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DE RUEHTH #0045/01 0281011
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 281011Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY ATHENS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1401
INFO RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS

UNCLAS ATHENS 000045 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL GR PGOV SMIG PBTS MCAP EWWT PHSA PTER SNAR
SUBJECT: GREECE: Ambassador Speckhard's Meeting with Hellenic Coast 
Guard Commandant Bousios 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  During a 50-minute meeting on 20 January Vice 
Admiral Bousios spoke to Ambassador Speckhard about the ongoing 
reformation of the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG), which he has headed 
since late November 2009.  Bousios said that the HCG was being 
reorganized to resemble the U.S. Coast Guard.  It would focus only 
on maritime border security; its other functions under the former 
Ministry of Merchant Marine and Aegean Island Affairs would pass to 
the Ministry of the Economy.  The decision to fold the HCG into the 
recently created Ministry of Citizen Protection was to foster 
cooperation and jointness across Greece's non-military security, 
intelligence, and police agencies.  Illegal immigration is an 
enormous problem and burden for Greece.   It ultimately requires 
political solutions, particularly with Turkey, but meanwhile the 
HCG is leading the effort to seal Greece's exits to Europe in order 
to deny individual immigrants and the smuggling rings that feed off 
of them the chance to achieve their ultimate goals. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On 20 January 2010 the Ambassador met for 50 minutes with 
the Commandant of the Hellenic Coast Guard (HCG), Vice Admiral 
Athanasios Bousios, at HCG headquarters in the port of Piraeus. 
This was the first in a series of meetings by the Ambassador to 
hear from senior Greek officials about the ongoing reorganization 
of Greece's security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies 
under the umbrella of the Ministry of Citizen Protection (MCP), 
which was formed in October 2009.  Bousios became commandant of the 
HCG on November 27, 2009, when the previous commandant retired 
rather than implement the far-reaching redefinition of the HCG 
demanded by incoming Greek Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis 
Chrysochoidis.  The Ambassador was accompanied by the DCM, the RAS 
chief, and an interpreter, while Bousios was accompanied by the 
deputy commandant of the HCG, Vice Admiral Georgios Giannimaras. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Ambassador began the meeting by congratulating Bousios 
on his appointment, noting the excellent cooperation between the 
USG and the HCG, and wishing him well in his assignment.  The 
Ambassador said that he was interested in learning about the 
changes that the HCG was undergoing and about Bousios's vision for 
its role within the MCP.  The Ambassador added that he was seeking 
in particular to understand how the USG could support the 
transformation. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Bousios replied that he was implementing the decision to 
make the HCG into a genuine coast guard.  He explained that the 
HCG's current name was better translated into English as Harbor 
Corps (Limeniko soma), but the goal of the reorganization was to 
transfer many of the HCG's duties to other ministries and make it 
focus on four areas: law enforcement on the seas, maritime border 
security, shipping security, and maritime environmental issues.  A 
draft law has been drawn up for this new agency, which is modeled 
on the U.S. Coast Guard, both in the sense of the definition of its 
responsibilities and in the sense of being a separate agency within 
a larger structure (i.e., DHS).  The new HCG will move to a 
separate location, as it gives up its traditional functions within 
the old Ministry of Merchant Marine and Aegean Island Affairs to 
the newly refashioned Ministry of the Economy, Competitiveness, and 
Merchant Marine. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The reason for binning these agencies under the MCP, 
Bousios continued, was to foster interagency cooperation and 
"jointness."  In mid-February the various MCP agencies will hold a 
joint exercise to ascertain their level of cooperation and their 
degree of interconnectivity and to determine what needs to be built 
or corrected.  Bousios said that he worked very well personally 
with the heads of the Greek National Intelligence Service (EYP) and 
the Hellenic National Police (HNP).  However, there was no magic 
wand to create and foster cooperation at working levels, which will 
take time and a new legislative basis to instill.   The goal was to 
recreate and institutionalize the interagency cooperation on 
security that had been the norm for the Olympic Games in Athens in 
¶2004. 
 
¶6. (SBU) According to Bousios, the impetus behind the reform of the 
HCG was the challenge of combating illegal immigration, which could 
best be done by combining into one ministry all the civilian 
agencies responsible for Greece's security.  The difficulty of 
guarding the maritime borders of Greece -- which has 18,000 
kilometers of coast line and roughly 3,000 island and islets -- is 
enormous.  The HCG has to worry about economic crime, narcotics 
smuggling, and human trafficking, as well as illegal immigration. 
The fact that Greece has "bad neighbors" makes this problem worse. 
Bousios noted that on February 8 his counterpart from Turkey would 
visit, so that they could work on ways to improve border security 
between Greece and Turkey.  For now, however, Greece had to 
confront the huge challenge to its stability and security posed by 
illegal immigration.  It also created a severe financial strain on 
Greece, since once illegal immigrants arrive in Greece, mainly from 
Turkey, they can activate all the protections of EU laws and 
institutions, thereby making Greece responsible for them. 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) In response to the Ambassador's comment about the need for 
international cooperation and a pan-European approach to illegal 
immigration, Bousios said that, in his personal opinion, the 
challenge along Greece's eastern border cannot be met only by 
police measures.  He acknowledged that while Turkey certainly could 
do much more to alleviate the problems facing Greece, Turkey too 
has significant difficulties with illegal immigrants.  For this 
reason, discussions and initiatives need to take place at the 
political level.  Nevertheless, that is for Foreign Ministries to 
work out.  In the meantime, the MCP and the HCG are focusing on a 
strategy of closing Greece's exit points, so that illegal 
immigrants who do make it to Greece cannot move on to their 
preferred destinations in Western Europe.  Strict measures are 
being applied in the ports of Patras, Corinth, and Igoumenitsa, as 
well as at Venizelou Airport in Athens, which should send a strong 
measure to both the illegal immigrants and the smuggling rings that 
feed off of them that it is pointless to enter Greece.  In 
addition, the HCG is cooperating closely with FRONTEX, with which 
it is has been having joint operations for over a year. 
Nevertheless, much work remains to be done to integrate FRONTEX's 
assets with Greece's security apparatus. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The meeting ended with the Ambassador offering to support 
the HCG's transformation and encouraging Bousios to feel free to 
reach out to the Embassy with requests for training in line with 
its changing mission. 
Speckhard