VZCZCXRO4818
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHVN #0410/01 2060701
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 240701Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2113
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RHMFIUU/CDR JPAC HICKAM AFB HI
RHHMUND/COMMARFORPAC
RUEHBK/USDAO BANGKOK TH
RUEHBK/CHJUSMAGTHAI BANGKOK TH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 VIENTIANE 000410 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
PACOM FOR J52 (LACY, MA) 
PACOM FOR POLAD (MCADEN) 
PACOM FOR J45 (NICHOLLS, SCHULER) 
PACOM FOR PACAF/SGZ (CINCO, OH, PALMER) 
DOD FOR OSD-POLICY (LAI, STERN) 
DOD FOR DSCA 
JPAC FOR MUNIPALLI 
PHNOM PENH ALSO FOR DATT 
HANOI ALSO FOR DATT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR MASS MOPS PREL LA
 
SUBJECT: MILITARY-TO-MILITARY RELATIONS WITH LAOS STEADILY 
EXPANDING 
 
REFS: A. 07 VIENTIANE 00725 
       ¶B. 07 VIENTIANE 00092 
       ¶C. 07 VIENTIANE 00625 
       ¶D. 07 VIENTIANE 00790 
       ¶E. 08 VIENTIANE 00061 
       ¶F. 07 VIENTIANE 00914 
       ¶G. 08 VIENTIANE 00094 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In the past two years, military-to-military 
relations with Laos have progressed quickly, including a long-sought 
agreement to exchange defense attaches (DATTs) and the 
implementation of an International Military Education and Training 
(IMET) program.  The IMET program began with a Distinguished 
Visitors Orientation Tour (DVOT), the first time a high-level Lao 
military official visited Washington, D.C. since 1975; during the 
visit the senior Lao official announced approval for the DATT 
exchange.  Another first was senior Lao military attendance at the 
Chiefs of Defense (CHODs) Conference hosted by Pacific Command 
(PACOM) Commander Admiral Keating in Honolulu in October 2007.  The 
Lao Ministry of National Defense (MND) has participated in two major 
avian influenza training programs in Vientiane during the past year, 
accepted invitations to a range of PACOM-funded regional programs, 
and sent two military officers to the Defense Language Institute 
(DLI) in San Antonio, Texas, to study English.  These and other 
developments illustrate steadily improving relations with what has 
traditionally been a very isolated branch of the Lao government. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
Defense Attach Exchange 
------------------------ 
¶2. (SBU) In June 2007, Colonel (now General) Sisophonh Bang-One 
Sengdet went to the United States on a Distinguished Visitors 
Program that kicked off our newly activated International Military 
Exchange and Training (IMET) program.  During his visit, he proposed 
that Laos and the U.S. exchange defense attaches in 2008.  This 
announcement came as a surprise, since Lao government officials had 
consistently stated that they were not ready even to discuss an 
exchange of attaches.  Both sides are making preparations to open 
defense attach offices later this year.  Two Lao military officers 
began English language training at DLI in San Antonio in early June, 
and we believe they will join the DATT Office in Washington (ref A) 
when it opens.  Embassy Vientiane's DATT office is scheduled to open 
by the end of 2008. 
 
JPAC Cooperation 
---------------- 
¶3. (U) Although the United States did not break relations with Laos 
after the change of government in 1975, our relations were very 
limited for some time.  The Embassy's Defense Attach Office closed 
after 1975.  In the 1980s, U.S.-Lao cooperation on accounting for 
the missing from the pre-1975 war years was a first step toward 
improving relations.  The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) 
and its predecessors have laid a basis for resumed cooperation that 
over the years expanded into new areas including counter-narcotics, 
unexploded ordnance clearance, and health.  However, all contacts 
with MND, even on the MIA issue, remained very structured and 
limited.  This began to change in 2007. 
 
SMEEs Begin... 
-------------- 
¶4. (SBU) Following our first expanded bilateral defense dialogues 
with MFA and MND in January 2007 (ref B), the GOL accepted U.S. 
proposals for training programs -- Subject Matter Expert Exchanges 
(SMEEs) -- including a MARFORPAC-funded August 2007 avian influenza 
(AI) tabletop exercise for 130 people, including 70 military 
officers (ref C), and a PACAF-funded medical SMEE in September 2007 
involving nursing, CPR, and cleft lip surgery training attended by 
100 medical specialists from both the civilian and military sectors. 
 (Note: the Lao like the term "SMEE" because of the implied equality 
of those involved in the training, and thus we use this terminology 
 
VIENTIANE 00000410  002 OF 003 
 
 
for all of our programs here.) 
 
... and Expand 
-------------- 
¶5. (U) Following our second, larger-scale Bilateral Defense Dialogue 
in October 2007 (ref D), PACAF funded a January 2008 AI training for 
trainers SMEE for 70 specialists including 35 military officers (ref 
E).  PACAF returned to Vientiane for a three-week Emergency 
Responder SMEE beginning July 7.  The PACOM Surgeon's Office sent a 
needs assessment team to visit July 14-17 to assess possible 
HIV/AIDS cooperation with the Lao military as a next step.  The 
Embassy is also discussing cooperation with the Lao military on 
clearance of unexploded ordnance. Our third Bilateral Defense 
Dialogue has been proposed for mid-August in Honolulu. 
 
Humanitarian Assistance Programs Increase 
------------------------------------------- 
¶6. (U) As these Vientiane-based SMEEs become more complex and 
longer, other areas of cooperation are expanding as well.  PACOM has 
provided more than two million dollars in funding for humanitarian 
assistance (HA) projects during the past decade in support of the 
JPAC mission in Laos.  These 19 projects have included medical 
clinics, schools, and water projects in provincial areas where JPAC 
requires cooperation from the local population to carry out its 
excavation and investigation activities.  In the past two years our 
HA cooperation has increased.  In 2007 PACOM funded construction of 
two medical clinics in southern Laos' Sekong Province valued in 
excess of $300,000. In 2008 PACOM plans to construct two clinics and 
one school in three other provinces.  In addition, PACAF has 
supplemented humanitarian assistance through the donation of medical 
supplies worth more than $100,000 during the past twelve months. 
 
MND Regional Exposure 
--------------------- 
¶7. (U) We have seen similar breakthroughs in military exchanges. 
General Sisophonh attended the PACOM-sponsored Chiefs of Defense 
Conference in Honolulu in October 2007, the first time Laos has sent 
a participant to the conference.  Admiral Keating, who visited 
Vientiane in December 2007 (ref F), received a significantly warmer 
welcome than General Fallon had in 2006.  In addition, senior Lao 
military personnel are increasingly allowed to participate with 
PACOM in major regional meetings.  Two senior medical officers 
attended the Asia-Pacific Military Medicine Conference (APMMC) in 
Singapore in April 2008.  Two others are scheduled to attend the 
32nd Pacific Armies Management Seminar (PAMS XXXII) in Jakarta in 
August.  The Lao have also been invited to attend the 2nd 
Asia-Pacific Military Nursing Conference in Seoul in September, 
co-hosted by the U.S. Pacific Air Force.  In addition, Lao military, 
foreign ministry, and even public security officers have attended 
programs such as PACOM's Symposium on East Asia Security (SEAS) in 
2007 and 2008 and a Peacekeeping Operations Seminar sponsored by 
PACOM and the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in Kuala 
Lumpur in June 2008. 
 
Increasing APCSS and COE Participation 
-------------------------------------- 
¶8. (U) Lao civilian and military officers have attended the 
Executive Course at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies 
(APCSS) in Honolulu regularly for more than 10 years.  This year 
however, Laos sent its first participant, Assistant Foreign Minister 
Alounkeo Kittikhoun, to APCSS's Senior Executive Course, a major 
step forward.  Lao officials are also attending the APCSS 
"Comprehensive Crisis Management" and "Comprehensive Security 
Responses to Terrorism" courses for the first time. 
 
¶9. (U) The Lao have also been enthusiastic attendees at a range of 
regional training courses hosted by the Center for Excellence in 
Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COE), including 
laboratory workshops on influenza viruses, rapid response training 
on pandemic influenza, and joint regional military HIV/AIDS 
 
VIENTIANE 00000410  003 OF 003 
 
 
technical training workshops.  In addition, a Lao oral surgeon who 
had participated in PACAF's September 2007 medical SMEE joined the 
USNS Mercy in Vietnam in June, 2008, to participate in Operation 
Smile, a program in which medical volunteers repair childhood facial 
deformities. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶10. (SBU) The vast array of substantive interaction now underway 
with the Lao military - and the rapidity with which this has been 
achieved -- is the most dramatic and positive development in our 
improving bilateral relationship.  At training programs in the past 
year, American military personnel have appeared in uniform in public 
in Laos, another first since 1975.  The participation of high-level 
Lao officials in PACOM-hosted meetings and the keen attendance of 
Lao military personnel in various training programs, including at 
APCSS and those organized by COE, demonstrate significant progress 
in an expanding military-to-military relationship.  Since members of 
the Lao military continue to dominate the upper ranks of the 
Politburo and party central committee, improvements in the 
military-to-military relationship have important implications for 
the bilateral relationship as a whole.  The successful military 
engagement since early 2007 has been possible due to the 
quarter-century of relationship-building by Joint POW/MIA Accounting 
Command (JPAC) and its predecessors and close cooperation with the 
GOL on humanitarian issues for more than a decade.  Embassy 
Vientiane greatly appreciates the efforts of our colleagues at DOD 
and PACOM, whose efforts have played a crucial role in our improving 
bilateral relationship. 
 
HUSO