VZCZCXRO7947
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBD #0160/01 1580317
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 070317Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3829
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000160 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS 
DEFENSE FOR OSD:IPSEN, PACOM FOR MA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017 
TAGS: MARR MASS PREL BX
SUBJECT: BRUNEI DEFENSE WHITE PAPER FURTHER ALIGNS GOB WITH 
U.S. INTERESTS 
 
Classified By: CDA Justin Friedman, reasons 1.4 (a), (b), & (d) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) Brunei's newly updated Defense White Paper promises to 
further transform Brunei's military capabilities to enable 
Brunei to play a wider role in regional security initiatives 
and disaster response.  We have advocated that the GoB take 
just these kinds of steps to counter current regional 
security threats and to build on the good work it has done in 
regional peacekeeping and humanitarian relief projects in 
Mindanao and Aceh.  Post is supporting two current 
initiatives -- a Defense Resource Management Study (DRMS) to 
help Brunei develop a capabilities-based military budgeting 
system and a disaster response workshop run by the Asia 
Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) -- to leverage 
the current momentum for defense reform into capacities that 
can support U.S. policy initiatives in the region and in the 
broader Islamic community.  However, any potential military 
sales opportunities for U.S. firms will depend the Ministry 
of Defense making progress on fixing its broken procurement 
system.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Deployable, Sustainable, Interoperable Force 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Just in time for the nation's first defense trade 
show, Bridex 2007 May 31 - June 2, Brunei's Ministry of 
Defense has released an update to its defense white paper. 
Described as an update of the 2004 Defense White Paper, this 
version sharpens the focus of the short-medium term 
development of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) on 
creating a force capable of sustaining itself on deployments 
within the ASEAN region and beyond.  The White Paper 
emphasizes the need to develop a flexible rapid response 
capability to contribute to joint operations in the region 
and "to make a modest yet credible contribution to wider 
United Nation's peace support and humanitarian relief 
operations."  The paper lays out priorities for creating 
interoperable command, control and communications 
capabilities and joint maritime patrol operations.  Full text 
of the White Paper Update can be downloaded at: 
www.mindef.gov.bn/new home/whitepaper2007/english.pdf 
 
¶3. (C) The priorities stressed in the White Paper take MinDef 
and the RBAF a step further towards having the kinds of 
capabilities we have been encouraging the GoB to develop to 
play a larger role in regional peace operations.  Ever since 
Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah announced his intention to send 
peacekeepers to the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon last August, 
the Ministry of Defense under Deputy Minister of Defense 
Pehin Yasmin (the Sultan is the Minister of Defense) has been 
pressing to match the RBAF's capabilities to the GoB's 
political commitments.  The White Paper Update provides a 
revised set of strategic marching orders for MinDef and the 
RBAF to fulfill His Majesty's pledge.  Yasmin's commitment to 
these reforms, however, predates the Sultan's pledge.  Yasmin 
has repeatedly stressed to us, most recently at a June 5 
meeting with Charge, that Brunei's participation in relief 
operations in Aceh after the tsunami were both and important 
learning opportunity and a wake up call for the RBAF to adapt 
to new missions and tasks to deal with modern security 
threats.  Yasmin now expects that Brunei will have the first 
of two peace-keeping platoons trained before the end of the 
calendar year and be ready to deploy an initial medical unit 
to UNIFIL as early as October. 
 
 
-------------------------- 
Disaster Response Workshop 
-------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The White Paper notes the essential role the RBAF 
continues to play in homeland defense and gives new emphasis 
to making military assets available at short notice to 
respond to natural disasters.  While the RBAF does not have a 
"first responder" role in a natural disaster, it is the sole 
agency with helicopter lift as well has the logistics 
capacity to move relief supplies quickly to a stricken area. 
However, neither RBAF nor MinDef have a command role in a 
civil emergency.  In August 2006, Brunei created a civilian 
National Disaster Management Center (NDMC) as the nation's 
 
BANDAR SER 00000160  002 OF 003 
 
 
focal point for internal crisis/disaster response, staffed 
primarily with Fire and Rescue Department personnel but 
commanded by a seconded air force officer, LTC Yahya Rahmin. 
 
¶5. (C) With Deputy MinDef Yasmin's support, the Asia Pacific 
Center for Security Studies (APCSS) is currently organizing a 
national disaster response workshop to bring together all key 
internal players to the table and help the GoB coordinate its 
interagency planning.  This workshop is a direct result of a 
meeting last year between Yasmin and LtGen Smith of APCSS 
last year, but the NDMC and it's parent Ministry (Home 
Affairs) are the organizational partners.  In a June 5 
meeting with APCSS team members, Yasmin stressed that the 
NDMC is in charge of civil emergency response and the RBAF 
will have to learn to be a service/capacity provider and not 
try to take over operational command during an emergency. 
MinDef Director of Operations COL Jofri Abdullah told us 
separately that a February emergency response exercise the 
RBAF ran in partnership with NDMC revealed a number of gaps 
in RBAF command and control capacities as well as in 
communications assets and operating procedures for joint 
civil military operations.  Yasmin and Jofri both indicated 
that they hope the APCSS workshop will lay out a strategic 
action plan for Brunei to address those gaps and improve its 
operational capabilities.  Given Brunei's experience of 
having far fewer natural disasters than other countries in 
ASEAN, they see a vital niche role for the RBAF to play in 
supporting and supplementing deployments of civilian disaster 
relief capacity regionally. 
 
----------------------------- 
New U.S. Sales Opportunities? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) The release of the White Paper and the Bridex defense 
expo were seen by many in the defense industry as a signal 
that the GoB would start to move on long-expected 
procurements of new military hardware and C4I systems.  Prior 
to the release of the White Paper, MinDef contacts told us 
that they hoped the release of the paper would give direction 
and focus to MinDef's stalled procurement system.  The 
defense contractor rumor mill saw the prospective resolution 
of a dispute with the UK over purchase of three offshore 
patrol vessels (OPVs) as the key step toward unblocking a 
more regular flow of procurements.  Note: UK Embassy 
officials told us in March that Brunei had lost it's 
arbitration case and that the two sides were working on a 
face-saving deal that could possibly have Brunei take 
ownership of the OPVs on paper but then immediately sell them 
to another buyer.  End Note.  Major U.S. defense contractors, 
including Raytheon, Northrup-Grumman, and Harris made the 
pilgrimage to Brunei to show off communications and 
intelligence fusion systems for military and homeland 
security applications as well as UAVs.  In the run up to 
Bridex, the industry rumor mill believed that the GoB would 
announce the winner of a tactical radio tender.  The U.S. 
firm Harris was on the short list for this tender with the 
French firm Thales and German Rhode & Schwarz.  However, only 
one small procurement of machine guns from a Singapore firm 
was announced at Bridex. 
 
----------------------------------- 
COMMENT: Fix the Procurement System 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (C) The White Paper shows that key people in MinDef have 
absorbed the current military-speak of "delivering capability 
outcomes" and implementing "joint operational concepts" to 
give Brunei a deployable, sustainable, flexible military. 
Deputy Minister Yasmin has been the driving force of the 
GoB's effort to fix and professionalize a broken procurement 
system that has been a critical stumbling block on this road 
to defense transformation.  Yasmin's acceptance of our offer 
of a Defense Resource Management Study (DRMS) is another step 
forward.  The DRMS project, which will reach full speed in 
August, will help MinDef develop the analytical tools to go 
from talking-the-talk on capabilities-based budget 
assessments to walking-the-walk.  However, the White Paper 
also calls for MinDef to support the development of Brunei's 
own defense industry through economic enhancement programs 
(otherwise known as offsets).  Managing an offset program in 
a way that develops local capacity without sucking a defense 
budget dry and creating industrial white elephants will be a 
significant new challenge for MinDef.  It remains to be seen 
how long it will take for MinDef to rationalize the 
 
BANDAR SER 00000160  003 OF 003 
 
 
procurement system and develop a sensible offset program so 
that the soldiers and sailors of the RBAF can get down to the 
work of creating the capabilities the Sultan wants his 
military to have. 
 
FRIEDMAN