This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SAN JOSE 000088 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR GENERAL CRADDOCK FROM AMBASSADOR LANGDALE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2016 
TAGS: PINS MARR PREL CS
SUBJECT: NATIONAL SECURITY PLANNING WORKSHOP FOR COSTA RICA 
 
REF: 05 SAN JOSE 2909 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Mark Langdale for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1.  (C) Dear General Craddock:  I am writing to seek your 
support for an inititiative to engage early on with the new 
Costa Rican leadership team before it enters office and while 
it is still forming its governing agenda.  During my 
consultations in Washington before coming to post, I met with 
Dr. Richard Downie of the Center for Hemispheric Defense 
Studies.  He described the Center's organization of National 
Security Planning Workshops (NSPW) in Panama, Peru and 
Paraguay and proposed to organize one for Costa Rica.  These 
workshops gather senior members of incoming administrations 
and their appropriate counterparts from the USG, over a 
period of some 2-3 days, in an off-site format to formulate a 
draft national security strategy.  This strikes me as an 
ideal vehicle for us to advance our interests in Costa Rica 
with the new administration. 
 
¶2.  (C) The polls in Costa Rica indicate that Oscar Arias, 
who was president in 1986-1990, is certain to win the 
election.  He will take office on May 8.  When I made my 
introductory call on Arias on December 7 (reftel), I 
described for him in general terms the NSPW concept.  Arias 
responded that such a workshop could be "a good idea." 
My staff later followed up with Arias's running mate as 
second vice president, who suggested we discuss the idea in 
detail immediately following the elections. 
 
¶3.  (C) I am under no illusions that dealing with a President 
Arias will always be a smooth matter, but we have to 
recognize that he is potentially an important leader in Latin 
America and the world beyond the borders of Costa Rica due to 
his Nobel Prize and past world status.  He envisions himself 
as a player on a larger stage. 
 
¶4.  (C) Though I left the session at CHDS with the strong 
impression that they had adequate budget to cover the full 
costs of such an endeavor (which I understood would be on the 
order of $40-50,000), subsequent follow-up by my staff with 
CHDS indicates that funding such a workshop is not so simple. 
 I would appreciate it if you would consider SOUTHCOM 
participation in and funding of an NSPW in Costa Rica.  We 
believe that an NSPW would provide us with a chance to 
influence the security policies of the Arias government in 
the right direction and secure Arias's support for adopting a 
regional approach to deal with common security challenges in 
Central America.  That would be well worth a small 
investment. 
LANGDALE