Cablegate: And the List Goes On, U.S. Security Dialogues With

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PP RUEHPT
DE RUEHBY #1017 3230601
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 190601Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2251
INFO RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 5051
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 6783
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 5049

UNCLAS CANBERRA 001017

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SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PM AS
SUBJECT: AND THE LIST GOES ON, U.S. SECURITY DIALOGUES WITH
AUSTRALIA

REF: SECSTATE 112900

1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The United States has a wide range of
ongoing security dialogues with Australia that date back
decades. There are several large, formalized dialogues that
take place throughout the year and a virtually endless number
of smaller working groups and direct military to military
talks. The main dialogues are the annual AUSMIN meetings and
the Trilateral Security Dialogue with Australia and Japan.
END SUMMARY

AUSMIN
------

2. (SBU) Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations
(AUSMIN) is the largest of security dialogue between
Australia and the United States. It is formalized under the
1951 ANZUS treaty and takes place annually except for
occasional election years when the talks are delayed. AUSMIN
is held at the cabinet level and is often attended by the
Secretary of State, Defense, or both. Feeding into AUSMIN
are three sub-meetings chaired at the undersecretary level.
These include MilReps military to military talks, the AUSMIN
Defense Acquisition Committee, and informally the bilateral
Pol-Mil Talks, each of which takes place more or less
annually. The next AUSMIN meeting will take place in Sydney
in mid-January.

Trilateral Security Dialogue
----------------------------

3. (SBU) The United States also regularly engages in a
series of trilateral talks with Australia and Japan which are
collectively called the Trilateral Security Dialogue (TSD).
The TSD is composed of 7 sub meetings that cover a specific
topic. Pacific Issues, South East Asian Issues, Missile
Defense and Humanitarian Assistance are all covered during
one of the annual sub-meetings. There is also an annual
meeting of senior officials from the three countries and last
April the parties agreed in principal to an annual leaders'
meeting, although this has yet to be scheduled. The annual
Security and Defense Cooperation Forum (SDCF) grew out of
the TSD, but has now been meeting separately from it. The
TSD was initially more ad hoc in nature, but last April the
three parties agreed to terms of reference to formalize the
talks. TSD talks take place with some regularity throughout
the year.

A Broad Range of Other Meetings
-------------------------------

4. (SBU) The Australian and U.S. military work very closely
together and have a broad range of security dialogues that
stretch from the strategic to the operational level. The
highest level talks are the MilReps, which as mentioned above
feed into AUSMIN and are held between the Australian Chief of
Defence Forces and the Commander of PACOM. In addition to
the military talks that take place under AUSMIN and the TSD,
there are also annual talks between the Deputy Service Chiefs
of Service of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines and their
Australian counterparts. Other dialogues focus exclusively
on strategy, Pacific defense issues, and a variety of other
regions and topics. The U.S. and Australia are also both
party to a number of multilateral defense talks.

5. (SBU) In addition to the military meetings, there are
also a variety of civilian dialogues on security related
issues. The Policy Planning Staff for the State Department
and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
also meet on an annual basis. There are also informal
meetings and talks between many U.S. agencies and their
Australian counterparts, although most of these talks are not
codified under any agreement.

6. (SBU) COMMENT: The alliance between Australia and the
United States has been extremely productive and the robust
QUnited States has been extremely productive and the robust
exchange of ideas and information is one of its defining
features. Australian forces in Afghanistan have been
praised for their interoperability with the United States and
this would be impossible without the exchange of ideas
fostered by these security dialogues. The exchanges in most
of the meetings mentioned above are meaningful and neither
side is afraid of a frank discussion of tough issues. END
COMMENT.

CLUNE

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