral agreements with individual 
countries.  Asked by Ambassador Kramer if CARICOM could sign 
on behalf of its member states, DPM Mottley explained that 
member states had ceded signing authority to CARICOM.  All 
 
member states had enacted domestic legislation that made any 
agreements entered into by CARICOM legally binding.  She 
reminded Ambassador Kramer that there were several existing 
agreements to share information with the U.S. and that this 
project would be no different. 
 
SMART CARDS 
 
¶5. (C) Mr. Stallworth and DPM Mottley discussed general 
technical issues that remained undetermined.  Mr. Stallworth 
explained that the cost of the proposed smart card would vary 
greatly depending on the amount of information held in the 
card.  The USG would want all ten fingerprints, a digital 
photo, and biographic data to be stored in the card.  If 
CARICOM had an interest in using the smart card as an e-purse 
as well, then CARICOM would have to negotiate the applicable 
contract terms with the chosen financial institution.  The 
costs of the smart card, however, would be divided between 
the financial institution and the USG.  DPM Mottley offered 
that Visa International was one of the official sponsors of 
the International Cricket Council (ICC) and there had been 
talks on the possibility of them signing on to the project. 
Mr. Stallworth advised he could not favor one vendor over 
another due to federal contracting regulations.  The USG 
would deal with Visa International, or any other financial 
institution, as an ordinary contractor.  If Visa 
International decided it did not want to participate in the 
project, then the USG would pay for the smart cards for a 
 
pre-determined time frame.  Ambassador Kramer added that DHS 
and the Department of State's office of legal affairs and 
ethics would need to decide the proper mechanism to deal with 
this issue.  DPM Mottley said she understood and would urge 
the ICC to continue talks with Visa International. 
 
¶6. (C) DPM Mottley thought it practical if only visitors 
attending CWC receive smart cards.  As they arrived, she 
said, they would be processed in a separate area.  All other 
visitors would go through the normal immigration line, but 
would have a fingerprint and digital photo taken.  When Mr. 
Stallworth asked about using the smart cards to enter into 
the CWC venue sites, DPM Mottley warned that CARICOM had not 
agreed to the smart card being used for this purpose, and 
thus it was best to focus on what CARICOM had passed as 
policy.  Mr. Stallworth agreed that the focus should be on 
the tracking of passengers at the points of entry. 
 
DEADLINES AND OTHER CONCERNS 
 
¶7. (C) Once the parameters of the smart card were decided, 
DPM Mottley said the system should be up and running by 
December 2006 and no later than January 2007.  She cautioned 
that the run-up to the Guyana elections could potentially be 
problematic for the installation of the project and strongly 
urged DHS to first install the system in Guyana. 
Furthermore, the entry-exit project would also need to be 
installed in Suriname and Dominica.  CWC spectators would 
likely use either country as a jumping-off point since 
accommodations were limited in neighboring countries.  DPM 
Mottley added that Suriname, because of its history and 
population, had strong links to Indonesia.  Visitors coming 
from that part of the world could avoid transiting through 
North America or Europe and enter the region through Suriname 
instead. 
 
WHAT ABOUT HAITI? 
 
¶8. (C) DCM Gilroy asked if CARICOM would request the USG to 
install a system in Haiti, Belize or the Bahamas.  DPM 
Mottley replied that she believed Haiti was too chaotic at 
the moment to include in the initial project.  As for Belize 
and the Bahamas, visitors would have to transit through the 
U.S. before getting to one of the CWC hosting countries, and 
thus it was not urgent to include either 
country in the initial phase. 
 
NEXT STEPS 
 
¶9. (C) DPM Mottley said each participating country would need 
to start its own public campaign to sell the project, and 
posited the following scenario:  First, Ambassador Kramer 
should make public remarks about the biometric entry 
requirements visitors would need to have in their travel 
documents to enter the U.S. and possibly Europe in the near 
future.  DPM Mottley, in turn, would comment on Ambassador 
Kramer's statement, using the occasion to introduce the 
entry-exit initiative.  DPM Mottley reasoned that the average 
citizen would be more likely to buy in to the project if they 
believed it would expedite their future travel to the U.S. or 
Europe. 
 
¶10. (C) COMMENT:  The initial euphoria Post experienced when 
DHS moved expeditiously to contract a site survey of CWC 
hosting countries quickly dissipated when it became obvious 
that the region had contradictory expectations for the 
entry-exit system.  Charles Stallworth's visit to Barbados 
was an important step in managing expectations by clearly 
defining the realistic scope of the project as envisioned by 
DHS when it agreed to consider funding it.  That clarity, 
along with the frankness of the meeting and the open sharing 
of ideas, resulted in DHS and CARICOM expressing unanimity of 
purpose.  END COMMENT. 
KRAMER