VZCZCXRO9863
OO RUEHBW
DE RUEHTH #0631 1301523
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 091523Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1759
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

S E C R E T ATHENS 000631 
 
SIPDIS 
NOFORN 
 
S/CT FOR MICHELLE ARIAS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/09/2018 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV PREL KCRM KJUS GR
SUBJECT: FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION LIST: 17N, RN, AND 
REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 44153 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR DANIEL SPECKHARD.  REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (S/NF) In response to reftel request seeking information 
on the activities of the Greek terrorist groups 17 November 
(17N) and Revolutionary Nuclei (RN) since their last 
re-designation as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) in 
2003, Embassy Counterterrorism Task Force (CTTF) reviewed all 
available information and provides the analysis and 
conclusions below.  It was Embassy's considered judgment not 
to contact host government officials for their input to this 
request due the highly sensitive nature of Greek domestic 
terrorism issues, particularly those associated with 17N.  At 
the same time, Embassy CTTF officials have close working 
relationships with Greek CT officials in law enforcement and 
intelligence, and we have a high degree of confidence that 
these officials have already shared with us currently 
available information on 17N, RN, and other terrorist groups. 
 
¶2. (S/NF) The legacy of Greece's most lethal and prolific 
terrorist organizations, respectively, 17N and Revolutionary 
People's Struggle (ELA), continues to play a significant role 
in Greek domestic terrorism.  17N's last claimed terrorist 
act was its assassination of British Brigadier General 
Stephen Saunders in June 2000; ELA ceased claiming operations 
in 1995.  Greek CT officials have told us they believe 17N is 
moribund as a formal organization.  Nevertheless, they 
believe 17N lives on through its continued ideological 
influence and the contributions of its members and supporters 
to current terrorist organizations, including Revolutionary 
Struggle (RS).  Greek law-enforcement investigations are 
predicated on the working assumption that many individuals 
who were identified as peripheral, active, or otherwise 
sympathetic members of the 17N and/or ELA groups, as well as 
militant activists in left-wing and anarchist communities, 
are involved in current terrorist activities.  Imprisoned 17N 
and ELA members, as well as some who have been released, 
continue to support their jailed comrades and espouse 
revolutionary rhetoric. 
 
¶3. (S/NF) Moreover, certain imprisoned members and their 
confederates likely provide inspiration, expertise, and 
personnel to active terrorist groups.  The body of all source 
reporting suggests that 17N and ELA gave rise to successor 
groups, such as RN and others.  Similarly, RN has faded from 
the operational scene since about 2003, when the group was 
implicated in two July incidents targeting Commercial Bank 
and Alico Insurance.  Those attacks took place subsequent to 
RN's last re-designation as an FTO in 2003.  The perpetrators 
of those and previous attacks by RN remain unknown and 
at-large, while the status of the organization itself remains 
undetermined. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) Thus, it is our judgment that while 17N and RN have 
not claimed responsibility for terrorist acts since, 
respectively, 2000 and 2003, their links to current known 
terrorist groups remain sufficiently close to warrant their 
remaining on the FTO list. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) Regardless of the decision whether to re-designate 
17N and RN, Embassy's priority is the FTO designation of the 
successor organization Revolutionary Struggle (RS)(Ref B). 
RS dominates the current Greek domestic terrorist scene and 
is responsible for numerous attacks on Greek and foreign 
government personnel and institutions, as well as domestic 
and international business interests since late 2003.  RS 
emerged as the pre-eminent domestic terrorist group in Greece 
with its first claimed double attack on Greek Court buildings 
in September 2003.  Since 2003, the group has either claimed 
or been implicated in over a dozen attacks.  The group was 
responsible for the failed attempted assassination of former 
Minister of Public Order Georgios Voulgarakis in 2006.  RS 
also claimed responsibility for the January 2007 RPG assault 
on the U.S. Embassy.  Most recently, the group conducted an 
armed assault and grenade attack at a Police Department in 
Nea Ionia in April 2007 using weapons stolen earlier from a 
Supreme Court Chairman's police guard. 
SPECKHARD