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R 121343Z JUN 07
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5016
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SEC CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000258 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR EUR/RPM, S/CT, EUR/PGI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER OSCE PREL RS
SUBJECT: OSCE PPP CONFERENCE PROVIDES INSIGHT INTO 
PARTNERSHIPS AGAINST TERRORISM 
 
Ref: State 62142 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  At the OSCE's May 31-June 1 Conference to promote 
Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in countering terrorism, 
co-initiated by the U.S. and Russia, more than 300 participants from 
58 participating States and Partners as well as several 
international organizations discussed the utility of creating 
partnerships between the public and private sectors in the fight 
against terrorism.  Participants discussed ways to promote 
inter-faith dialogue, enhance economic development, protect critical 
infrastructure, and counter terrorist financing.  One recurring 
theme was the need to establish trust among all shareholders and to 
treat partners as equals, and not subordinates. 
 
¶2. (SBU) There were several interesting, even provocative, 
interventions.  Ahmed Younis, former member of the Muslim Public 
Affairs Council and member of the U.S. delegation, contended that 
efforts by many Western countries to encourage secularism among 
Muslim youths are often ill-conceived and argued that a better 
approach would be to use "good theology to fight bad theology."  The 
representative from the Russian Vneshtorgbank noted ongoing efforts 
between the GOR and major Russian companies to promote economic 
development in the northern Caucasus.  One Russian keynote speaker 
presented, in essence, a rationalization for curtailing freedom of 
speech on the Internet (this despite considerable U.S. efforts to 
avoid addressing Internet-related issues at all during the 
conference).  On the other hand, Jan Mares from the Department of 
Homeland Security (DHS) outlined recent U.S. efforts to establish 
PPPs in 17 sectors ranging from agriculture to telecommunications, 
while one keynote speaker from a Belgian bank complained about the 
frustrating lack of feedback from the Belgian government on efforts 
to cut off terrorist financing.  While many of the issues (such as 
human rights and terrorist financing) have been covered by the OSCE 
in other fora, the conference did put PPPs on the radar screen for 
many States while providing useful background on how successful 
partnerships can increase security.  End summary 
 
Opening Session 
--------------- 
 
¶3. (U) Russian Special Representative on CT Issues Anatoliy Safonov 
noted the importance of the conference as it was the first time that 
such a "tri-partite approach" of governments, private sector and 
NGOs had been encouraged to combat terrorism.  He noted the 
preparations, in consultation with the U.S. and the OSCE, had taken 
a year,.  Governments and others needed to create their own 
"ecospheres" where freedom and tolerance could thrive and to counter 
extremist ideology.  He underscored the fact that so much attention 
had been focused on where U.S.-Russian relations had problems but 
the close cooperation on CT issues showed how well the two sides 
could and do work together. 
 
¶4. (U) U.S. Head of Delegation, Acting S/CT Frank Urbancic, endorsed 
Safonov's comments on the importance of the conference and noted 
that the PPP concept had been explored in the G-8 and elsewhere in a 
limited manner.  Though states have done much to combat terrorist 
financing and strengthen borders, terrorist groups like al-Qaida 
have been able to adapt and exploit weaknesses, such as using the 
Internet to train, recruit and raise funds.  The approach to 
combating terror has to be at global, national and local levels. 
Technology has been a two-edged sword, improving connectivity for 
the common citizens but also for extremists.  Businesses, youth 
groups, women's organizations all have a role to play in empowering 
the disenfranchised. 
 
Addressing Underlying Economic Factors 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Aleksey Yeroshkin, Senior VP at Vneshtorgbank, said that 
while international terrorist groups have some USD 20 billion at 
their disposal, World Bank reports indicate that two-thirds of the 
countries in the world have seen a rise in poverty and often a 
concomitant rise in extremism.  This showed the need for the private 
sector, encouraged by government tax breaks, to help invest in 
distressed areas,.  Companies have an incentive in rooting out 
global threats that could undermine their operations.  In Russia, 
the major focus has been to encourage regional development with the 
hope that the foundation for extremism will dry up.  To that end, a 
private-state initiative has been set up, with support from Gazprom 
and others, to fund projects in the Caucasus, including Chechnya, 
where social and civil structures need to be restored.  He also 
noted that in attacks since 9/11, the Dow and other markets have 
lost only one percent of value, which seems to indicate that 
companies have begun to take terrorism into account in their 
long-run calculations; however, he urged that we should never get 
used to the threat of terrorism. 
 
USOSCE 00000258  002 OF 004 
 
 
 
¶6. (U) Rachel Briggs, from the British NGO DEMOS, said post-9/11 
governments committed the typical "deer in the headlights" mistake 
of focusing on global dynamics, which paralyzed people and 
monopolized attention, while ignoring the community level.  She said 
that for a few individuals, terrorism is a "rational choice;" the 
goal for society should be to alter that calculus, to drive a wedge 
between the "good guys" and the extremists.  Instead, governments 
often drive a wedge between Muslim communities and the rest of 
society.  This was short-sighted as Muslim communities can be an 
important source of intelligence and can help divert youth from 
extremism.  She noted that partnership is not a low-risk strategy as 
governments can often be accused of "appeasement," while local 
communities may be wary of being co-opted.  Partnerships have to be 
equal; governments cannot always be in the lead.  She noted it took 
the UK 30 years of fighting in Northern Ireland to learn that "the 
hardware is not effective without the software." 
 
¶7. (U) Not surprisingly, many participants took issue with the 
statement that marginalized populations were more vulnerable to turn 
to extremism.  Armenian Ambassador Tabibian noted Bin Laden and 
other terrorists were not only middle class, if not rich, but also 
highly educated.  Moreover, there is little in common between the 
Oklahoma City bombings, carried out by white Midwesterners, and the 
London Tube bombings, done by the sons of immigrants.  The only 
commonalities are anger, a sense of powerlessness and the desire to 
right some perceived wrong.  Uzbek Ambassador Usupov said 
"Londonistan," known for its prosperity and tolerance, now faces 
homegrown extremists and noted that HMG has taken no actions against 
Hizb ut-Tahrir, viewed as a terrorist group by Central Asian states. 
 The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) representative 
said big business is often suspect as it can be seen as a key 
exploiter of labor in many countries.  He also stressed that there 
is no such thing as "Islamic terrorism," rather terrorist acts 
carried out by people who purport to be Islamic, as the religion 
itself upholds moderation, tolerance and diversity as core values 
and condemns all forms of violence against civilians. 
 
Promoting Tolerance and Inter-faith Dialogue 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) During the second session, with EUR/FO Farah Pandith as 
moderator, Mark Tverdynin of the Russian Association of Electronic 
Communications (RAEC) noted the growing threat of terrorist 
propaganda by groups like al-Qaida on the Internet given its wide 
distribution, low cost and ease of use.  To counter this, Russia 
introduced the Antiterrorist Convention, a set of voluntary rules 
for journalists covering terrorist acts and the topic of terrorism. 
The GOR has focused on shutting down terrorist sites; hotlines have 
been set up to alert police to suspicious sites.  He noted that 
technical devices and filters are being used to block such sites at 
schools and elsewhere.  The GOR has encouraged businesses to provide 
grants and financing to promote tolerance over the Internet.  It has 
also created RUnet and other sites to provide news, research 
materials on CT issues, and recommendations on what to do in case of 
a terrorist act.  This partnership, however, needs to be increased, 
to include "support of self-regulation" on the Internet, 
"reorienting Internet-ethics of users" to respecting the rights of 
others; and encouraging the private sector to provide more financial 
support. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment:  For months, USOSCE stressed to the Russian 
delegation that any discussion of curtailing First Amendment rights, 
such as its "clean the Net" initiatives, would cross USG redlines. 
The GOR eventually said it would accept limited discussion of the 
Internet as part of critical infrastructure.  It then ignored U.S. 
concerns and made its points anyway.  After the presentations, HOD 
Urbancic took the floor to briefly stress the importance of the COE 
Convention on Cybercrime, as that outlines how to deal with 
terrorism on the Internet.  End Comment. 
 
¶10. (U) Ahmed Younis, author, former member of the Muslim Public 
Action Committee and member of the U.S. del, said it was important 
for young Muslims to be able to fully integrate into society, 
otherwise they will be more prone to recruitment by extremists.  For 
this reason, it is critical for European countries to openly discuss 
their concept of national identity and how Muslims integrate into 
societies.  Moderate voices also need to come forward and speak out 
against extremism as Muslims must be at the forefront of any effort 
to combat extremism.  He said the private sector can also play a 
role by providing support, helping disseminate this message.  It is 
wrong to believe that the more deeply religious a person, the 
greater his vulnerability to extremism.  Many societies are plagued 
by "imported imams" or "uneducated street preachers" who are able to 
make inroads with youths with false teachings of Islam.  Younis 
contended that "bad theology" can only be fought with "good 
 
USOSCE 00000258  003 OF 004 
 
 
theology" -- not by goading people to become secularized -- and 
called for increased efforts to educate and train local religious 
leaders, though this process could take decades. 
 
¶11. (U) There was considerable interest by other participants in 
making comments.  The International Federation of Human Rights 
(FIDH) welcomed efforts to bring civil society to work with 
governments against terrorism and said NGOs had expertise to monitor 
PPP activities.  However, there is a need for corporate social 
responsibility and international standards.  FIDH believes the OSCE 
should encourage NGO monitoring of PPPs.  OIC stated its support for 
PPPs and agreed with the importance of full integration of Muslim 
communities into European societies and the need to avoid any 
reference to a "clash of civilizations."  Egypt endorsed Younis' 
comments, contending that extremist thought can only be tackled by 
real imams who preach the message of Islam as a religion of peace. 
There have also been some terrorists who have renounced their ways 
publicly, which has helped bolster moderate voices. 
 
Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶12. (U) The third session impressed most participants with its 
thoroughness and its practical recommendations.  Keynote speaker 
Trefor Munn-Venn, Associate Director of the Conference Board of 
Canada, a think tank, noted that PPPs to protect critical 
infrastructure are vital since up to 85 percent is either owned or 
operated by the private sector.  He noted PPPs can be used in 
response to terrorist attacks and to natural disasters and 
differentiated between risk management (e.g., dealing with hurricane 
seasons in south Florida) and the much more difficult task of 
uncertainty management (where no likelihood of an event can be 
established, such as a terrorist attack at a shopping mall).  He 
listed six key principles of successful PPPs: 
 
--  Cooperation and coordination:  Actors need to work together 
towards a common goal without duplication or gaps.  An obvious 
point, but as shown during Hurricane Katrina, not often followed. 
--  Mandates and resources must be established and coordinated with 
all actors.  Organizations often assume mandates during a crisis 
when they do not have one. 
--  Clear, frequent and credible communication:  This fosters trust 
and the sharing of information, providing the foundation for a 
lasting relationship and helps reassure the public during a crisis. 
 
--  Fairness: All stakeholders must be treated fairly.  The 
allocation of scare resources must be discussed and decided upon 
before a crisis occurs, e.g., who gets Tamiflu in a pandemic.  The 
elderly?  First-responders?  What about first-responders from 
another country coming to help? 
--  Continuous learning:  Experience should lead to refinements in 
our procedures and actions. We should share our experiences - both 
positive and negative - with each other in order to speed up the 
learning process. 
--  Leadership/ Accountability:  While you cannot control what 
happens, you can control how you respond.  The quality of leadership 
during a crisis can have a long-lasting impact on the ability of a 
company or a city to recover. 
 
All of these principles take time - and training - to develop. 
Munn-Venn argued that it is critical for governments to begin 
creating partnerships before a crisis occurs.  He urged participants 
to take best practices a step further and identify "next practices" 
- the practices that will be important in five or ten years from 
now. 
 
¶13. (U) U.S. keynote speaker Jan Mares from DHS observed that PPPs 
are an important tool in preventing, protecting against or preparing 
for terrorist attacks and enhancing a nation's resilience. PPPs 
should not be viewed as a means to shift a public burden to the 
private sector.  In fact, successful PPPs provide benefits to all 
parties, and speed recovery from disasters.  Mares cited several 
examples of the Critical Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Councils 
set up through DHS.  They are divided into 17 sectors, ranging from 
telecommunications, food/agriculture, transportation, and commercial 
facilities.  National Infrastructure Protection Plans have been 
developed by the USG in conjunction with the private sector on a 
voluntary basis for each sector. The various sectors then designed 
specific plans that assess risks, define appropriate protective 
measures and establish the boundaries, membership and governance for 
their sectors.  Mares concluded that for PPPs to be successful, they 
must have "champions" from both the public and private sectors, and 
there has to be a "business case" or "value proposition" to make the 
partnership attractive to the private sector. 
 
¶14. (SBU) The third keynoter, Bernard Boube, Director of the State 
 
USOSCE 00000258  004 OF 004 
 
 
Protection and Security Department, gave details on the French 
approach, which made clear that France takes a very rigid top-down 
approach that provides little opportunity for the private sector to 
influence policy or activities. 
 
¶15. (U) In the discussion that followed, a representative from the 
UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) 
provided information on its initiatives to enhance PPPs, such as 
collecting data, which will be used to identify barriers to 
cooperation between sectors, and elaborating practices, protocols 
and guidelines to assist States in developing PPPs.  Estonia focused 
on the extensive cyber attacks that it had experienced over the past 
few weeks and said it was able to handle the attacks due to existing 
PPPs, but argued that more international cooperation is needed on 
cyber terrorism.  Sweden raised the issue of electromagnetic 
terrorism and said it is currently conducting a PPP pre-study, with 
Saab and others, possibly to establish a research center in the near 
future. 
 
Countering Terrorist Financing 
------------------------------- 
 
¶16. (U) Panelist Bob Upton from Lloyds Bank said banks have worked 
closely to increase security measures and to report any suspicious 
transactions.  His lessons learned:  Sanctions and unofficial lists 
are of limited values because of Arabic name transliteration and 
lack of specific personal information (such as DPOB).  Data mining 
has shown that financially, most terrorists do not exhibit anything 
unusual:  they have checking and savings accounts and usually do not 
transfer large amounts of money.  His major conclusion was that the 
banking sector needs to have some "nugget of intelligence" from 
governments so it can look for someone in particular, rather than 
studying transactions in general. 
 
¶17. (U) Bruno van den Meerschaut, Chief Money Laundering Officer for 
KBC Bank, said one of his main incentives was to keep the bank's 
name out of news reports linked to money laundering, as happened a 
few years ago.  He complained that despite considerable efforts made 
by the bank over the past few years, they have never received any 
feedback whatsoever from the Belgian Financial Terrorism Unit and 
thus have no idea of whether their efforts were useful.  Repeating a 
theme that ran throughout the conference, he urged governments to 
consider banks as equal partners. 
 
¶18. (U) Aleksandr Pirilegin from the Russian firm Norilsk Nickel 
observed that during the Russian G-8 Presidency, they outlined the 
risks of the illegal sale by terrorists of precious metals, such as 
gold and platinum.  He advocated the introduction of customs 
declarations and import controls, similar to unprocessed diamonds 
and asked that the OSCE support such measures. 
 
¶19. (SBU) Comment:  While many of the issues (such as human rights 
and terrorist financing) have been covered by the OSCE in other 
fora, the conference did put PPPs on the radar screen of many States 
for the first time.  Session 3 on CIP gave a great deal of good, 
practical information, an area that perhaps could be expanded in the 
future, as the presentation by the French shows how even many 
Western European countries do not fully grasp the PPP concept. 
Moreover, the conference was greatly praised by Russian FM Lavrov 
during his visit here and repeatedly by Russian Ambassador 
Borodavkin in several PC interventions.  The Russian mission here is 
already pushing for follow-up activities.  End comment