VZCZCXYZ0021
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTL #0070/01 0361553
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 051552Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY TALLINN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0392
INFO RUEHTL/AMEMBASSY TALLINN

UNCLAS TALLINN 000070 
 
SIPDIS 
DEPARTMENT FOR OIG/ISP AMB. DAVID ZWEIFEL 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/NB 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT ASIG PHUM EN
SUBJECT: Estonia: OIG Review of Impact of Required Reporting 
 
REF: State 9541 
 
¶1. This is Embassy Tallinn's response to reftel OIG request on the 
impact of required reporting.  Post's answers are keyed to the 
questions from para 3. 
 
 
 
a. Which mandated reports require most time and attention from 
Department personnel at your embassy? 
 
 
 
Human Rights Report 
 
International Religious Freedom Report 
 
Trafficking in Persons Report 
 
INCSR I and II 
 
Country Commercial Guide 
 
Investment Climate Statement 
 
 
 
b. What section or unit is assigned responsibility for gathering 
information and preparing these reports? 
 
 
 
The Political/Economic section prepares all the reports.  The DCM 
reviews all reports, engages in substantive discussion with 
drafters and with Washington on any items that become contentious. 
 
 
c. How many employees are involved in preparing and submitting each 
report? Please specify Department direct hire staff, local 
employees, eligible family members, contractors or other. 
 
 
 
Human Rights Report, 3 officers, 1 local employee 
 
International Religious Freedom Report, 3 officers, 1 local 
employee 
 
Trafficking in Persons Report, 3 officers, 1 local employee 
 
INCSR I and II, 3 officers, 1 local employee 
 
Country Commercial Guide, 3 officers, 1 local employee 
 
Investment Climate Statement, 3 officers, 1 local employee 
 
 
d. How many person hours (by report and employee category) are 
required to prepare each of the mandated reports? What proportion 
of the embassy or mission's total personnel or other resources does 
this represent? 
 
 
 
Human Rights Report - 144 hours total for the various versions; 
 
International Religious Freedom Report -- 51 hours; 
 
Trafficking in Persons Report - 61 hours 
 
INCSR I and II - 61 hours each 
 
 
Country Commercial Guide  -- 43 hours 
 
Investment Climate Statement - 43 hours 
 
 
 
These reports take approximately 403 man-hours per year.  The 
Political/Economic Section has three direct hire officers and four 
local staff.  Assuming 2,000 work hours per employee per year, 
these reports take approximately 2.9 percent of the section's time. 
 
 
 
e. Does required reporting, as it is currently being produced, 
support and reinforce other mission goals or divert resources from 
them? 
 
Some of the reporting helps to support mission goals, but for the 
most part the reports divert resources from other projects. 
Specifically, gathering data for the Human Rights, TIP, INCSR, and 
IRFR allow us to interact with the corresponding contacts, 
reinforcing USG interest in each of these fields.  However, none of 
these are mission priorities as Estonia has a good track record on 
these issues.  The CCG and ICS are useful products for U.S. 
companies thinking of doing business in Estonia, which supports the 
mission goal of promoting U.S. exports. 
 
 
f.  What resource measures has the embassy taken (redirecting 
personnel to this instead of other duties, hiring additional local 
staff or eligible family members, requesting additional fulltime 
positions) to fulfill requirements for mandated reporting? 
 
 
 
None, the demands of these reports were factored into the embassy's 
work plan, so no additional "surge" resources are needed to handle 
the reports. 
 
 
 
g. Which parts of the process (information gathering, analysis, 
drafting, internal editing, negotiation of the final text with 
Washington) consume the most resources? 
 
 
 
Information gathering and drafting are the most labor intensive. 
 
 
h. How clear and helpful are Department instructions for preparing 
each of these reports? 
 
 
 
In general the Department guidance is far too long and detailed. 
For instance, the instructions for the 2009 Human Rights Report 
were 76 pages long, and for the Investment Climate Statement were 
17 pages long.  Even worse, this year we received the ICS 
instruction very late; some parts were delivered to Post six days 
after the report was due.  Guidance often changes from year to 
year, making it harder to reuse elements of last year's reports 
when the situation has not changed, and the guidance is sometimes 
confusing or poorly written.  There were several instances this 
year when Post had to go back to Washington for clarification of 
poorly worded instructions. 
 
 
i. What percentage of the embassy's overall reporting on an issue 
such as human rights or trafficking in persons docs the annual 
required draft represent? Does your post submit reporting cables on 
these issues throughout the year, or gather and discuss information 
but submit it formally primarily in the required annual draft? 
 
 
 
Human rights and trafficking in persons are not major problems for 
Estonia, so the HR and TIP reports constitute the majority of our 
post's reporting on these topics.  HIV is included in the INCSR, 
since the local problem is driven by intravenous drug use, but most 
HIV reporting is conducted separately. 
 
j. Do other mission agencies besides the Department make 
significant contributions to the preparation of mandated reporting 
in these areas? 
 
 
 
No. 
 
 
¶2. SUGGESTIONS FOR STREAMLINING/MODIFYING THE PROCESS: 
 
In order to preempt contentious debate, overly complex tracked 
changes and standoffs between posts and Washington offices, review 
of updates should be conducted via DVC or online.  In this way, 
posts and Washington-based officers can eliminate 
misunderstandings, mischaracterizations and typos.  Such direct 
connections would also underscore the value that both sides place 
on the issue -- not just the product, a distinction that is often 
lost as versions and reversions get passed back and forth.  This is 
not to suggest that every session be conducted this way, but at 
 
 
least one session for per report should be. 
POLT