VZCZCXRO7988
RR RUEHDF
DE RUEHC #6078/01 1261822
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061809Z MAY 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 1031
RUEHDF/AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF 0701
RUEHFT/AMCONSUL FRANKFURT 1046
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC 6847
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC 5081
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC 4006
RUEPINS/HQ BICE INTEL WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 046078 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
FRANKFURT FOR JAMES MORRIS 
POL/ECON 
BERLIN FOR SHANE PETERSEN 
ECON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC KOMC OTRA PARM PREL GM
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN: DISCUSSIONS WITH EUCOM, CONSULATE, 
AND GERMAN OFFICIALS FEBRUARY 25-27 
 
REF: A. 08 STATE 61434 
     ¶B. 08 STATE 10260 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Senior Compliance Specialist Judd Stitziel 
from the Department's Office of Defense Trade Controls 
Compliance (PM/DTCC) met February 25-27 in Stuttgart, 
Frankfurt, and Bonn with USG and German officials to discuss 
the Blue Lantern end-use monitoring program and related U.S. 
export control issues in Germany and Europe.  Topics included 
third-party transfers, Arms Export Control Act (AECA) Section 
3 reporting requirements, and the export of defense articles, 
technology, and services from the U.S. to Germany.  Briefings 
to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) EUCOM 
End-Use Monitoring Regional Forum strengthened DOS-DOD 
collaboration by clarifying distinctions between State (Blue 
Lantern) and Defense (Golden Sentry) end-use monitoring 
requirements and procedures, and identifying areas for future 
cooperation.  Meetings with USG and German officials appear 
to have met the objectives of improving understanding of the 
Blue Lantern program and USG defense trade laws and 
regulations.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Administered by PM/DTCC, Blue Lantern is a global 
program designed to verify the end-use, end-users, and 
disposition of commercially exported defense articles, 
technology, and services.  This visit to Germany was part of 
PM/DTCC's ongoing efforts to improve the program's 
effectiveness through outreach visits with posts, host 
governments, and industry. 
 
EUCOM EUM BRIEFINGS 
 
¶3. (U) On September 25, PM/DTCC Senior Compliance Specialist 
Judd Stitziel briefed participants of the Defense Security 
Cooperation Agency's (DSCA) EUCOM End-Use Monitoring (EUM) 
Regional Forum on Blue Lantern, third-party transfers, and 
AECA Section 3 requirements for reporting unauthorized 
re-transfers and re-exports, changes in end-use, and failures 
to secure defense articles and services provided through USG 
military assistance.  Participants included Security 
Assistance Officers (SAO) from most EUCOM military groups, 
officers responsible for international programs and EUM at 
EUCOM headquarters, and program managers of DSCA's Golden 
Sentry EUM program in Washington.  Successful recent joint 
outreach experiences such as the SOUTHCOM and CENTCOM EUM 
Regional Forums (refs A and B) involving PM/DTCC and DSCA 
have helped audiences better understand the similarities and 
differences between the regulations governing the export of 
defense articles and technology exported via direct 
commercial sales (DCS) and Foreign Military Sales (FMS). 
 
¶4. (U) Questions and discussion during the EUCOM forum and 
side-bar meetings focused on the differing requirements and 
capabilities of EUM through Blue Lantern and Golden Sentry, 
especially concerning night vision devices (NVDs).  PM/DTCC 
expressed gratitude for the generally effective cooperation 
between DOS Blue Lantern POCs and SAOs, who often facilitate 
Blue Lantern checks with host country MODs and occasionally 
conduct checks on behalf of DOS.  While emphasizing that Blue 
Lantern and Golden Sentry have similar but independent EUM 
mandates, Stitziel noted that many SAOs around the world have 
voluntarily entered DCS NVD serial numbers into DSCA's 
Security Cooperation Information Portal (SCIP) database on 
their own initiative in order to facilitate and simplify EUM 
for both Golden Sentry and Blue Lantern.  Forum participants 
agreed that both DOS and DOD would benefit from increased 
communication and collaboration in the EUM of DCS NVDs and 
other defense articles. 
 
MEETINGS WITH USG DEFENSE TRADE CONTROL OFFICIALS 
 
¶5. (U) In Frankfurt and Bonn on February 26 and 27, Stitziel 
met with a wide variety of USG officials involved in various 
aspects of defense trade controls to brief the Blue Lantern 
program and to discuss issues specific to Germany. 
Interlocutors in Frankfurt included James Morris, Pol/Econ 
 
STATE 00046078  002 OF 003 
 
 
Officer and Blue Lantern POC; Ronald Grimes, Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement (ICE) Attache, and Glenn Spindel, Deputy 
ICE Attache; Robert Goodrich, Regional Security Officer; Greg 
Gaines, Political-Military Counselor; and Christine Awender, 
Assistant Legal Attache.  Interlocutors in Bonn included 
Richard Volk, Pol/Econ Specialist and foreign service 
national in Duesseldorf who has conducted Blue Lantern checks 
for many years; MAJ Kevin Hill, Chief of Army Affairs, Office 
of Defense Cooperation (ODC); and Lt. Col. Kevin Kelley, Jr., 
Chief of Air Force Affairs, ODC. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Stitziel briefed the mission, objectives, and 
results of Blue Lantern, both globally and in Germany.  Since 
2004, PM/DDTC has received 13,517 applications for commercial 
defense exports to Germany worth $18 billion dollars; during 
that time, PM/DDTC has approved 11,302 licenses worth $11 
billion and 1,534 agreements worth $7.4 billion.  Since 2004, 
50 Blue Lantern checks have been conducted (30 pre-license 
checks and 20 post-shipment verifications) on applications 
and licenses that listed end-users in Germany.  Of these 50 
cases, only four were closed "unfavorable," meaning that the 
facts determined by the check were not consistent with the 
information listed on the application or license.  Germany's 
"unfavorable" rate of eight percent is significantly lower 
than the global average during the last several years, which 
has ranged between 16 and 23 percent.  Embassy Berlin's 
average response times of 48 days for pre-license checks and 
83 days for post-shipment checks may be longer than the 
formal deadlines of 30 days and 45 days, respectively, but 
are still within the normal range globally.  While the 
primary Blue Lantern POC in Embassy Berlin's economic section 
is responsible for coordinating Blue Lantern checks 
throughout Germany, Stitziel encouraged the Blue Lantern POCs 
in Frankfurt and Duesseldorf to draw on the full range of 
country team resources, including ICE, ODC, DAO, LEGAT, and 
Foreign Commercial Service (FCS), when appropriate. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Particularly encouraging and productive was 
Stitziel's discussion with ICE officials in Frankfurt, who 
stated that the enforcement of export controls -- 
particularly of defense articles, technology, and services 
listed on the U.S. Munitions List (USML) and controlled under 
the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) -- is 
ICE's "number one priority" in Frankfurt.  In addition to 
discussing several current and past cases, ICE expressed 
eagerness to collaborate even more closely and to exchange 
information through PM/DTCC's ICE Liaison, especially as ICE 
reported that it does not always receive the most complete 
cooperation with German customs authority counterparts.  The 
PM/DTCC-ICE connections made during the trip already have 
resulted in the subsequent exchange of information regarding 
two pending cases.  The political-military section and legal 
attache office also expressed keen interest in Blue Lantern 
and eagerness to collaborate and exchange information when 
appropriate. 
 
GERMAN OFFICIALS SUPPORT BLUE LANTERN, 
EAGER TO COLLABORATE, STRENGTHEN TRANSATLANTIC TIES 
 
¶8. (SBU) In Bonn, MAJ Hill, Lt. Col. Kelley, and Mr. Volk 
joined Stitziel for separate meetings with Juergen 
Mogilowski, Head of International Armament Relations at the 
MOD, and Claus Warnken, Head of the division in the Ministry 
of Economic and Technology responsible for international 
export control regimes and the control of "weapons of war" 
(Kriegswaffen).  Already familiar with many aspects of U.S. 
export control laws, the German officials were eager to learn 
more about the Blue Lantern program, expressed support for 
and willingness to collaborate with the program, and posed 
several detailed and informed questions about U.S. laws and 
regulations.  The officials also provided an overview of 
Germany's export control regulations and bureaucracy as well 
as relatively recent improvements made in the ability of the 
Government of Germany (GOG) to track and account for defense 
articles and technology imported from the U.S. and elsewhere. 
 As part of the GOG's response to an incident in 2004 
involving an unintentional unauthorized re-transfer of 
U.S.-provided defense articles, the MOD created a "knowledge 
cell" for propagating best practices and answering questions 
related to tracking and monitoring the end-use of munitions 
items provided by foreign countries.  According to 
 
STATE 00046078  003 OF 003 
 
 
Mogilowski, the MOD's primary area of concern now is the 
accountability and EUM of second-tier subcontractors and 
suppliers. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Mogilowski emphasized that the GOG considers EUM of 
munitions to be a matter of national security rather than 
simply trade and commerce.  He expressed strong sentiments 
against European companies that market allegedly "ITAR-free" 
defense articles such as satellites, asserting that such 
efforts contribute to the deterioration of transatlantic ties 
and falsely deny the interdependency of European and American 
defense companies.  Mogilowski also mentioned current 
internal GOG discussions of establishing a working group, 
perhaps as soon as June, comprised of representatives of the 
MFA, MOD, Economics Ministry, and the Federal Association of 
the German Defense Industry (Bundesverband der deutschen 
Ruestungsindustrie) to discuss possible improvements in GOG 
defense trade controls, including end-use monitoring. 
 
¶10. (U) PM/DTCC would like to express its gratitude to 
Consulates General Frankfurt and Duesseldorf and especially 
to Jim Morris, Kevin Hill, Richard Volk, and Chris Grossman 
for their exemplary work in helping to arrange and execute 
this visit. 
CLINTON