State Department Spokesman Nicholas Burns briefed.

BOMBING/SAUDI ARABIA -- The State Department is offering a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the June 25 bombing of the Khobar barracks which killed 19 U.S. service members. The Saudi government is offering an additional $3 million reward. To date, the U.S. government has paid out $3 million in 20 different cases involving terrorists, most notably the World Trade Center in New York City. Burns noted that this rewards program has been highly effective in finding the perpetuators of terrorist crimes. There are no suspects yet in the latest bombing in Saudi Arabia, however. Burns could not substantiate reports carried on ABC television that Americans in Saudi Arabia have received threats in the aftermath of the June 25 bombing.

Following is the official transcript:

(begin transcript)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

I N D E X

Tuesday, July 2, 1996

Briefer: Nicholas Burns

TERRORISM

U.S. Offers Reward for Information Regarding the Bombing of

Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia ................... 1-2,3-6

--Previous U.S. Reward Offers ..............................3

--Network Report re: Additional Threats to U.S. Civilians ..6

--U.S.-Saudi Cooperation on Security Measures...............6-7

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

DPB #107

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1996, 1:05 P.M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

I have an announcement to make on Saudi Arabia, on the Dhahran bombing.

The Department of State is offering a reward of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest and the conviction of those individuals responsible for the brutal and cowardly terrorist bombing of the Khobar barracks on June 25. That bombing resulted in the deaths of 19 American military personnel and the bombing injured over 250 other Americans.

This offer supplements the very generous $3 million reward announced by the Saudi Government.

There will be no rest for those who shed American blood. The cowards who committed this act had better sleep with one eye open. We will hunt them down and they will be found, and we will punish them.

This program -- this counter-terrorism program -- and the rewards program has been highly effective in the past. We have paid out in the past, in 20 different cases, $3 million to individuals who have been instrumental in giving us information that led to the arrest and conviction of terrorists around the world, most notably in the World Trade Center bombing in New York and in the Pan Am 103 case.

I'm going to be posting after this briefing a press statement that gives information for people who would like to contribute information to this program. Overseas, people can talk to the nearest consulate or embassy. You can call the FBI or the State Department here in Washington. You can also use the Internet. The public statement that we're issuing gives all the points of contact. It gives the phone number that one can call, which is an 800 phone number here in Washington, D.C.

The Internet has been a particularly valuable way for us to develop information on these terrorist acts. The Internet, as you know, has over 20 million subscribers in 152 different countries. Among these countries are Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, and Sudan, countries all of which are looked upon by the U.S. Government as state-sponsors of terrorism.

The beauty here is that our messages reach these countries via the Internet without censorship. So people in those countries, or people in Saudi Arabia -- anybody who has information on this -- can contact us with information that we hope will lead to the quick arrest and the quick prosecution of the terrorists who killed the Americans at Dhahran.

George.

Q: Do you have any details on previous rewards such as, which was the largest; which case yielded the largest reward, and so forth?

BURNS: I can certainly get that information to you. As I said, since this program was created, we have paid out over $3 million in 20 different cases involving acts of terrorism against Americans. The most notable, I think, was the World Trade Center bombing.

As you know, we've also offered a $2 million reward in the case of Pan Am 103 and in other terrorist cases. We are committed and determined to find the people who bombed the Khobar barracks. And if this program can help us do that, then it will be a very good thing. If you put our $2 million together with the Saudi offer of $3 million, it's quite a substantial reward of $5 million available to those who have any information about the people who carried out this bombing.

Q: Are you going to have "wanted" posters like in the past?

BURNS: We are developing that. Obviously, to have a "wanted" poster and to have match books, which have been actually very successful, as a way to convey this kind of information, you need to have a likeness of the people. At this point, we are trying to develop that.

But what we're going to do is, we will distribute this information, as I said, through the Internet which, in some of the countries where terrorists work, is a highly effective way to do that because you escape censorship.

We're also going to do it via just public affairs campaigns within Saudi Arabia -- in Dhahran, in Riyadh, and in Jeddah. In fact, our Embassy is making a simultaneous announcement about this in Saudi Arabia.

We're also going to work in other countries where we think one should look for information on terrorist acts like this to make this widely known so that people know that there is a substantial reward out there if they have information that would lead to the arrest of the bombers.

Q: You're saying that you are working on developing a poster of these people. Does that mean that you have some information about what these people look like?

BURNS: We're working on a poster that would help us advertise the program. The question I think that Judd had was, or at least I inferred from the question, "Would there be a likeness of the people?" At this point, we can't draw a likeness but we do have some information that might be helpful.

Q: Also, the question went to how you're circulating news in the Middle East.

BURNS: Right. We hope that this message goes out via radio and television in the Middle East and around the world because you never know where these clues -- where evidence will lead you and you never know where people are around the world who might have information about this particular bombing.

In the past, of course, we've had to go far afield -- in the case of Ramzi Yousef, for instance, to find him and to find information about his whereabouts half a world away. We'll go anywhere around the world to find information about these terrorists.

Q: You say you're announcing this simultaneously in Saudi Arabia?

BURNS: Our Embassy is making a public announcement in Saudi Arabia; that's right.

Q: That's just putting out paper there, or --

BURNS: I'm not quite sure how they're doing it. I imagine they're putting out some kind of press statement. This is a Department of State program. It has been in existence for several years, and we found it to be a very effective way of enticing people to come forward.

Q: Nick, is it your assumption at this point that the perpetrators might be found outside Saudi Arabia's borders or --

BURNS: That's not an assumption that I believe one can make right now. We don't know who the people are who committed this terrorist act. We are following a number of leads. There's a reasonable proposition that since they were in Dhahran last Tuesday night - a week ago today -- they may still be there; someplace in Saudi Arabia.

There's also the proposition that they could be outside the country. We will find them. They're not going to get away with this. There is too much evidence left behind at the scene to allow them to get away with it.

Q: Last week, when we asked Glyn whether the United States was going to offer a reward, he said that that would have to wait until there was a narrowing down of information, or a winnowing out of information. Does this imply that you now have enough speculative leads aimed -- which would aim/target certain people?

BURNS: Jim, I can't go into that aspect of the investigation. You'll appreciate why.

We certainly wouldn't want to tip anybody off if we had any information as to who the bombers may be. We decided to come forward with the reward because we have found in the past that in particularly -- particularly -- dastardly terrorist attacks that are publicized, this is an effective way to get people to come forward.

Obviously, these people -- the two men who parked the field truck in front of the Khobar barracks -- got into the Caprice and sped away had accomplices. We assume they didn't do it on their own. We assume they had back-ups. We assume they had an organization that supported them.

We assume that because of human nature information about their activities is known to other people -- family members, neighbors. So we would appeal to those people to come forward. We are talking here about 19 Americans who died, 250 Americans wounded. We're also talking about 147 Saudis wounded, over 150 Bangladeshis wounded; and among the Saudis, five young kids.

Whoever did this had no regard for human life -- American life, Saudi life, or anyone's life.

Q: Without going into whatever information you have or don't have, do you now have, one week after the explosion, some news?

BURNS: I'm not in charge of the investigation. I believe those who are in charge of the investigation prefer to work in private and not announce publicly every time there is a lead, so I can't speak to that question.

Q: Nick, if someone is picked up as a result of a tip, will the United States make an independent judgment as to his guilt or innocence before paying out the American part of the reward?

BURNS: This program operates on the basis of common sense. If someone gives us information that leads to the arrest of someone who subsequently turns into the person -- we believe -- and the Saudis believe is responsible for the bombing, then we will be very generous in paying out this reward.

Q: What I'm asking is, does the United States make an independent judgment, independent of the Saudis as to whether they've got the right person or not?

BURNS: I think in the cases in the past, we've made the judgment to pay out the rewards when it's been reasonably clear to us that the people apprehended are in fact the people who are responsible for the bombing. For instance, if I can take the November bombing in Riyadh, there's no question in our minds that the four individuals who were executed were responsible for that bombing.

Q: Can you comment on reports from -- there was a report on ABC News last night that there were additional threats to U.S. civilians in Saudi Arabia made over the weekend. They were supposedly faxed to King Fahd's private line and some other Saudi officials' private lines?

BURNS: I saw the report on ABC. I cannot substantiate those allegations. I can tell you this. As you know, the President has ordered a review of the security around U.S. military installations in Saudi Arabia, and you can be assured that Secretary Christopher has asked Ted Kattouf, our Charge d'Affaires in Riyadh, to undertake all necessary measures to protect the American diplomats there and their families and to work with private American corporations -- and there are many of them, employing tens of thousands of Americans -- to see what we can do to help protect all Americans in Saudi Arabia.

It's a big task, but that is our responsibility, and we do take it very seriously. The people who committed this act must know that we will look for them, and we will find them.

Q: When you try to heighten security measures, you obviously have to have the cooperation of the Saudis, and the last time you tried that, they didn't do it, and that's why you had the bomb explode. Have they promised you that they are going to cooperate now in whatever measures that you need to safeguard some people?

BURNS: I don't agree with the logic of -- the sequence of the logic in your question. You know, security in a foreign country is the responsibility of the host country and of the United States. We have a responsibility for the security of our soldiers and our diplomats there as well as the Saudis.

We try to work with them as best as we can to protect our people. After the November bombing, our military authorities in Saudi Arabia did take measures to protect our soldiers. The Jersey barriers that were there, and I saw them last Wednesday night, our explosives experts tell us, had they not been put there after the November bombing, the entire building could have come down.

Q: But if (inaudible).

BURNS: I can also tell you in the 1980s, when President Reagan ordered a review of the security of all U.S. diplomatic installations overseas, a panel chaired by Admiral Bobby Inman, Admiral Inman concluded that there ought to be a 100-foot setback at particularly vulnerable installations overseas -- a 100-foot setback -- and that has been the guiding principle for American diplomatic installations around the world.

At Khobar there was a 100-foot setback. Frankly, nobody anticipated a 5000-pound bomb filled with TNT. Now that has happened, and we need to plan for it, and Secretary Perry ordered over the weekend the extension of that perimeter 400 feet, which was the correct move.

As for the allegations that somehow we were rebuffed, I think the Defense Department has spoken to that. I think the Base Commander has spoken to that, and I can add very little to that.

Q: So the Saudis say that they will cooperate with any request you have of that nature.

BURNS: King Fahd has told -- as I said yesterday, has told the President and told Secretary Perry that the Saudis will cooperate not only in the investigation, which is ongoing, but also in the task that we have of protecting Americans. We believe that commitment was made in all seriousness, and we believe that commitment will be delivered to us.

Q: Nick, I have two questions. A follow-up here and to your comment. When the --

Q: Filing break.

BURNS: AP has called for a filing break. Duly noted.

Q: May I continue?

BURNS: Yes, you may.

Q: Okay, thank you. When the Marine barracks in Beirut were bombed, just blown completely down and 200-plus Marines died, Nick, a very large bomb in a truck was brought in, reached the perimeter. What I'm getting at is they didn't anticipate that that large a bomb could be brought into Beirut. Why, in this particular case, was it not anticipated that a 5000 -- equivalent 5000-pound TNT explosion couldn't be brought to bear in Saudi.

BURNS: It's very easy to have perfect hindsight and to be a Monday morning quarterback. The fact is this was the largest terrorist bomb in our history. It's the largest bomb, we believe, ever used by a terrorist group anywhere in the world, and perhaps you can sit there and say we should have anticipated this. Well, perhaps we should have.

Our people took the best measures that they could after the November bombing. They wanted to live. They wanted their people to live, and they acted in all seriousness. Now they're going to do whatever they have to do to protect the Americans there, and potential terrorists or existing terrorists should know that we will take every measure we must to protect our people, and, if attacked, we will respond.

Q: And the second part of my question is what I asked you yesterday on background, Nick. You've got -- in the case of Beirut there was a lot of recrimination within the U.S. Government about who was to blame. I believe the Commander-in-Chief took the blame, took the heat and said, "The buck stops here."

In this particular instance, do we have to go through all this recrimination again?

BURNS: I hope not, because I think it's unseemly when we were just burying 19 dead Americans. The fact is that I think the senior officials in this government are taking the responsibility. You saw Secretary Christopher go out there last Wednesday night. You saw Secretary Perry go out a couple of days later, and you saw President Clinton at Eglin and Patrick Air Force Bases on Sunday. They are standing up, and they are taking responsibility, and they're all doing what they must to ensure the security of Americans. I find it unseemly for you just to throw out these charges.

Jim.

Q: (Inaudible)

BURNS: Bill, why don't we cool off for a minute. We'll stop this line of questioning. We'll go on to another line of questioning. If you want to come back to it, we can do that. Jim.