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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 16 STATE 156111 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP MNUC GR PARM PREL
SUBJECT: PSI OPERATIONAL EXPERTS GROUP MEETING  IN RHODES, 
GREECE (OCTOBER 2-4, 2007) 
 
  SUMMARY 
 
¶1.  The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Operational 
Experts Group (OEG) meeting took place in Rhodes, Greece on 
October 2-4, 2007. Information contained in this cable is 
provided for Posts' information and is not to be passed to 
non-OEG participant governments.  A follow-on cable will 
provide a non-paper to pass to host nation governments of all 
PSI-endorsing states to keep them abreast of developments in 
the PSI OEG. 
 
BACKGROUND 
 
¶2.  Meeting Summary: Greece hosted the fifteenth 
Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Operational Experts 
Group (OEG) meeting in Rhodes on October 2-4, 2007.  All 
twenty participants in the OEG attended (Argentina, 
Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, 
Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, 
Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, 
and the United States).  The main foci of this OEG were 
discussions on maritime, ground, and air interdiction; United 
Nations Security Council Resolutions; disposition and 
liability; a Model National Response Plan; intelligence as 
evidence; the 2005 Protocols to the Suppression of Unlawful 
Acts at Sea Convention (SUA);  national updates from OEG 
participants; outreach efforts; and PSI exercises. Three 
break-out sessions were conducted on the legal, law 
enforcement, and intelligence areas related to PSI.  Items 
proposed by the U.S. included a plan to assist non-OEG PSI 
partners on how to implement PSI, the development of a set of 
operational and organizational case studies, and the 
development of a WMD Commodity Technical Reference Manual. 
For further detail, see Chairman's Statement in para 25. 
 
¶3.  Delegation:  The U.S. delegation was led by Richard 
Douglas, OSD Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for 
Counternarcotics, Counterproliferation, and Global Threats. 
The delegation included representatives from the Office of 
the Secretary of Defense (Policy and General Counsel), the 
Department of State (ISN), the Joint Staff (J5, J3), U.S. 
European Command, U.S. Central Command, U. S. Strategic 
Command Center for Combating WMD, the Department of Homeland 
Security (Customs and Border Protection and General Counsel), 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of 
Energy, the National Counterproliferation Center (DNI), the 
Defense Intelligence Agency, the Naval War College, and the 
 
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U.S. Embassy in Athens, Greece. 
 
¶4.  Greece Deputy Minister Mr. Ioannis Plakiotakis opened the 
plenary session of the PSI OEG on October 2, 2007. The 
remainder of the OEG was chaired by Mr. Dionyssios Kyvetos of 
the Greek MFA. 
 
¶5.  Maritime Interdiction: For the first time at a PSI OEG, 
the issues of bunkering, chokepoints and hubs were the 
subject of a panel discussion.  Presentations from 
representatives of the UK, the Netherlands, Singapore, Japan 
and the United States highlighted opportunities and 
challenges for PSI at these nodes along shipping transport 
routes. 
 
¶6.  Suppression of Unlawful Acts at Sea Convention (SUA): 
Greece, Norway, the UK, France and the United States provided 
national status updates on the SUA ratification process. 
Greece expects ratification by mid-2008.  Norway, which 
signed the Protocols, expects ratification in late 2009 or 
early 2010.  Norway noted that additional amendments to their 
domestic penal code will be required.  France reported that 
they are working on changes to their domestic criminal code. 
The recent presidential election in France delayed the 
ratification process slightly, but it is expected in the 
beginning of 2008.  The UK, which signed the Protocols in 
January 2007, is incorporating them into domestic 
legislation.  The UK legislation will be publicly available 
once it is officially transmitted to Parliament for 
consideration.  Mr. Gary Sharp (Associate Deputy General 
Counsel for International Affairs, Department of Defense) 
delivered the U.S. presentation, which relayed that: 1) 
implementing legislation was with the White House awaiting 
transmittal to Senate (subsequent to the U.S. presentation, 
the U.S. delegation learned that the White House transmitted 
the bill to the Senate later on October 1, 2007); 2) the U.S. 
will circulate the document once it becomes available. 
Russia commented that the dual-use definition used in the SUA 
Protocols needed additional clarification.  The SUA Protocols 
are currently under review by the Russian Ministry of 
Transportation. 
 
¶7.  Technical Verification Capabilities and Flag State 
Consent matrices: Singapore distributed an updated version of 
the matrices and offered to continue making updates as new 
information was submitted by OEG countries. 
 
¶8.  UNSCRs on Iran and DPRK:  Greece opened the discussion by 
commenting that UNSCR updates are provided as information to 
OEG partners, acknowledging that UNSCR provisions comprise a 
part of the international legal framework that the PSI 
Statement of Interdiction Principles complements.  Russia, 
 
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repeating a concern voiced at the Auckland OEG, suggested 
that the OEG focus on sharing ideas on the implementation 
aspects of UNSCRs rather than risk duplicating the efforts of 
relevant UNSC committees.  Interventions by Portugal, 
Australia, and the United States offered additional insights 
on the challenges of and considerations regarding 
implementation of relevant UNSCRs. 
 
¶9.  DPRK Shipping / Marine Cartography Initiative:  France 
presented the latest version of its project to map primary 
shipping routes to and from DPRK. The resulting network 
revealed opportunities for PSI partners to coordinate 
counterproliferation efforts with non-PSI countries.  France 
recommended the following next steps that OEG partners:  1) 
exchange views on DPRK visits to OEG/PSI ports; 2) continue 
to gather information for the project; and 3) consider ways 
to incorporate the Initiative into PSI outreach efforts. The 
U.S thanked France for the excellent project. Poland 
recommended that OEG countries work closely with countries 
that own ships carrying the DPRK flag. 
 
¶10.  Disposition and Liability: Greece moderated a panel 
discussion on the legal aspects of disposition and liability. 
 The UK, U.S. and Australia presented their views on the 
issues. Highlights included: 1) a question posed by Australia 
as to whether and when sovereign immunity could be waived in 
the cases where WMD-related materials were shipped on 
state-owned vessels and aircraft; 2) an inquiry from an OEG 
delegate about the number and type of actual cases that had 
been brought before judges, implying that there would be 
learning value for future OEG discussions on the topic if 
factual data were available; 3) a statement by Poland on the 
importance of understanding and resolving the disposition and 
liability issues before an actual interdiction, which 
prompted the observation that the lack of such an 
understanding can lead to a critical hesitation to act; and 
4) an offer by the UK to lead the development of a 
questionnaire that would attempt to break down the logical 
layers of questions raised by the issues of disposition and 
liability. 
 
¶11.  Use of Intelligence as Evidence:  The UK coordinated a 
presentation and debate between UK intelligence and law 
experts, illustrating the overlaps and tensions between the 
approaches taken by these two professional communities. The 
presentation underscored the importance of parallel case 
construction in achieving the dual ends of protecting 
intelligence sources and prosecuting claims.  The U.S. 
intervened to emphasize that the primary objective of PSI is 
to stop proliferation in the first place; making a case for 
legal prosecution should come later.  An additional point was 
made to recognize the differences between PSI partners on the 
 
STATE 00156111  004 OF 016 
 
 
use of intelligence in a court of law. 
 
¶12.   Exercises:  An informal session on Exercises was held 
on October 2 before the official opening of the OEG. 
Highlights not covered in the Chairman,s statement include: 
1) additional detail provided by France about Exercise 
"Guistir" in Djibouti, which will focus on Red Sea and Magreb 
countries, many of which, according to the French, are 
skeptical of Western initiatives but are also concerned with 
proliferation issues; 2) a comment made in response to Dr. 
Drew Winner's presentation on the Newport Game from June 2007 
that there may be value in re-running certain games or 
exercises on a periodic basis for the benefit of newcomers to 
the PSI community. 
 
¶13.  Ground and Air Interdiction: Julia Mathews (Customs and 
Border Protection, DHS) delivered a presentation on the US 
Layered Enforcement Strategy. Australia updated the OEG on 
the deliberations of the International Civil Aviation 
Organization (ICAO) Council on the issue of considering an 
amendment that would criminalize the transport of dangerous 
materials on aircraft. Australia strongly encouraged OEG 
partners to consider the transport offense proposals in 
advance of the November 2007 ICAO Council meeting, noting 
that such an amendment would be consistent with the PSI 
Statement of Interdiction Principles.  Australia stated that, 
without strong support from OEG countries, the amendment 
would likely not be pursued further.  In response to 
Australia,s presentation, Canada stated that its internal 
issues had mostly been resolved and that it was in a position 
to support an amendment in a manner analogous to the SUA 
Protocols.  Russia stated that it could not support an 
amendment due to the outstanding technical issues that needed 
to be resolved.  New Zealand lent its support to the 
amendment, emphasizing the importance of covering the "air 
gap" in the existing legal framework.  UK stated its support. 
 
¶14.  Proliferation Finance:  Canada provided an update on 
recent Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meetings in Ottawa 
and Rome. Delegations agreed to continue including FATF 
updates in forthcoming OEGs; hence, the UK confirmed that a 
FATF update will be part of the UK-hosted OEG meeting in 
February 2008. 
 
¶15.  Outreach:  New Zealand provided a briefing on the 
Asia-Pacific Outreach Forum held in March 2007 following the 
last OEG.  Australia reported that Indonesia, Malaysia, and 
China declined the invitation, although China expressed some 
curiosity about PSI. Australia distributed CDs of 
presentations that were part of the Outreach Forum, 
suggesting that delegations may find the presentations useful 
in future outreach activities.  Australia continued with an 
 
STATE 00156111  005 OF 016 
 
 
update on general PSI outreach in Asia-Pacific: 1) it remains 
important to see another major Asia-Pacific country endorse; 
2) the Thailand tabletop organized in July 2007 demonstrated 
the importance of addressing PSI from a whole-of-government 
perspective; 3) Australia called on OEG partners to help fill 
the gap in the PSI exercise calendar between Japan's Pacific 
Shield exercise in October 2007 and New Zealand,s Exercise 
Maru in September 2008.  Poland provided an update on its May 
2007 outreach event in the Gulf region, noting that there was 
widespread participation from the region, including 
high-level representation. Poland observed that there were 
some misperceptions about PSI, but that the region was ripe 
for additional outreach, with an emphasis on exercises.  Mr. 
Steven Schleien (Director of Transnational Threats, OSD) 
delivered a presentation on the need to conduct in-depth 
outreach activities with non-OEG PSI partners.  The UK stated 
that it would include the issue of regional outreach at the 
next OEG in February 2008. 
 
¶16.  Industry Outreach: The Netherlands, Portugal, and 
Denmark provided updates on recent industry outreach 
activities.  It was not determined whether or when there 
would be a subsequent event with industry. 
 
¶17.  National Updates: Greece delivered a presentation on 
combating illicit trafficking of radiological and nuclear 
materials.  The U.S. provided the following updates: 1) 
Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro and Liechtenstein had formally 
endorsed the PSI Principles since the Auckland OEG in March 
2007, bringing the total number of PSI endorsees as of 
October 2007 to eighty-six; 2) the recent "Panamax" exercise, 
in which several PSI partners participated, is a good example 
of how PSI scenarios can be built into existing mil-mil 
exercises; 3) recent counterproliferation talks with the 
United Arab Emirates revealed that UAE passed a new export 
control law; and 4) the US hosted two counterproliferation 
conferences in Monterey in the summer 2007 that were 
well-attended by PSI partners.  No additional countries 
provided updates. 
 
¶18.  Capacity Building / Technical Assistance:  New Zealand 
presented the latest version of the PSI Model National 
Response Plan and requested final comments from OEG partners 
by November 1, 2007.  Argentina reported that it had not seen 
the draft plan and therefore would not be in a position to 
comment.  New Zealand commented that the draft plan had been 
distributed to all OEG partners at the Auckland OEG, so 
Argentina should have had ample opportunity to review the 
document.   Nineteen countries agreed to put their names on 
the plan.  Vicky Bruch (Principal Member of the Technical 
Staff, Sandia National Laboratories) presented the final 
version of the WMD/Missile Commodity Technical Reference 
 
STATE 00156111  006 OF 016 
 
 
Manual and distributed CD and hard copies to all OEG 
delegations. This manual catalogues controlled equipment and 
commodities (based on UNSCR 1718 lists, export control regime 
lists, and other WMD handbooks and would assist anyone who 
reviews shipping documentation or export licenses to make 
assessments on the controllability of an export (industry, 
law enforcement officials, licensing review officials, etc.). 
 
 
¶19.  Intelligence Breakout Group:  See para 25. 
 
¶20.  Legal Breakout Group:  See para 25. 
 
¶21.  Law Enforcement Breakout Group:   See para 25. 
 
¶22.  UK OEG:  The UK announced that it would host the next 
OEG meeting in London on February 4-6, 2008.  Further details 
are forthcoming. 
 
¶23.  PSI 5-Year Anniversary:  The U.S. announced that it will 
host a meeting in May/June 2008 to commemorate the 5-year 
anniversary of PSI.  All PSI partners will be invited. 
Further details are forthcoming. 
 
¶24.  Bilateral Meetings:  The U.S. conducted bilateral 
meetings with ten countries: Australia, New Zealand, Greece, 
Canada, France, Poland, Argentina, Russia, Japan, and the UK. 
 Highlights are below: 
 
(a) Greece - DASD Rich Douglas emphasized the importance of 
completing a U.S. - Greece PSI shipboarding agreement.  The 
Greek legal representative from the MFA stated that the 
latest version of the agreement was being reviewed by the 
Union of Greek Shipowners. Negotiations are stalled on the 
issue of liability and compensation. DASD Rich Douglas 
pursued the subject during post-OEG meetings in Athens where 
Ambassador Xydas of the Greek MFA recommended that Washington 
send an interagency team to Athens as a final effort to bring 
the negotiations to completion. 
 
(b) Argentina - While Argentina's decision to send Ambassador 
Elsa Kelly from the MFA to the OEG was a step in the right 
direction, there are still questions about Argentina,s 
commitment to PSI.  During the bilateral meeting, Ambassador 
Kelly focused almost exclusively on the status of the 
international legal frameworks, such as the Law of the Sea 
Convention and SUA Protocols, and she expressed her 
frustration with what she perceived as the U.S. practice of 
negotiating treaties but never ratifying them.  During the 
plenary, the Argentine delegation seemed ill-prepared to 
discuss other substantive issues in the OEG, likely due to 
their limited levels of participation at the most recent OEG 
 
STATE 00156111  007 OF 016 
 
 
meetings. 
 
(c) Japan - A productive bilateral meeting was held with 
Japan. On the issue of cluster munitions, Japan agrees with 
the U.S. that a mandate should come out of the upcoming 
Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) meeting to be held 
in early November 2007. 
 
¶25. (U) Begin Chairman's Statement: PROLIFERATION SECURITY 
INITIATIVE OPERATIONAL EXPERTS GROUP MEETING 
RHODES, GREECE October 2-4, 2007 
 
CHAIRMAN,S STATEMENT 
 
 
¶1. The Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) Operational 
Experts Group (OEG) met in Rhodes, Greece from October 2nd to 
4th, 2007.  Experts from twenty countries participated : 
Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, 
Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, 
Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, the 
United Kingdom and the United States. 
 
Welcoming Remarks. 
 
¶2. Mr. Ioannis Plakiotakis, Deputy Minister of Defence of 
Greece, welcomed PSI Operational Experts to Rhodes and 
stressed Greece,s commitment to the PSI principles, as well 
as the significance of our common endeavours to counter 
proliferation of WMD. In this context, he referred to the 
extensive dialogue and understanding which has been 
established between PSI countries, creating channels and 
modes of co-operation in order to increase the effectiveness 
of our efforts. 
 
Maritime Interdiction. 
 
¶3. PSI Operational Experts focused for the first time on 
"Bunkering, maritime choke points and hubs" in a panel 
discussion. Representatives from the United Kingdom, the 
Netherlands, the United States, Singapore and Japan 
highlighted the relevance of these issues to the PSI. The 
United Kingdom gave an overview of transshipment centres and 
chokepoints and referred to potential targets and 
vulnerabilities, while noting that few chokepoints coincide 
with transshipment centres. The Netherlands presented 
opportunities and challenges for the Initiative at choke 
points and hubs and during bunkering in port, on the roads or 
on the high seas. Among the challenges mentioned were the 
limited capacity of PSI countries in relation to shipping 
density, the right of transit passage and the willingness of 
coastal states to cooperate. The United States focused on 
 
STATE 00156111  008 OF 016 
 
 
bunkering and highlighted the difficulties involved in 
controlling these kind of activities, given the different 
modes by which they can take place, namely by a broker, a 
trader or by direct arrangement between shipping companies 
and suppliers. Singapore shared its experience as a major 
bunkering and maritime hub and provided a case study of the 
security regulations and measures that were currently in 
place for vessels bunkering within Singapore's port limits, 
as well as goods within Singapore's Free Trade Zone. Japan 
focused on the importance of ad hoc cooperation at choke 
points in tackling proliferation loopholes, especially 
between non-PSI coastal states and provided partners with two 
recent cases of proliferation concern. Finally, the need to 
enhance outreach activities in parallel with ad hoc 
cooperation was stressed. 
 
¶4. From the discussion that followed, particular concerns 
were expressed about certain aspects of maritime trade, such 
as the opportunities and challenges posed by changes in 
ownership or flag state of vessels, and the potential 
vulnerabilities which may arise from bunkering activities. 
 
¶5. PSI Operational Experts then discussed the state-of-play 
of the ratification of the 2005 Protocols to the "Convention 
on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts (SUA) at Sea against the 
Safety of Maritime Navigation". Greece made a presentation on 
the legislative measures which will have to be taken with 
respect to the ratification procedure. Subsequently, Norway, 
the United Kingdom, the United States, France provided 
updates and referred to domestic issues that still need to be 
addressed for the conclusion of this process. Russia 
expressed the opinion that the dual-use goods definition 
contained in the SUA amendments was too wide and therefore 
open to subjective interpretation. 
 
¶6. Singapore distributed the latest versions of the matrices 
related to "Technical Verification Capabilities" and "Flag 
State Consent" and reiterated its intention to continue to 
update this information. For this purpose, partners were 
invited to submit the necessary inputs to Singapore. 
 
United Nations Security Council Resolutions 
 
¶7. Greece underlined that the discussion of UNSCRs at OEG 
meetings would serve to highlight that PSI partners are 
committed to the Paris Interdiction principles in a manner 
consistent with national legislation and relevant 
international law and legal frameworks, including the 
provisions of UNSCRs. Greece made a brief presentation on the 
new elements of UNSCR 1747, followed by measures it has taken 
to ensure its full implementation. Portugal, which currently 
holds the EU Presidency, referred to the 2004 EU Council 
 
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Statement, which stressed the importance and relevance of PSI 
counter-proliferation efforts, and presented the way in which 
the EU is implementing UNSCRs 1737 and 1747. In the 
discussion that followed, Russia expressed concern about 
duplication of efforts with relevant UNSC Committees and 
suggested the OEG should focus on exchanging UNSCRs 
implementation experiences which relate directly to the PSI. 
With respect to UNSCR 1737, Australia referred to the 
difficulties in implementing sanctions on dual-use goods 
under OP4c, arising mainly from ambiguity of the information 
and underlined the importance of timely exchange of 
information. The United States, referring to the informal 
open-ended meeting on technical details associated with the 
implementation of nuclear transfer-related aspects of UNSCR 
1737, which was co-chaired in Vienna by the United States and 
the United Kingdom, informed partners that a summary of the 
discussions will be distributed at the NSG meeting in 
November. 
 
¶8. France by providing an update on its DPRK Marine 
Cartography Initiative, as a case for coordination with other 
non-proliferation fora, underlined its significance for 
testing PSI procedures in the cooperation between PSI 
partners and third countries. France therefore suggested that 
gathering and exchange of information, as well as outreach 
activities, should be further pursued. Furthermore, France 
proposed an exchange of views on national policies towards 
DPRK ships visiting their ports. 
 
Disposition and Liability 
 
¶9. PSI Operational Experts focused on disposition and 
liability in a panel discussion on the legal basis and 
jurisdictional issues. Greece acted as a moderator and made 
an introduction which was followed by three presentations 
made by the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. 
It was pointed out that the two topics, disposition and 
liability, were distinct and separate from each other and 
that the only reason they were connected was that they both 
represented areas which had not yet been explored and which 
could create problems in cases of interdiction, particularly 
of maritime ones. Both topics encompass domestic and 
international law aspects. Domestic law systems offered 
different solutions on various points and several questions 
had to be addressed. As regards disposition, such questions 
are: jurisdiction, concurrent requests, the role of judicial 
assistance, state practice and jurisprudence. With regard to 
liability, the following issues were identified: the extent 
of damage for which liability arises, jurisdiction in 
connection with liability claims, sovereign immunity, state 
practice and jurisprudence. Therefore, the Plenary agreed 
that the matter should be further examined by the Legal Break 
 
STATE 00156111  010 OF 016 
 
 
Out Group. 
 
¶10. The United Kingdom coordinated a debate on a case 
scenario between UK intelligence and law experts, each 
presenting the proposed course of action on the use of 
intelligence as evidence, depending upon his particular 
perspective. One of the main elements of the approach 
presented was to illustrate that achieving a balance between 
source-protection and disclosure is a challenge, and requires 
close collaboration between the intelligence and law 
enforcement communities. 
 
¶11. A panel discussion on the use of intelligence as 
evidence, as a follow-up to the Auckland OEG meeting, was 
moderated by the United Kingdom. Panelists from France and 
Canada presented overviews of relevant domestic frameworks on 
the use of intelligence as evidence. Information was provided 
about the French model which permits, to a certain degree, 
the use of intelligence as evidence in administrative and 
criminal cases. France also noted that the legal framework 
related to counter- proliferation is about to be further 
strengthened. Canada focused on issues of how and when 
intelligence should be shared and how sensitive information 
can be protected from disclosure in the course of judicial 
proceedings. The need to conduct a well-coordinated 
investigation was underlined, as well as the importance of 
carefully deciding, at an early stage, the extent to which 
certain information should be shared and how it will be 
protected in a prosecution. The observations of the United 
Kingdom, France and Canada noted the need to balance the 
protection of sensitive information against the protection of 
civil rights. Finally, the United Kingdom referred to the 
"intelligence as evidence" questionnaire that it had 
circulated and asked partners to complete it before the next 
OEG meeting. 
 
Exercise Programme 
 
¶12. The Chair of the Informal Exercise Planning Session 
reported to the plenary on the session and on the full 
calendar of activities for the period 2007-2010. 
 
¶13. Japan provided a preview of the upcoming maritime 
interdiction exercise "Pacific Shield 07" which it hosted 
from October 13-15, 2007.  New Zealand presented an outline 
of the maritime interdiction exercise "Maru", which is to be 
held in Auckland from September 15-19, 2008. France gave an 
overview of its maritime interdiction exercise "Guistir", 
which will take place in Djibouti on 11-12 March, 2008. 
Poland invited partners to participate in the exercise 
"Eastern Shield", a multi-modal exercise held in Ukraine from 
October 29-31, 2007. The exercise was organised jointly by 
 
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Poland, Ukraine and Romania with the participation of other 
Black Sea countries. The United States reported back on the 
PSI Game held at the Naval War College in Rhode Island in 
June 2007. Finally, Poland made short presentations on the 
exercises completed in Central and Eastern Europe, the air 
interdiction exercise "Smart Raven", in Lithuania in late 
April 2007, and the maritime interdiction exercise "Adriatic 
Gate" in Slovenia in late May 2007. 
 
Ground and Air Interdiction 
 
14     The US Customs and Border Protection described the 
various complementary components of its Layered Enforcement 
Strategy. As concerns the jurisdiction of its Law Enforcement 
Authority, the presentation focused on measures taken in 
cases of detention, seizure and mis-delivery of merchandise. 
Australia reported on the results of the meeting of the ICAO 
Legal Committee that took place in Montreal in July 2007, 
where the issue was raised of whether a transport offence 
similar to that adopted in the 2005 SUA Protocol could be 
pursued in the aviation context. This Committee agreed that 
further consideration of this issue by the ICAO Council would 
be necessary and the item will be discussed at the Council in 
November 2007. Australia asked OEG partners to consider the 
transport offence proposals and consult with their relevant 
domestic Ministries before this Council meeting. While some 
partners expressed their full support for this initiative, 
others needed more time for internal consultations. France 
expressed its interest for EU consultations. The United 
States provided an update on its overflight consent matrix 
and called on partners to continue submitting further inputs. 
 
 
Proliferation Financing. 
 
¶15. Canada reported back on the FATF's development of 
non-binding Guidance to jurisdictions on effective 
implementation of UNSCR prohibitions on WMD proliferation 
financing. This Guidance will focus on the implementation of 
targeted financial sanctions, activity-based financial 
prohibitions and broader financial prohibitions. Canada 
informed partners that the Working Group on Typologies will 
meet in Bangkok in November 2007 to begin typologies work 
that will eventually lead to guidance on broader financial 
prohibitions. The United Kingdom will arrange an update on 
the FATF process at the next OEG meeting. 
 
 
Regional Outreach, Industry Outreach, National Organisation. 
 
¶16.  New Zealand reported on the results of the Asia-Pacific 
Outreach Forum of March 2007, which generated a useful level 
 
STATE 00156111  012 OF 016 
 
 
of interest in the PSI, particularly from Pacific Forum 
countries. The meeting had resulted in a discussion of the 
PSI at two following Pacific Forum meetings and a 
recommendation to Forum members to endorse the PSI. In its 
presentation, Australia underlined that the PSI has not met 
its core potential and that key Asian states, such as China 
and India, do not support the PSI. Participation in exercises 
was considered one of the most effective ways of promoting 
understanding of the PSI and it was also deemed useful to 
develop regional tools for outreach activities. Poland 
provided an update on the Abu Dhabi seminar held in May 2007, 
with wide participation from GCC countries and Yemen. Poland 
also briefed partners on global outreach efforts it carried 
out on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of the PSI and 
presented positions of some countries of prime importance for 
PSI outreach. Finally, the United States underlined the need 
to assist non-OEG PSI-endorsing nations on the lessons 
learnt, the knowledge gained and the tools developed within 
the OEG. It discussed the possible methods in which this can 
be best achieved and requested partners to offer relevant 
suggestions at the next OEG meting. Russia informed partners 
on guidelines adopted by member states of the Organization of 
the Treaty on Collective Security (OTCS) on interdiction of 
illegal trafficking of WMD, their means of delivery and 
related materials. Germany announced that it will prepare an 
internal website for general information of PSI partners. 
 
Industry Outreach 
 
¶17. The Netherlands stressed the significance of broad 
industry awareness and involvement in PSI-related issues and 
underlined that the transport (shipping and air) industry is 
a crucial partner. The Netherlands reported on its national 
practice. Portugal briefed the OEG on its industry outreach 
initiatives, and especially on its seminar on exports control 
and non-proliferation. The need to maintain contact with 
industry and move towards more direct and sector-based 
approaches was highlighted. Denmark and the United Kingdom 
provided partners with information on the Danish/UK bilateral 
PSI tabletop exercise "Mercury" held in London in early June 
2007, which focused on cooperation with industry, in which 
industry was a key participant. The exercise identified 
various lessons and stressed the value which small bi-lateral 
exercises can add and that outreach efforts to industry need 
to be further pursued. 
 
National Organisation 
 
¶18. Greece provided an overview of its experience in 
combating the illicit trafficking of radiological and nuclear 
materials. It presented the system in place to confront this 
threat and underlined the merit of close cooperation between 
 
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the IAEA and the Greek Atomic Energy Agency. 
 
¶19.  The United States informed partners that Kyrgyzstan 
endorsed PSI principles in September 2007, following 
endorsements by Montenegro and Lichtenstein. It also briefed 
the OEG on the "Panamax" exercise in Central America and on 
the close cooperation that it maintains with the United Arab 
Emirates on export controls and mentioned that the latter has 
recently passed an export control law. Finally, the United 
States informed partners about the two seminars on 
counter-proliferation which were held in Monterey, in July 
and August of 2007, with the participation of many OEG 
countries. 
 
Capacity Building and Technical Assistance 
 
¶20. New Zealand provided an update on the PSI Model National 
Response Plan. Subject to final comments from partners, New 
Zealand will publish a final version shortly. All OEG members 
were welcome to use the Model Plan as a tool for outreach to 
governments. Partners were invited to send any substantive 
comments to New Zealand by November 1, 2007 at the latest. 
France, Canada and Spain offered to assist with translations 
into other languages. New Zealand offered to draft, in time 
for the London OEG meeting, a shorter "summary" version of 
the Model Plan which could be used for wider public diplomacy 
purposes. 
 
¶21. The United States made a presentation on the WMD/missile 
commodity technical reference manual, which was distributed 
to the OEG. The purpose of the manual is to increase the 
awareness of industry and to help OEG countries in outreach 
activities. 
 
Reports from Break Out Group Chairs 
 
¶22. OEG Legal Breakout Session The Legal Break Out Group 
examined all the items of its agenda. It discussed the legal 
aspects of the common scenario which contained questions 
relating to national law and international law issues. 
Participants agreed that maritime and air interdiction 
activities have to be conducted in accordance with the 
international law, to include law of the sea and 
international air law. 
 
¶23. Singapore and the United States gave updates on the legal 
aspects of technical assistance questionnaire, on the legal 
reference library, and on the compendium of legal writings on 
PSI, respectively. The United States will update the PSI Law 
Library annually. The Netherlands presented and distributed 
for Delegations a CD with legal background materials. The 
Group heard an expos, by Greece on domestic implementation of 
 
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the international obligations impacting customs. 
 
¶24. The Group continued its consideration of disposition and 
liability and agreed, following a proposal by the United 
States, that partners will communicate to the US Delegation 
their views, practices and jurisprudence. The United States 
will incorporate the feedback into the non-paper. Following 
suggestions at the Plenary and the Break Out Group, it was 
decided to examine disposition and liability as separate 
items. 
 
¶25. OEG Law Enforcement Breakout Session.  The Law 
Enforcement Breakout Group heard presentations by Greece that 
highlighted the role of Customs in enhancing security and the 
use of risk analysis for the selection of high risk 
consignments. The United States made a presentation on the 
Secure Freight Initiative, a new cooperative effort that is 
considered the first evolution from the Container Security 
Initiative (CSI). 
 
¶26. The group discussed the common scenario and underlined 
the importance of incorporating lessons learnt and 
experiences gained from the PSI, in the national 
communication process, which leads to an uninterrupted 
exchange of information and facilitation of communication. 
Rapid and accurate exchange of information is crucial for the 
timely response of Law Enforcement Agencies. 
 
¶27. Almost all countries have the authority to control 
transit shipments. With regard to maritime interdiction, it 
was confirmed that hot pursuit may be conducted under the 
terms of Article 111 of the UNCLOS. 
 
¶28. OEG Intelligence Breakout Session.  From the discussion 
of the common scenario, the Group concluded that states would 
share information even when it is not connected to an ongoing 
case. Most of the states would directly communicate with 
private companies under specific circumstances, in order to 
cooperate and exchange views and information concerning 
proliferation activities. It is also very likely that in a 
number of states the companies themselves would come in 
contact with relevant intelligence agencies. In this context, 
partners acknowledged the contribution of PSI experience. 
During the past years, numerous states have received 
sensitive information concerning PSI activities from OEG and 
non-OEG member states related to a PSI incident. Information 
has been shared even in cases where such information was 
probably already known. 
 
¶29. The Australian Defence Intelligence Organisation provided 
a presentation on DPRK Potential Commercial Shipping Routes 
for Proliferation. This presentation indicated that DPRK is 
 
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likely to continue using maritime shipments to export cargo 
of proliferation concern and complicating the identification 
of its proliferation-related shipments. Generic trade routes 
are used in an attempt to blend proliferation shipments with 
legitimate trade transfers. Identification of chokepoints is 
very difficult. Commercial shipping vessels transiting the 
DPRK could be exploited for proliferation purposes. 
 
¶30. The Group also concluded that, if possible, PSI exercises 
and games should include lessons learnt and scenarios 
covering situations in which PSI countries choose not to 
release information to some or all partners. This would 
reflect real-life experience. 
 
Next OEG Meeting 
 
¶31. Delegations welcomed the United Kingdom,s offer to host 
the next PSI OEG meeting, which, subject to confirmation, 
will take place in London from February 4th to 6th, 2008. 
 
A.O.B 
 
¶32. Partners welcomed the announcement by the United States 
on its offer to host a High Level Political Meeting in 
May/June 2008 in Washington D.C., on the occasion of the 5th 
anniversary of the PSI. 
 
 
ANNEX:  SUMMARY OF OEG ACTION ITEMS 
 
¶1. Delegations to submit to Singapore inputs for the matrices 
on Technical Verification Capabilities and Flag State 
Consent. 
 
¶2. Delegations to complete the "use of intelligence" 
questionnaire and submit it to the United Kingdom before the 
next OEG meeting. 
 
¶3. The United Kingdom to develop a questionnaire on issues 
related to disposition and liability for the next OEG meeting. 
 
¶4. Delegations to provide updates on the Overflight Consent 
Matrix to the United States before the next OEG meeting. 
 
¶5. Delegations were asked to come forward with examples of 
"successes", both operational and improvements to national 
capabilities, which could be used both to further dialogue 
and as outreach tools. 
 
¶6. Delegations agreed that reporting on FATF activity should 
continue. 
 
 
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¶7. Delegations to continue to share their legislative 
experiences relating to the implementation of the 2005 SUA 
Protocols with PSI partners. 
 
¶8. Delegations to consider the ICAO proposal, consulting with 
relevant domestic Ministries as appropriate and Australia to 
report back on further progress by ICAO towards amending the 
existing air legal framework. 
 
¶9. New Zealand will publish a final version of PSI Model 
National Response Plan. Delegations should send any 
substantive comments by November 1, 2007. New Zealand will 
prepare a summary version of the Model Plan for discussion at 
the next OEG meeting. 
 
¶10. OEG participants to respond to the request from the US to 
offer suggestions at the next OEG meeting on how to improve 
outreach efforts to non-OEG PSI-endorsing nations. 
 
¶11. Germany will prepare an internal website for general 
information of PSI partners. 
 
¶12. Delegations to provide information to France on national 
policies towards DPRK ships visiting their ports to enable an 
exchange of views on that point as a follow-on step to the 
cartography project. 
 
¶13. Delegations to provide comments on and contributions for 
the PSI Law Library to the United States before the next OEG 
meeting. 
 
¶14. Delegations to provide input on the US non-paper on 
interdiction, disposition and liability to the United States 
before the next OEG meeting. 
 
End Chairman's Statement 
 
POINTS OF CONTACT 
----------------- 
 
¶26. Please slug responses for OSD GSA (Beth Flores and 
State/ISN/CPI (Carlos Guzman). USG POC for PSI Operational 
Experts Group issues is OSD/GSA: Beth Flores Phu. USG POC for 
operational legal matters is Gary Sharp, DOD/OGC. USG POC for 
 PSI policy issues is Carlos Guzman, State/ISN/CPI. 
RICE