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DE RUEHTC #1786/01 2691611
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261611Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0387
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 001786 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP 
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC 
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN) 
NSC FOR LEDDY 
WINPAC FOR WALTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): WRAP-UP FOR THE 
WEEK ENDING SEPTEMBER 21, 2007 
 
This is CWC-78-07. 
 
------------------ 
EC-50 Preparations 
------------------ 
¶1.  (U) On September 17, Ambassador Romeo Arguelles 
(Philippines) chaired the preparatory meeting for EC-50 and 
review of the agenda.  There was little discussion. 
Ambassador Javits urged delegations to address the issues for 
decision and avoid the deferrals of routine business that 
have characterized past Council sessions. 
 
---------- 
QUAD LUNCH 
---------- 
¶2. (SBU)  French delegate and WEOG chair Annie Mari invited 
members of the UK, German and US delegations to lunch 
September 18 to discuss issues of mutual interest.  German 
delegates raised the question of the Maradykovsky documents 
and what changes to the texts or decisions by the Council 
would allow the U.S. to accept them.  Discussion centered on 
the Director General,s language from EC-49, clear commitment 
to second stage verification under Article IV/V, commitment 
to such verification at future facilities.   Del reps agreed 
to consult Washington authorities. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Del reps noted the importance of new targeted action 
on Article VII. The other dels agreed that continued action 
is important, but thought it might be more productive to 
pursue action directly through the TS than in the EC, where 
linkage with an Article XI action plan was inevitable.  On 
OCPF inspections, the German reps expressed resistance to 
continuing increases in inspection numbers without a more 
rigorous look at targeting inspections more effectively to 
relevant facilities.  UK del rep noted that the push for 
numbers provides  the only leverage we have on pursuing 
improved site selection. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Topics proposed for the October Quad meeting 
included Article VII, OCPF site selection, 
destruction/Maradykovsky, and strategy for the Review 
Conference particularly for the issue of non-lethals which is 
certain to come up. 
 
-------------- 
ACADEMIC FORUM 
-------------- 
¶5. (U)  Del reps attended several sessions of the Academic 
Forum September 18 ) 19.  Of note were several 
presentations/discussions on riot control agents (RCAs), 
non-lethals, and incapacitants. 
 
 
------------- 
EXPANDED WEOG 
------------- 
¶6.  (SBU) The Western European and Others Group met on 
September 20 with other interested delegations from Eastern 
Europe, Japan and South Korea.  Discussion centered on the 
upcoming Executive Council session.  Guest delegations 
continue to express appreciation for the opportunity to have 
frank discussions with the WEOG. 
 
 
----------- 
ARTICLE VII 
----------- 
¶7.  (U) On September 17, Kimmo Laukkanen (Finland) chaired a 
meeting on Article VII.  The discussion focused on the format 
for EC recommendations to the CSP ) e.g., a follow-up action 
plan v. a decision v. report language.  Most delegations 
acknowledged that significant work remains to be done. 
 
¶8.  (U) Iran repeated several times their position that 
report language only was needed and that decision language 
was premature and inappropriate.  Del rep deployed guidance 
and insisted that the EC,s recommendations be addressed now, 
which several delegations were quick to endorse.  In the end, 
 
the facilitator agreed to move forward with language that 
could be used in whatever format or timing was agreed. 
 
¶9.  (U) On September 21, Del rep met with Laukkanen and 
discussed options, presenting draft decision language and he 
could use for developing a document for distribution. 
Laukkanen,s plan is to distribute this no later than 
September 24, with the intention of meeting during the EC to 
try to reach a consensus on decision language. 
 
------------------------- 
2008 BUDGET CONSULTATIONS 
------------------------- 
¶10. (U) Del rep met with Labib Sahab (acting head, Budget and 
Finance) to discuss the budget and to raise U.S. suggestions 
on reallocation of EUR 570,000, including funding for the SAB 
and funding to purchase a special CD-burner previously 
requested by the TS.  Sahab noted that a previous EC decision 
limited the number of regular SAB meetings to one annually, 
and it would take a new EC decision to increase the number of 
SAB meetings before more funding could be allocated from the 
regular budget. 
 
¶11. (U) The budget consultations on September 19, were 
dominated by the Deputy Director General,s presentation of 
the DG's proposal on where to reallocate the EUR 570,000 
resulting by reductions in U.S. and Russian destruction 
estimates.  The DG's new proposal includes two of the options 
floated last week: increased training for inspectors (EUR 
170,000), and purchasing additional inspection and 
verification equipment (EUR 400,000).  Del rep asked for 
clarification on the type of equipment that would be 
purchased.  The DDG listed off some the equipment under 
consideration; the TS promised to circulate a paper to all 
delegations with more details.  (NOTE: Following the 
consultations, DDG approached Del rep to convey TS's 
intention to purchase the special CD-burner either from the 
EUR 400,000 equipment purchase proposal or from left-over 
year-end funds.) 
 
¶12. (U) During the consultations, Japan asked for more 
justification for the addition of two fixed-term positions in 
the 2008 budget.  The DDG offered little explanation aside 
from that provided in the budget.  After the meeting, 
Japanese delegate told Del rep that Tokyo is opposed to 
increasing the number of fixed-term positions.  He also noted 
his intention to raise the issue again - along with Germany - 
at the September 21 budget consultations and asked for U.S. 
support on the issue. 
 
¶13. (U) On September 21, the final budget consultations 
before the EC again focused primarily on the DG's proposal. 
In the absence of a paper with more details on its spending 
plans, the Verification and Inspectorate directors gave 
thorough presentations on their divisions' needs; the TS 
promised to prepare and circulate a detailed paper on both 
equipment and training. 
 
¶14. (U) The UK raised the option of funding additional OCPF 
inspections, but the issue seems tied up with the current 
policy debate on site selection, with little likelihood of 
reaching consensus.  Canada and Australia were particularly 
supportive of reducing the budget if additional inspections 
were not feasible. 
 
¶15. (U) Aside from Iran's continual insistence that the EUR 
570,000 be reallocated to ICA to support International 
Cooperation Branch activities, the general feeling among 
delegations was that two choices remain: approving the DG's 
proposal or reducing the budget.  (COMMENT:  Del recommends 
to keep the budget at its current ZNG level and not reduce 
the budget, joining other countries in supporting the DG's 
proposal.) 
 
 
------------------------------ 
REPORT OF THE EXTERNAL AUDITOR 
------------------------------ 
 
¶16. (U) On September 19, Takayuki Kitagawa (Japan) chaired a 
meeting to discuss the External Auditor's Report.  Aside from 
incessant questions raised on every point by Iran, the 
meeting was uneventful.  The most contentious issue raised by 
Iran concerned the contingency margin; despite detailed 
explanations from the TS about the situation, Iran noted that 
the EC should request additional information from the TS. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
26TH OPCW DATA VALIDATION GROUP MEETING 
-------------------------------------- 
¶17. (U) On September 19, Del rep met with Armando Alcaraz and 
Hugh Gregg (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) regarding 
the results of this week,s Validation Group meeting.  The 
results of the Group,s data review was the acceptance of: 67 
MS spectra (for OCAD inclusion), 9 MS spectra (not for OCAD), 
a number of NMR spectra (for OCAD inclusion), and 29 GC 
retention indices (for OCAD inclusion).  Other topics 
discussed included: establishment of an LC/MS database for 
potential inclusion in OCAD, inclusion of prediction GC 
retention indices (to reduce false positives), and accepting 
GC data based on a single run (rather than the normal three). 
 
¶18. (U) Lastly, this meeting announced that Ed White (NIST) 
would no longer serve as MS Chairman, acknowledging his 
dedication and diligence over the years.  A search for a 
long-term replacement will prove very difficult.  Mr. White 
is no longer participating because previous funding for his 
efforts has not been renewed. 
 
------------ 
UNIVERSALITY 
------------ 
¶19. (U) On September 20, Said Moussi (Algeria) chaired a 
meeting on Universality.  A draft decision was circulated and 
formed the basis for most of the discussion.  Suggestions 
were made to include language from last year's decision 
(C-11/DEC.8) and to clarify portions of the draft.  It was 
decided to take up the issue following EC-50.  After the 
meeting, Moussi approached Del reps to ask for assistance in 
moving the decision forward and welcomed any advice or input 
the Del might provide.  The next meeting on Universality is 
scheduled for October 5. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
FREQUENCY OF INSPECTION AND RISK ASSESSMENT 
------------------------------------------- 
¶20. (U) On September 21, Amb. Dastis (Spain) chaired another 
meeting on this topic.  The meeting was again attended by the 
DG and Verification staff. 
 
¶21. (U) The first part of the discussion centered on the May 
28, 2007 TS paper specifically on the Schedule 2 risk 
assessment methodology.  South Africa attempted to use the 
text in paragraphs 16 and 17 of this paper to indicate that 
Schedule 2 inspection levels should be higher than in the 
current budget proposal.  The TS made it clear that paragraph 
16 is meant to demonstrate the high-end of the frequency 
range for facilities where such was warranted, but that 
paragraph 17 was meant to demonstrate the average frequency 
over time.  Japan and several WEOG delegations had some minor 
questions but strongly supported the general approach the TS 
took in this paper. 
 
¶22. (U) The second part of the discussion was on the more 
general May 25, 2007 TS paper.  On Schedule 1, many WEOG 
delegations expressed the opinion that the TS proposal was, 
if anything, higher than necessary and might be further 
reduced in later years.  Germany, however, asked that the 
Schedule 1 frequency be kept static to reflect the 
sensitivity of these compounds.  The Schedule 2 discussion 
was truncated by the early specific discussion, and Schedule 
3 was likewise short.  The DG began the OCPF discussion (in 
response to a South African comment) by referencing his EC-49 
opening remarks, during which he recommended a revisit of 
OCPF declaration components.  This led to a long discussion 
into how this might be done, during which Del rep reminded 
delegations that, for many reasons (e.g., legislative), this 
 
review needed to be kept within the bounds of current 
declaration processes.  In the end, it was agreed that the 
declaration element found in VA Part IX para 4(c) ) &main 
activities8 ) would be the focus of the review. 
Eventually, it was decided that it was best for the TS to 
make a first attempt at options for para 4(c), which will be 
distributed to delegations, along with possible ways to 
include appropriate expert input. 
 
¶23. (U) Del Comment: The idea now being reviewed by the TS 
was something that was being discussed internally within the 
interagency.  The fact that this approach was proposed and 
gained such favorable ground will change the USG approach to 
the matter.  However, it will still be of value to provide 
our thoughts and approaches to the TS for their consideration 
during this time. 
 
JAVITS SENDS. 
Arnall