VZCZCXRO4869
PP RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHKU #0598 1141034
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 241034Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY KUWAIT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8871
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY

S E C R E T KUWAIT 000598 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DS/ATA, S/CT, NEA/ARP, EB/ESC/IEC; DOE FOR 
KOLEVAR; NSC FOR JESSEE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2017 
TAGS: EPET ASEC PTER KCIP KU
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR RAISES CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE 
PROTECTION WITH KUWAITI LEADERSHIP 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 419 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 448 
     ¶C. KUWAIT 506 
     ¶D. KUWAIT 460 
     ¶E. KUWAIT 431 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
 ¶1. (S/NF) Summary: During meetings on April 23 and 24, the 
Ambassador raised the need for follow-up on critical 
infrastructure protection with the President of the National 
Security Bureau, the Prime Minister and Oil Minister, 
respectively.  With each, the Ambassador praised the 
cooperation at the time of the U.S. team,s visit, noted that 
the final report would be done soon, and called for sustained 
action and cooperation.  (End Summary) 
 
¶2. (S/NF) On 23 April, Ambassador met with National Security 
Bureau (NSB) President Shaykh Ahmed Al-Fahd and briefed him 
on the preliminary findings and recommendations from the 
Dept-DOE-DHS Critical Energy Infrastructure Protection (CEIP) 
assessment conducted in Kuwait from 14-21 March (Ref A). 
Ambassador provided Shaykh Ahmed with a written summary of 
short-term and medium-to-long-term informal recommendations 
and explained that a final, detailed report from the 
assessment would be completed within a matter of days and 
that plans were underway to assemble a team to present the 
report, respond to questions, and advise the Kuwaitis on 
implementation. The Ambassador stressed that there were many 
recommendations that could be acted on immediately and 
explained the USG was eager to provide continuing cooperation 
to help fill in the gaps in Kuwait's CEIP regime. 
 
¶3.  (S/NF)  Shaykh Ahmed agreed that CEIP is a critical 
matter requiring immediate attention and thanked the 
Ambassador for the USG's continuing support.  He said the NSB 
had prepared its own report following the March assessment 
and agreed that it would be important for USG experts to sit 
down with their Kuwaiti counterparts to discuss the report 
and map out a plan of action.  Shaykh Ahmed also urged the 
Ambassador to present the final USG report to the Prime 
Minister as soon as possible to ensure that our efforts to 
enhance CEIP have full support from the highest level of the 
government in order to enable the maximum cooperation of the 
various GOK agencies involved. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) On 24 April, during a brief meeting on a number of 
topics, the Ambassador raised the CEIP study with Prime 
Minister Nasser Mohamed al-Ahmed Al-Sabah.  The Prime 
Minister was aware of the consultations on infrastructure 
protection and pledged continued cooperation.  The Ambassador 
emphasized the need for interagency coordination. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) Also on 24 April, the Ambassador called on Oil 
Minister Shaykh Ali Jarrah Sabah Al-Sabah and thanked the 
ministry for its cooperation on the project to better protect 
oil infrastructure.  The Ambassador mentioned two areas for 
greater emphasis: coordination across agencies and training. 
Shaykh Ali said that it appeared that the GOK would assign 
the coordination role to the Security Decision Follow-Up 
Committee led by retired General Mohammed Al-Bader, with whom 
the Ambassador met on March 28 (Ref B) as part of Post's 
ongoing CEIP follow-up (Refs C, D, E).  The Oil Minister 
thought that assigning coordination responsibilities to this 
body would be effective since it reports directly to the 
Council of Ministers (cabinet). 
 
********************************************* * 
For more reporting from Embssy Kuwait, visit: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s 
 
Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ 
********************************************* * 
 
LeBaron