VZCZCXYZ0021
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0070/01 0291746
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291746Z JAN 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1220
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000070 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR IO/PSC: JSANDAGE, IO/UNP: EBROWN, AND ISN/CPI:TWUCHTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PTER PREL KNNP
SUBJECT: 1540 COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN PROPOSES DIFFERENT 
CANDIDATE FOR EXPERT PANEL 
 
REF: A. STATE 06792 
 
     ¶B. USUN 37 
     ¶C. SANDAGE/WILCOX EMAIL--09/17/06 
     ¶D. WILCOX/SANDAGE/BROWN EMAIL--09/14/06 
 
¶1.  BEGIN SUMMARY:  At its informal meeting January 24, the 
1540 Committee discussed, but did not reach decisions on 
several topics: (1) candidates to fill three current 
vacancies on the Committee's experts' panel; (2) disposition 
of the contracts of the Committee's five current experts (ref 
B), including the extension of current experts Richard Cupitt 
and Victor Slipchenko; (3) the Chairman's proposals for the 
Committee to hold thematic discussions within the Committee 
on issues relevant to resolution 1540 and the Committee's 
work; (4) the Committee's outreach efforts; (5) how the 
Committee should facilitate the delivery of technical 
assistance; and (6) the experts' panel's coordination with 
the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) 
and the 1267 Monitoring Team.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------- 
Filling Three Current Vacancies 
------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Burian informed the Committee that he had decided 
to recommend that the Committee support one different nominee 
(refs A-B) to fill one of the three vacancies on the experts' 
panel.  To ensure proper gender representation, Burian said 
the Committee should support Isabella Interlandi (Italy), 
rather than Brad Howlett (Australia).  He added that the two 
other candidates he had recommended the Committee approve, 
Olivia Bosch (UK) and V. Siddhartha (India), remained the 
same.  China and South Africa said they would have to seek 
instructions, but thought that the nominees Chairman Burian 
proposed would be acceptable.  Burian said he would ask the 
Committee to approve appointment of his recommended 
candidates under a silence procedure. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Comment:  Burian indicated that the issue was one 
of gender balance, but it is clear that the Italians (newly 
elected to the Council) weighed in to have the Chairman tap 
their candidate.  Australia's Howlett, a well qualified 
candidate, has now twice narrowly missed serving as a 
Committee expert.  Burian suggested that the Committee keep 
Howlett at the top of the list as it considers future expert 
appointments.  End comment. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Addressing the Remaining Five Experts' Contracts 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Burian reiterated his proposal for handling the 
expiring contracts of the five remaining experts (by 
extending Richard Cupitt and Victor Slipchenko through the 
end of the year and ending the service of the other three 
when they reach their two-year anniversaries as UN 
consultants - ref B).  France blocked agreement, noting that 
it needed more time to work out "technical" issues with the 
experts before being able to agree to the Chairman's 
proposal.  In the end, however, the French believed that they 
would be able to support the proposal outlined by Burian, but 
it would take "perhaps, weeks."  As part of the subsequent 
discussion, UKUN reiterated its demand that terms of 
reference be created for all experts.  (Note:  Such terms 
already exist for Cupitt.)  South Africa expressed concern 
that -- if the Committee agreed to the Chairman's proposal -- 
the experts' panel would not retain an African expert.  South 
Africa also questioned why the contracts of Cupitt and 
Slipchenko were being extended for longer than the other 
three experts. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) On the margins of the meeting, the French expert 
advised USUN that he will block the re-appointment of 
Slipchenko until the experts commit -- in writing -- to 
include an examination of means of delivery, as called for in 
the resolutions, in their work plan.  Though the French do 
not object to extending Cupitt's contract, the two are now 
essentially linked together in the Committee's 
decision-making process.  (Note:  The Russians have made 
clear they will link Cupitt's reappointment to Slipchenko's.) 
 The French (and UKUN) understand that our priority is to 
retain Cupitt on the panel of experts.  (Comment:  Although 
we do not think it is helpful to link directly the experts' 
contracts to substantive issues as France has done, we remain 
confident that the end result will be the long-term extension 
of Cupitt's contract.  End comment.) 
 
------------------------------------- 
Implementation of the Program of Work 
------------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) Burian then recommended that the Committee engage in 
a series of thematic debates to help guide its work.  (Note: 
The work program contemplates that the Committee would have 
such debates.)  Burian also suggested that the Committee meet 
informally every two weeks.  He noted that the experts had 
broken down the Committee's work program into seven basic 
tasks: 1) compiling the 2008 report to the Council; 2) 
reviewing the national reports submitted by Member States; 3) 
encouraging cooperation between the Committee and other 
bodies/organizations; 4) increasing outreach activities; 5) 
facilitating technical assistance; 6) implementing 
transparency in its work; and 7) preparing transition 
activities (relating to new experts).  Expert Rick Cupitt 
told the Committee that the experts are generating a 
spreadsheet of these tasks and related subtasks, working 
backward from the obligation to report to the Council in 2008. 
 
¶7.  (U) Burian, although he asked for concrete suggestions, 
made it clear that he wanted a roadmap-like approach to make 
the Committee's work more productive and efficient.  To allow 
the Committee to make the best use of briefings that outside 
organizations such as the Missile Technology Control Regime 
(MTCR) are scheduled to provide the Committee in 2007, the UK 
stressed that the Committee should debate relevant issues 
before those briefings.  (Note:  The MTCR will brief the 
Committee in March.) 
 
------------------- 
Outreach Activities 
------------------- 
 
¶8.  (U) The Committee also briefly discussed outreach.  The 
UK said it is unfortunate that the Committee's outreach to 
date has been reactive and suggested that the Committee think 
about organizing its own outreach activities.  Burian 
suggested that the Committee consider outreach in regions 
that had high rates of non-reporting, including CARICOM and 
the Small Pacific Island States.  Burian added that Germany 
and Norway will brief Committee members at its next meeting 
on their planning for the spring donors' conference. 
 
--------------------- 
Assistance Activities 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) Burian asked members how they thought the Committee 
should pursue its work relating to technical assistance.  He 
said the Committee needed to define its efforts on technical 
assistance to help promote states' implementation of 
resolution 1540.  Burian suggested using the Committee's 
website to advertise information about states offering and 
requesting assistance.  Committee expert Cupitt said the 
Committee should refine the information on its website to 
make offers of assistance more specific.  Including matrices 
on states' implementation of resolution 1540 on the 
Committee's website also would promote the delivery of 
technical assistance, Cupitt said.  Burian suggested the 
Committee meet with experts to organize and summarize the 
most helpful information that could be placed on the website. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Coordination with CTED and 1267 Monitoring Team 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶10.  (U) Cupitt introduced the paper on outreach to 
non-reporting and late reporting states that the experts had 
prepared in conjunction with the 1267 Monitoring Team and 
CTED (refs C-D).  UKUN noted that the three expert groups had 
drafted earlier papers on how to coordinate their efforts and 
improve reporting, but the Committee had never heard whether 
the efforts had produced results.  Evaluating previous 
efforts would, UKUN said, help the Committee consider the 
experts' latest approach.  Burian expressed frustration that 
the experts seemed to be working on a joint strategy with the 
other experts' groups, when the 1540 Committee had not yet 
come to agreement on its own outreach strategy. 
 
------------- 
Other Matters 
------------- 
 
¶11.  (U) Burian proposed assignments for the new Committee 
members to the three sub-committees, and agreed to circulate 
them under a silence procedure.  Burian also said Slovakia 
intends to hold a thematic debate in the Council in February, 
when Slovakia holds the rotating Council Presidency, on the 
role of international organizations in implementing 1540. 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment:  Following the meeting, USUN reps 
expressed to Burian the U.S.' strong support for the idea of 
a thematic debate in the Council to focus attention on 
non-proliferation issues and 1540 implementation in 
particular.  However (in response to a paper circulated by 
Burian to the P5), the USG recommended that participation in 
the thematic debate should be limited to those organizations 
listed in paragraph 8(c) of resolution 1540 and in 
particular, should not include the Comprehensive Test Ban 
Treaty Organization because that group's work is not relevant 
to implementation of resolution 1540.  Burian was 
appreciative of U.S. support, and noted that he fully 
understood the U.S. position on participation.  End comment. 
WOLFF