VZCZCXRO6620
RR RUEHPOD
DE RUEHTI #0803/01 3491509
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 151509Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8675
INFO RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE 4564
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 0009
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB 3309
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 0113
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0767
RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 3034
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHINGTON DC
RUWDQAC/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/USCBP WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TIRANA 000803 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR ISN/ECC - JFRIEDMAN, ACHURCH, JBALDWIN, LSPRINGER 
STATE FOR EUR/ACE 
USCBP INA FOR BSUBER 
SECDEF FOR DTRA MMYERS 
VIENNA PLEASE PASS TO ICE ATTACHE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC MNUC PARM PREL KSTC KNNP AL
SUBJECT: EXBS ALBANIA REPORTING CABLE FOR OCTOBER AND NOVEMBER 2009 
 
¶1. (U) BROAD ITEMS OF INTEREST TO ADVISORS AND AGENCY MANAGERS 
 
--None. 
 
¶2. (U) COMPLETED ACTIONS FOR THE REPORTING PERIOD 
 
See paragraphs 4 and 5 below discussing equipment and training. 
 
¶3. (SBU) MEETINGS DURING REPORTING PERIOD 
 
--October 14-15: Maritime Advisor (MA) met with the State Export 
Control Agency and Customs in connection with a USG interagency 
assessment team (Prototype Deployable Assistance and Assessment 
Team) to discuss USG assistance provided to these agencies in an 
effort to identify gaps and commonalities. Both agencies reported 
excellent and much needed support by the USG and EXBS as well as the 
international community. Specific items of note from the meetings 
are that AKSHE is now working with the State Intelligence Service, 
Customs will have joint regulations with the Border Police by the 
end of 2009, and Customs has a judicial police team on payroll; this 
team reports to the Prosecutor's Office but Customs pays their 
salary. The team's assessment report will be forthcoming in December 
¶2009. 
 
--October 22: MA met with the Commander of RENEA (Unit for the 
Neutralization of Armed Elements), Luigj Vathi, the Deputy 
Commander, Besim Sakajani and Equipment Specialist, Pellumb Nili. 
Training for dealing with a radiological event as well as a 
radionuclide identifier were requested; MA suggested setting up a 
meeting with the Radiation Protection Office and Center for Applied 
Nuclear Physics to discuss roles, responsibilities and response 
options and RENEA was agreeable. RENEA also requested a dive course; 
there seem to be issues with obtaining  dive certification as RENEA 
stated that there is no entity in Albania licensed to certify divers 
so they must travel  outside of Albania to obtain  certification. 
They cited concerns that if there was a dive incident,  RENEA could 
be faulted if they were using uncertified divers. 
 
--November 9: MA met with the new Commander of the Naval School, 
Commander Bekim Godo in conjunction with the start of the USCG 
Coastal Search and Rescue Course. MA informed him of inbound 
equipment that EXBS has ordered for the school based on discussions 
with the previous school commander. 
 
--November 11: MA met with the Commander and Deputy Commander of the 
Navy's Southern Flotilla, Captain Mecollari and Commander Agastra to 
discuss personal protective equipment (PPE) for Navy/Coast Guard 
personnel. There are approximately 150 personnel total from the 
Northern and Southern Flotillas that need to be outfitted with PPE. 
They also requested assistance with equipment to establish a 
training facility (laptop, projector and printer). Due to the Naval 
School currently being under TRADOC rather than directly under the 
Navy CNO, there is a significant lag time to get an officer to 
training at the school because requests must be approved through 
multiple channels. Southern Flotilla would like to have an in-house 
capability to provide training for its officers to counter this lag 
time. 
 
--November 17: MA participated in bilateral meetings between NAVEUR 
representatives and the Chief of Staff at Albanian Naval 
Headquarters, Captain Roland Nasto. Key topics included upcoming 
training and coordination between EXBS, ODC and DAO's office. Since 
EXBS is sending several  officers to the USCG International Maritime 
Officers Course, ODC will  reprogram some of the funding it would 
have used to send officers to this course and use it in areas where 
EXBS cannot provide support, such as information technology training 
and radar operation and maintenance training. The warranty on the 
Lockheed Martin radar system will end in March 2010 and the Albanian 
Navy will be responsible for all maintenance and repairs and are 
presently ill-equipped to meet this need. During the meeting, it was 
noted  several times that language skills for Albanian Naval 
Officers is a problem. ODC asked why this was the case since ODC had 
sent two officers to the US for language training and had provided 
 
TIRANA 00000803  002 OF 003 
 
 
equipment to set-up a language lab at every unit to teach Level 1 
and 2 English and a language lab at the Naval School to teach Level 
3 and 4 English. The issues with the Naval School being under TRADOC 
were cited as the reason for the lack of use of the language lab 
there and said that one of the officers trained in English had left 
the service and the other had been transferred to another unit. 
Other requests for training include mechanical and electrical 
training for ships and the radar system, anti-terrorism courses, 
crisis management courses, tactical level courses and on-the-job 
training and specialty courses for non-commissioned officers. 
 
--November 20: MA met with the Durres Port Director in conjunction 
with the closing of the USCG Coastal SAR Course. The Durres Port 
Director has assisted EXBS with providing the use of the Port's 
training room for EXBS events and agreed to provide use of the 
training room again for an upcoming Container Inspection Course. 
 
--November 24: In discussions with Arben Ibroja, former Durres 
Customs House Director, MA learned that he had been transferred from 
that position and now serves in the Foreign Relations Directorate at 
Customs Headquarters. The new Director of the Durres Customs House 
is the former Deputy General Director of Customs, Mr. Bujar Vukaj. 
MA discussed the upcoming Container Inspection Training and provided 
the agenda for input from Mr. Ibroja as well as Mr. Vukaj to ensure 
a tailored course that meets the needs of the Durres officers. 
 
MONTENEGRO 
 
--November 18: MA met with the Montenegro (Mne) Border Police 
Maritime Unit at the Port of Bar, specifically, Mr. Darko 
Vasilijevic, Head of Maritime Unit; Mr. Dejan Jankovic, Deputy of 
Maritime Unit and Mr. Zoran Gogic, Patrol Boat Commander; to discuss 
issues with outboard engines donated by the USG through the 
Montenegro Border Security Program. In February/March 2005, the Mne 
Border Police received two aluminum hull 25' Workskiff boats 
outfitted with two outboard engines per boat. The outboard engines 
on these boats were replaced with greater horsepower engines in 
April/May 2006.  These replacement engines were Mercury Verados, 
each 250 horsepower.  They received five engines total - two engines 
for each boat with a fifth engine as a spare. After running the 
Verados for approx 300 hours, the Border Police started having 
problems with the engines not holding oil. They have been working 
with the Mercury dealer in Salzburg and the local representative in 
Montenegro who is authorized to service Mercury engines for the past 
2+ years to fix this problem, to no avail. The latest fix took place 
in October 2009 when new engine long blocks were replaced in four of 
the five engines. The fifth engine has never been run and nothing 
has been done with it. To date, the Border Police have tested two of 
the four engines since the replacement of the long blocks and are 
already having problems with one of the engines after 20 working 
hours.  Border Police will start testing the other two engines 
during the remainder of November. EXBS course of action is to pursue 
complete replacement of these outboards if this latest attempt to 
repair the current outboards fails. 
 
--November 25: MA met with Mr. Dejan Jankovic of the Mne Border 
Police to inspect the boats/engines that they are currently 
operating. The Border Police are still in the process of running the 
trials on the Mercury Verado outboards, one of two is inoperable 
after approximately 20 hours so that boat is not being used and they 
are still in the process of running trials on the second boat with 
the remaining two outboards to test their performance. An update 
will be provided by the Border Police in early December. The Border 
Police also have one Mercury Optimax outboard engine that is 
inoperable due to vandals putting sugar in the tank. This engine is 
now being used for parts. One Evinrude outboard is inoperable and 
the Border Police requested diagnostic software so they can diagnose 
and repair the problem. 
 
¶4. (U) TRAINING CONDUCTED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD 
 
--October 26-30: DOD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency conducted a 
five-day course entitled "Weapons of Mass Destruction Investigative 
 
TIRANA 00000803  003 OF 003 
 
 
Analysis Course".  Twenty-one participants from Customs, Border 
Police, State Intelligence Service, Civil Emergencies Directorate, 
Center for Applied Nuclear Physics and the Prosecutor Generals 
Office attended the course. 
 
--October 26-November 6: A representative from the State Export 
Control Agency and a representative from Customs attended a two-week 
session at the University of Georgia's Export Control Academy. 
 
--November 2-5: EXBS, in conjunction with IAEA, provided a Combating 
Illicit Trafficking in Nuclear and Radioactive Materials course. 
Participants from Customs, Border Police, Navy/Coast Guard, State 
Intelligence Service, RENEA, Radiation Protection Office, Center for 
Applied Nuclear Physics and the Civil Emergencies Directorate 
participated in the course. 
 
--November 9-20: EXBS funded a Coastal Search and Rescue Course 
delivered by instructors from the U.S. Coast Guard in Vlore and 
Durres.  The purpose of the course was to hone the navigation skills 
of maritime law enforcement officers.  Forty-eight officers total 
from Border Police, Customs, Delta Force, Harbor Master and the 
Navy/Coast Guard participated in the training. 
 
¶5. (U) EQUIPMENT DELIVERED DURING THE REPORTING PERIOD 
 
--October: Maritime Advisor delivered twelve personal radiation 
detection pagers to RENEA (Unit for the Neutralization of Armed 
Elements). 
 
¶6. (SBU) IMMINENT TRAINING OR EQUIPMENT STATUS REPORT: 
 
--December 3-4: EXBS is funding delivery of an Investigating and 
Prosecuting Export Control Violations Course to be delivered by the 
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). 
Participants from Customs, Border Police, Prosecutor General's 
Office, State Export Control Agency and the State Intelligence 
Service will participate in the course. 
 
--January 7-May 5: EXBS is funding the participation of one 
Navy/Coast Guard officer to attend the USCG's Officer Candidate 
School followed by a Boarding Officer Course and two weeks of 
on-the-job training. 
 
--December: Equipment for the State Export Control Agency is due to 
arrive in early December.  This equipment is for implementation of 
the TRACKER automated licensing system. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS IN EXPORT CONTROLS, 
NONPROLIFERATION, OR RELATED BORDER SECURITY 
 
--None. 
 
¶8. (U) PORTAL MONITOR ALERTS 
 
-- None. 
 
¶9. (U) RED FLAG ISSUES 
 
-- None. 
 
¶10.  (U) POC:  LT Cari Bower, email: bowerc@state.gov.