VZCZCXYZ0017
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRO #0430/01 1051842
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151842Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1928
INFO RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0560
RUEHMD/AMEMBASSY MADRID PRIORITY 1938
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2560
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0430
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0514
RUEHMIL/AMCONSUL MILAN PRIORITY 9979
RHMFIUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS ROME 000430 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
S/CT FOR EMILY GOLDMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC EFIN PTER IT
SUBJECT: ITALIAN POLICE, TERRORIST FINANCING, AND CT 
AMBASSADORS FUND 
 
REF: STATE 19846 
 
¶1. (SBU)  This cable contains a proposal for support from the 
U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Counterterrorism from the U.S. 
Mission in Italy. 
 
Proposed Project 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Educational Initiative for Italian Police Task 
Force on Terrorism and Organized Crime. 
 
Executive Summary 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU)  More than one million of Italy's approximately four 
million immigrants are located in the Lombardy region, and a 
majority of these immigrants are Muslims, primarily from 
North Africa but also from Muslim majority states such as 
Pakistan and Albania.  The city of Milan is the regional 
capital of Lombardy and Italy's financial and banking center. 
 One of Italy's primary law enforcement agencies, the Guardia 
di Finanza (Guards of Finance or GDF), is actively involved 
in investigations of terrorist financing in the Milan area. 
For example, financing for the Mumbai terrorist attack in 
December 2008 was provided by a Pakistani immigrant from 
Brescia, the second largest city in the Lombardy region. 
This individual was part of a larger enterprise with close 
ties to Milan.   The FBI's Legal Attache office in Milan is 
working closely with the GDF on this case and a number of 
other significant joint investigations and investigative 
initiatives. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  In general, as a government and a society, Italy 
has not tackled its "second generation" phenomenon of Muslim 
immigrants, and the country's tendency to treat the 
phenomenon solely as a security threat has led to isolation 
and alienation of some immigrant communities.  Recent 
conversations with senior Interior Ministry officials 
(septels) responsible for training Italian police, however, 
suggest there is a growing recognition of the need to educate 
Italy's law enforcement officials about Islam and Arab 
culture in order to improve their effectiveness in working in 
these immigrant communities.  Colonel Ricardo Raffanotti, the 
commandant of Milan's GDF Task Force on Terrorism and 
Organized Crime (Gruppo di Investigazione sulla Criminalita 
Organizata), is seeking U.S. financial support and expertise 
to launch a pilot education program for 25 Task Force 
officers responsible for investigating terrorist financing. 
(Note:  The Milan GDF Task Force consists of 120 officers. 
The other officers are responsible for handling crimes 
related to the Mafia, although there may be connections 
between terrorists and the Mafia, particularly in the 
trafficking of drugs and humans.  End Note.)  The purpose of 
the program is to enable the GDF Task Force to improve its 
communication and working relationships with Muslim immigrant 
communities in Milan by arming the officers with the 
necessary factual and cultural background to earn the trust 
and collaboration of immigrants rather than alienating them. 
 
Explanation of Proposal 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Recognizing the need to improve its understanding 
and outreach, the Milan branch of the GDF Task Force took the 
initiative to enlist the expertise of Professor Paolo Branco, 
an assistant professor of Arabic and Islamic studies at 
Catholic University in Milan, author of four books on Islam, 
and an experienced lecturer to European audiences on Islamic 
radicalism.  The GDF also turned to Martino Pilliterri, a 
journalist and editor of "Yalla Italia" (Let's Go Italy), a 
Milan newsweekly that seeks to inform Italians about Islamic 
and Arab cultures.  Working with the GDF, these experts 
designed a proposed educational program of ten three-hour 
sessions covering the following subjects:  Islam as a 
Civilization and Religion; Islam: Religion and Society; 
Islam: Rules and Laws; The Political and non-Political 
Language of Islam; Second Generation -- Communication 
Techniques and Interpretation of Cultural Signals; Islamic 
Terrorism; Money-Laundering and Terrorism Financing; Islamic 
Finance and Jihad Financing; Islam on the Web 
(Cyberterrorism).  The GDF has specifically requested a U.S. 
 
expert to share expertise on money-laundering and terrorism 
financing. (The U.S. mission in Italy has identified a 
proposed candidate, Kevin Favreau, a vice president of global 
anti-money laundering compliance for Western Union, who 
lectures on cash couriers and hawalas for the Foreign 
Service's course on Combating Terrorist Financing.)  The 
other lectures will be presented by Italian academics and 
specialists from Milan and Bologna. In addition to improving 
the GDF's engagement with immigrant communities, the Task 
Force seeks to better understand the characteristics of the 
banking and financial systems in the Muslim world.  With this 
knowledge they will be better-armed to identify and disrupt 
terrorist financing.  They envision holding two sessions a 
week for five weeks. 
 
Contact Officer 
----------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU)  The contact officers are Karl Soete, Office of the 
FBI Legal Attache, U.S. Consulate, Milan; and Molly Phee, RSI 
officer, U.S. Embassy, Rome. 
 
Planned Start Date 
------------------ 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The GDF is prepared to organize the educational 
program as soon as funding is confirmed. 
 
Estimated Total Cost 
-------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  The estimated total cost is $7,830 broken down by 
the following estimates: the cost for travel, accommodations 
and M&IE for the U.S. expert is $3,500; the cost for air 
transport for Italian academics and experts to and from Milan 
is $600; the cost for hotels and M&IE for the Italian 
academics and experts is $800; the cost for local 
transportation costs within Milan is $465; the cost for 
publishing a paper on the program is $465; and the 
professional honoraria for the seven speakers is $2000.  The 
GDF will provide an interpreter for the U.S. expert. 
 
Target audiences 
---------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  The primary target audience is the Milan branch of 
the GDF.  Important secondary audiences include other Italian 
branches of the GDF; other Italian law enforcement agencies; 
and French, Spanish and other European GDF counterparts. 
Because many terrorists based in Europe travel through Italy 
to other European countries or collaborate with terrorists 
based in other European countries, there is a 
well-established pattern of cooperation between the GDF and 
its counterpart security services that would be positively 
affected by improvements in the Italian approach.  By 
acquiring this expertise, the GDF also seeks to improve its 
cooperation with Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia.  Past 
requests by the GDF for investigative cooperation with the 
security services in these countries have not been fruitful. 
 
Effectiveness Measures, Dissemination 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU)  In addition to the immediate goal of improving the 
effectiveness of the GDF Task Force in preventing terrorist 
financing, the U.S. mission in Italy believes funding of this 
modest project could kickstart a more systematic and 
effective official Italian response to its "Second 
Generation" dilemma.  Italy is at a critical crossroads in 
responding to immigration challenges.  This GDF initiative is 
the first official effort by the Italian security services to 
expand Italy's traditional "law and order" approach to 
Islamic terrorism into an approach that includes 
counter-radicalization activities purposely designed to 
improve the security services' engagement with Muslim 
immigrant communities.  Given Milan's prominence in the 
banking and financial sector and the presence of a large 
Muslim immigrant community in Milan, the city is an ideal 
showcase for this positive shift in approach.  Task Force 
Commandant Raffanotti has provided his commitment to the 
mission's office of the FBI legal attache in Milan to share 
this program initiative and its results with his colleagues 
 
in the GDF and other Italian law enforcement agencies to 
encourage its replication with GOI support.  The mission has 
worked previously with Branca and Pilliterri, who are well 
and favorably known to us for their counter-radicalization 
and educational efforts.  We believe this initiative merits 
our support as a pilot effort to expose Italian authorities 
to the concrete benefits of adapting current Italian policies 
and actions that may inadvertently contribute to 
radicalization. 
 
DIBBLE