VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHUNV #0563/01 3491242
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151242Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0416
INFO RUEHII/VIENNA IAEA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 0238
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 0220
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0183
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0374
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0352

UNCLAS UNVIE VIENNA 000563 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR T, S/SANAC, IO, AND ISN 
DOE FOR S2, NA-20, NE-6 
NSC FOR SCHEINMAN, HOLGATE, CONNERY 
NRC FOR OIP DOANE, SCHWARTZMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC PREL KNNP JP AR
SUBJECT: IAEA: THE AMANO TRANSITION, SITREP 1 
 
REF: A. UNVIE 322 
     ¶B. UNVIE 478 
     ¶C. UNVIE 536 
     ¶D. UNVIE 556 
 
¶1.  (U) UNVIE will report in weekly to bi-weekly 
installments, or as events warrant, on the personnel and 
management transition at the International Atomic Energy 
Agency (IAEA) under its new Director General.  This is the 
first telegram in a series that will extend into early 2010. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Director General (DG) Yukiya Amano confronts the 
opportunity to bring about a holistic change of upper 
management at the IAEA and the challenge as he does so of 
juggling the IAEA's multiple constituencies.  He has the 
prerogative to switch out the Agency's six deputy directors 
general (DDG) and a similar number of other key officials 
(ref A), but also, ultimately, anyone else in the Secretariat 
whom he sees fit to reassign for the duration of their 
existing contracts.  Initial signs are that he will act 
decisively, not to conduct a rapid wholesale turnover but to 
redirect the Agency -- in a manner the USG will likely find 
agreeable.  Moreover, he promises us "no surprises" while he 
keeps his decision-making close to the vest so as to not 
create false expectations among those jockeying for 
positions. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) As reported ref C para 5, Amano will keep DDGs 
David Waller (Management) and Olli Heinonen (Safeguards) in 
place for an initial period (through June 2012 in the case of 
Heinonen, we are told).  Amano expect to hear carping over 
these decisions from various quarters for various reasons, 
but Amano sees continuity in these two key functions as 
imperative.  For the remaining four DDG positions, the advice 
of ADG/EXPO Head Vilmos Cserveny (whom Amano is retaining) is 
to build a team of people to work with over a seven-year 
duration (corresponding to the Agency's rotation policy and 
approximating a two-term tenure for the DG himself).  Piecing 
together a mosaic, Amano must balance the technical expertise 
and broad sector experience each position demands, e.g., from 
a nuclear regulatory, power plant, research, or economic 
development background, with the Agency's crying need for 
coordination, management and leadership and the imperatives 
of geographic and gender balance.  Advanced nuclear nations 
including the P5, medium industrial powers, and states with 
limited nuclear or radiological applications all merit 
representation.  The G-77 will seek "adequate" representation 
among senior posts. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Against this background, Amano indicated to 
Ambassador December 11 that identifying the next DDG for 
Safety and Security from a "responsible developed country" is 
a priority.  He added that the eventual successor to Nuclear 
Energy DDG Sokolov would be another Russian, as reported in 
ref C para 5. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Amano's first formal move signals that he indeed 
will take Agency management in a direction we favor.  Having 
told A/S Brimmer it was an important signal that he, coming 
from an industrialized country, have a "developing country" 
national as chef de cabinet, Amano has offered the position 
to Argentine diplomat Rafael Grossi, whom Amano has known ten 
years.  Embassy Buenos Aires has shared with us its positive 
assessment of Grossi, a former aide to OPCW Executive 
Director Rogelio Pfirter; Grossi was active in Vienna when 
Pfirter himself was considering a run for DG.  Grossi is 
expected on board after the first of the year.  Amano intends 
that Grossi focus on diplomacy and coordination between the 
Secretariat and Member States, not on daily operations. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) As previously reported, Amano brought one Japanese 
diplomat from Tokyo to serve as his Special Assistant for 
Management.  Mission interactions thus far with the new 
incumbent, Satoshi Suzuki, have been business-like and 
effective.  Amano said in recent meetings with U/S Tauscher 
and A/S Brimmer that Suzuki would be his person to initiate 
action and coordination in the Secretariat.  Suzuki, 
meanwhile, tells us his most important initial role will be 
helping Amano to understand the institutional back story on 
decisions that are recommended to him.  Separately, Mission 
has learned of another secondment from Japanese diplomatic 
ranks: our close contact on IAEA resource and management 
issues, Japanese Mission Second Secretary Shota Kamishima, 
will be attached to the Verification and Security Policy 
Coordination Office in EXPO starting in mid-December. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) With Amano in Africa this week we expect no further 
announcements.  However, prior indications from the DG and 
those around him -- that the Safety/Security DDG position 
would turn over first -- appear to be borne out in his 
volunteering of detailed thinking on the matter to the 
Ambassador in their December 11 telcon.  (Comment: Amano's 
characterization that the next incumbent should come from a 
"responsible developed country," consistent with his early 
September remark to the Ambassador on this issue, could be 
code for "France."  End Comment).  The two current 
Secretariat officials most talked about for the job in the 
halls of the Agency are Philippe Jamet (FR), Director of the 
Division of Nuclear Installation Safety, and Khammar Mrabit 
(Morocco), Head of Safety and Security Coordination.  Msnoffs 
have enjoyed a frank and productive relationship with Mrabit 
for several years.  As reported ref C, each could 
theoretically get a chance to serve as Acting DDG (in 
rotation with two other colleagues) if a gap were to ensue. 
Amano has not expressed himself to us on this level of 
operational detail, and we would not expect him to do so 
until making a public announcement of Taniguchi's departure. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment: Two weeks into his tenure, DG Amano is in 
the phase of receiving introductory briefings from each 
department and becoming acquainted with the bureaucratic 
levers by which to steer the "aircraft carrier" that is the 
IAEA Secretariat.  DCM's further conversation with Special 
Assistant Suzuki on December 15 affirmed our expectation that 
Amano will move not dramatically but deliberately to examine 
each senior personnel move and prepare his choices 
thoroughly, conscious of the various political lenses through 
which leading Member States and groups will assess each 
appointment.  End Comment. 
 
 
DAVIES