KENYA AND TANZANIA: BOMBING OF US EMBASSIES | |
1-2 | Reports of Arrests and/or Detention of Suspects/ |
2 | Security Personnel at US Embassies/Host Country Security |
2-3,13 | Security Standards/Procedures at US Embassies |
3,9 | Reports of Threats to Other US Embassies/Other Terrorist Attempts |
3-4,12-13 | Embassy Standards/Inman Report |
4,11-12 | Additional Budget Request/Embassy Security |
5 | Return of Victims to US/ |
5 | Cooperation with Host Governments in Investigation of Bombings |
7-9 | Secretary's Announcement of $2 Million Reward Program |
9 | Linkage of Bombings |
9 | American Teams on the Ground |
10 | Other Countries' Teams Participating |
11 | US Assistance to Tanzanian and Kenyan Victims |
14 | Secretary's Plans to Travel to Ramstein, Germany to Accompany Bodies Home |
14 | Arrival Ceremony in Washington |
14-15 | Secretary's Contact with Tanzanian and Kenyan Officials/Other Governments |
15 | Secretary's Call to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu re Israeli Rescue Effort |
MR. FOLEY: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department. This is a regular "noon briefing," which we're holding now at 3:15 p.m. At the start of the briefing, I'd like to do, in a way, what we did on Friday, which is to offer you some of our senior officials who are working most closely on the many different aspects of the aftermath of the bombings in East Africa.
With us today is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Ambassador Johnny Carson. He, I need to warn you, his voice is on the wane, given the amount of work and the time and the lack of sleep involved; but he'll do his game best to make himself clear. Pat Kennedy, Assistant Secretary for Administration, who you saw on Friday is here. We also have Mr. Don Yamamoto, also from the African Bureau, who's working on the task force and we can turn to on specific questions. Hopefully, we can liberate my colleagues after not-too-long a period of time because they have to get back to the work of managing this crisis.
So without further ado, I'm just going to take questions. I think we have no statements today. So, Barry.
QUESTION: I thought we were going to get some details, but how important are these detentions? How significant is it that -- the word "round-up" has been used - some dozen people have been rounded up in Nairobi. Who are these folks? Have they produced anything interesting? Some of us who have covered courts speak of them as being detained not arrested, meaning they haven't technically been charged. Could you elaborate on some of those things, please?
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: We don't want to get into the question of actions that are taking place as a result of criminal investigations. I'm not quite sure how many officials or individuals have been taken into custody in either Nairobi or Dar Es Salaam. But we would rather not get into that issue at this point.
QUESTION: People have been taken into custody in Dar Es Salaam, you're saying?
MR. FOLEY: I think Assistant Secretary Rice indicated earlier today that - are you aware of any - I'm not -
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: I'm not - in fact, there was mention of individuals being arrested in Dar Es Salaam; Nairobi, I'm not positive of. But we still do not want to get into that issue.
MR. FOLEY: We're aware of the reports of arrests, but we have no information about them at this stage. Our embassy is working --
QUESTION: Now we're getting deeper, because now you're talking about reports and you're talking about arrests. So that opens two other questions. Please don't feed back to us news reports; we have our own news reports. We're asking what the State Department knows, not what it can read. Do you mean they've been arrested or simply questioned? That was the point of my question.
MR. FOLEY: What I said is that our embassy is attempting to confirm those reports.
QUESTION: Of arrests?
MR. FOLEY: Well, you answered the semantic --
QUESTION: I asked if they were detained or arrested. Can't I get an answer?
MR. FOLEY: Barry, you asked the semantic question initially, whether these were arrests or detainments. We're trying to confirm the fact, including that semantic distinction through our embassy.
QUESTION: Fine, gotcha.
QUESTION: Before the bombing in Kenya, when one approaches the American Embassy there, the first ring of security - were those Kenyan guards or Marine guards - the first people you would see?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We use local guards on the perimeter. The Marine guards are always, in 99.9 percent of the cases, inside the front door of the building. Our perimeter guards around the world are host nation police, local employees, local contractors. The Marines are inside the perimeter, inside the building.
QUESTION: Speaking of Marines, in the Kenya embassy before the bombing - even moments before the bombing - the security cameras that are there, are they monitored; and if so, are they monitored by contractors or by Marine guards?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY:The Marines have cameras and they monitor them.
QUESTION: And did you get videotape from either of these two attacks?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY:We're not going to talk about any - we're not going to get to that level of detail yet.
QUESTION: Okay, because there was a case here where the cameras were turned off so you - were the cameras turned on then?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY:No - we have Marines monitor cameras.
MR. FOLEY:We can't talk about the investigation at this point.
QUESTION: A threat or further cause for stepped-up security in Zimbabwe?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We're getting a large number of threats coming in. We treat all threats seriously -- some of them could conceivably be real, some of them simply may be copycats. But we get threats and we look at each one of them and we evaluate them and we take the appropriate response in accordance with our evaluation.
QUESTION: Can you address Zimbabwe specifically, though?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We don't talk - I will not talk, nor will DS, talk about any specific threat. We treat the case and we deal with it accordingly.
QUESTION: Would you say the number of threats has increased since the bombs have happened? Has the number of threats increased dramatically since the bombs went off on Friday?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: I wouldn't say the number has increased dramatically, but after any bombing you do get more telephone calls.
QUESTION: Are you talking about a dozen - I mean, just to give us an idea about - you told us 30,000 throughout a year, but are we talking about a dozen since Friday or --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: I would say that we've probably gotten over a dozen, but probably less than two dozen calls in the last - over the weekend.
QUESTION: A question for Mr. Kennedy - you said on Friday that the Tanzanian and Kenyan embassies did not meet the standards of the Inman law. Can you tell us how much of that stems from the Department's own budgeting and how much stems from congressional budget cuts? How much is within your discretion?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We have constructed - since the Inman Report, we have constructed 27 brand new buildings in response to needs, and all the new buildings are built to those standards. When we do rehabilitations -- major reconstructions of buildings - we also apply those standards. So what work we do, we do against those standards.
At the same time, you're correct that the Inman Report recommended a certain degree of open space between the outer wall of an embassy and the street. We have not rebuilt every US Embassy in the world, picked it up and moved it to another location; that is simply not feasible. What we do is address each case and decide what we can do at any particular location to maximize the security at that location. Then when we build a new building, we take the same standards and then apply them to new building construction.
QUESTION: In the case of these two buildings, how much of an issue was there about the gap in security between what Inman would have liked to see or you would have liked to see and what Congress funded or what the State Department chose to spend?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: If you measured these buildings against our new building construction, you would easily see - those of you who have visited any of the new buildings we have built within the last decade, as I'm sure many of you have - you will recognize that there is a large amount of open space, as I said, between the street and the outer wall of the embassy. But since we weren't building a new embassy here, we took other steps and we improved the security around those buildings consonant with what could be done to an existing building.
QUESTION: The Inman Report recommended $3.5 billion in improvements. How much of that money has been appropriated and spent?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: I think on what can be described - there was about a - depending on how you counted it, you can say we got about $800 million appropriated. Then there's an additional couple hundred million that came and was also appropriated by the Congress to do upgrades to new properties. So you have to figure in, as I was saying before, new construction and then retrofits or upgrades to existing properties.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: More or less about $1 billion.
QUESTION: Do you think that these deficiencies that you're talking - the short fall from the Inman standards - do you think that is why these two embassies were chosen as targets?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: No. I think terrorists attack United States Government buildings.
QUESTION: But why - do you have any theory to why these two specific embassies?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: No. At this moment, I don't have any idea why they picked these two.
QUESTION: Looking forward now, there have been reports Sandy Berger and the Ambassador in Kenya have talked about new building in Nairobi. Mr. Berger talked yesterday on one of the TV shows about the Administration requesting additional support for embassy security. Can you amplify on that a little bit? At what stage are your discussions or talks within the Administration on seeking more money for this sort of thing?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: As the Secretary said today, we will rebuild our facilities in Nairobi and in Dar Es Salaam; we will have new embassies there. Obviously, what we have been doing over the course of this past weekend is concentrating on one thing and one thing only - or one package of things, which is to provide assistance to our embassy employees, Americans and Kenyans, Americans and Tanzanians, and assist the governments of Kenya and Tanzania. We will address the question of budget work - we've started that. But the primary function is we are addressing the rescue relief and medical efforts, and then we will take up the budgetary issues.
MR. FOLEY:If I could add, without going into facts or figures, we will be going to Congress with additional requests to meet security needs, but we're just in the initial stages of assessing what we're going to be requesting.
QUESTION: Has there been consideration given to the State Department - the exterior of this building and how it's situated? Have you gone into considering beefing up security here? I mean, that seems to be a question out there.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: There is an entirely separate set of standards that are interagency standards for facilities in the United States. All I want to say on that is that our security people who specialize in domestic activities are in regular and full contact with entities such as the General Service Administration, the local police departments in wherever the State Department is located, the FBI, et cetera. We deal with domestic facilities according to a set of domestic standards, and we deal with overseas facilities according to a set of agreed overseas standards.
QUESTION: Mr. Kennedy, if I may, since these bombings, have any host countries -- other than these two - expressed any particular concern about the presence of American missions in their country?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: If by concern you mean has any host government come to us and said we'd like you to leave because your presence is a threat to our citizenry, no - none have.
QUESTION: Jim or anyone - can you bring us up to date on the Secretary's schedule at this hour?
MR. FOLEY:I'll address that when we finish briefing on the Department's efforts related to the situation in Africa.
QUESTION: Okay. Also, can you bring us up to date on the number of bodies that will be coming back to the United States? Apparently one family has requested its family member --
MR. FOLEY:I think that's not finally determined. It is true that we understand that one family may wish to bury the body of their loved one in Kenya. I'm not in a position, though, to say whether that would preclude a total of 12 bodies coming back through Germany later this week. That's just something that hasn't been finally determined yet.
QUESTION: Mr. Carson, without getting bogged down in the semantics of arrests or detentions, can you say - perhaps it's obvious - but can you say why the first group that the police in Dar Es Salaam focused on were Iraqis and Sudanese?
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON:I don't want to get bogged down in any questions like this because we are not certain who the authorities have arrested or detained in Tanzania and we would not like to get into specifics concerning the investigation.
QUESTION: This is something they initiated on their own and then informed you about it?
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON:Yes. Bombings were committed in their country, and law enforcement agencies in their countries were undertaking to exercise their normal duties.
QUESTION: Just to follow on that the US has had problems in getting to deal with the suspects in the Khobar Towers bombing. Has the US been guaranteed access to any suspects that may be or have been arrested in these two cases?
MR. FOLEY:I'm certain we're going to have complete cooperation. We pledged our cooperation and they pledged theirs with us, but we have nothing more specific to say about those reported detainments or arrests.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - cooperation. Can you say who will be the lead here - the local authorities or some mixing of US and local investigators; or since Americans got killed and people working for Americans got killed, will the US take the lead or will you do what you did in Saudi Arabia and wait for them to help you?
MR. FOLEY:It's going to be a cooperative effort, I'm certain.
QUESTION: Who will take the lead? Will you not answer the question? Say I'm not going to answer the question.
MR. FOLEY:It's going to be a cooperative effort.
QUESTION: So you're not going to answer the question, right?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: The answer is the crime was committed in their country; it is also a crime under US law to attack American citizens abroad. Therefore there was a crime committed under the laws of Kenya and a crime committed under the laws of Tanzania and a crime in both cases committed under the laws of the United States. Under the laws of the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is charged with investigating these crimes under the laws of the two respective states their own forces. Therefore it is, as Jim said, a cooperative effort because two sets of laws were violated involving the same tragic victims.
QUESTION: Has the Saudi experience done anything to influence how you're approaching these bombings - the lack of resolving those crimes - that crime two years after the fact? Has it had any influence on how you're proceeding in this case or is it no two situations are alike or what?
MR. FOLEY:Barry, we're not in a position to talk about an ongoing investigation; especially one that's just been completed. I think Mr. Kennedy's answer --
QUESTION: I'm asking about the strategy - the approach the US is taking - whether you're influenced - when the Secretary of State and the President speak with great affirmation about we're going to get the people who did this and make sure they're prosecuted, it's great rhetoric. We don't know if it's based on resolve and conviction and other nice human tendencies, or if it's based at all on facts like evidence, clues, a new approach to investigations. We will all report the rhetoric; it's beautiful rhetoric. But we don't know if it's just conviction or if it's based on some experience or some approach or some clues?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY:At this point in the investigation - which clearly started 72 hours ago - and the FBI and Diplomatic Security Service teams arrived in country hours later, your question is, in effect, hypothetical into the future. We have been pledged the full cooperation of those governments. We have dispatched significant and important teams of US Government personnel, FBI and Diplomatic Security Service to work on the investigation. The investigation has just started; it is ongoing; and there's nothing more we can say.
QUESTION: I have a couple of questions, Jim. One, when the Secretary talked of a reward, is she talking of $2 million for each incident for a total of $4 million, or $2 million total for the bombings?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: The statute authorizes the Secretary of State to offer a reward up to $2 million for a terrorism event. Hypothetically, it therefore could be $2 million if it turns out to be one act; and it could, theoretically, be $4 million if it turns out to be two separate acts. So we're getting into a hypothetical. The law authorizes her to offer up to $2 million, and she has offered the maximum reward. As the investigation rolls out, the answer will become evident.
MR. FOLEY: Did you have a follow-up?
QUESTION: I had a question about extradition. This is hypothetical.
QUESTION: Follow-up on that - Pat, is that for arrest or conviction? Is it a little bit for arrest, a little bit for conviction?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Once the situation clarifies itself, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, in consultation, decide when to pay the reward.
QUESTION: It doesn't necessarily have to be a conviction?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: They decide when to pay the reward.
QUESTION: Just to clarify something, clearly we're talking about two acts here, are we not?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: It says, under this program the Secretary - thank you; Jim has the text. The Secretary of State may offer rewards of up to $2 million for information that prevents or resolves acts of international terrorism against US citizens or property worldwide, or leads to the arrest or conviction of terrorists involved in such acts.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - rewards have been offered, however old that program is, has any reward ever been offered this quickly after an incident?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: I'd have to check the record; we'll take it.
QUESTION: Thank you.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - does have a tip, what are they supposed to do?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: There is a poster and information that's going out. You contact the nearest US Embassy or consulate, and there is an address you can write to: P.O. Box 96781 --
MR. FOLEY: Heroes.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: The address is HEROES, P.O. Box 96781, Washington, D.C., 20090-6781. We certainly publicize this overseas. Domestically they can contact the FBI or the Post Office address; there's also an 800-telephone number.
QUESTION: Do you know where the posters will be posted?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Worldwide.
QUESTION: No, I mean, in what - post offices, banks?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We pass them out overseas through the United States Information Agency.
QUESTION: Widespread.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Widespread.
QUESTION: Can you tell us how many times rewards have been paid out since this program was started?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We'll take the question. We have paid out $5 million in rewards since 1991.
QUESTION: Do you have the 800-number?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Yes, the 800-number is 1-800-HEROES1.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - what numbers would those be?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: That's the number in the United States; and then overseas, it tells you to contact the nearest American Embassy or consulate. There's even a website - www --
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - sophisticated -
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: No, for a sophisticated tip-off, people.
MR. FOLEY: The website is www.heroes.net.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. FOLEY: Dot net.
QUESTION: Besides the timing and besides the targets, do you have any other reason to believe that these two explosions were linked?
MR. FOLEY: We've not said anything, and you've seen any number of spokesman and officials speaking publicly about this. But to note the simultaneity and the obvious sophistication beyond the attacks, but we've not commented publicly. As the Secretary indicated yesterday, we can't do that at this point of an ongoing investigation.
QUESTION: Were there any other terrorist attempts last week in Africa, beside these two, on American targets?
MR. FOLEY: We're not aware of any, no.
QUESTION: A little bit on logistics, can you tell us whether everybody - all the American teams or members of the American teams who are going to be in place on the ground - have now arrived on the ground, and whether there have been requests for any other different kinds of specialists to come - any back-up of any kind, further medical aid? Will there be further flights out there this week?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: We've dispatched more than 17 transport flights to Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam that have transported medical personnel, paramedics, technicians, building collapse rescue experts, security personnel, investigative personnel, the medical supplies, the medical equipment, rescue, dog teams, et cetera. The most recent was a dispatch of additional medical personnel from Germany after consultations with the Kenyan Government on what additional help they needed. As we move through the facility, the State Department will be dispatching additional security personnel and probably additional naval - a Navy Seabee unit to assist in the building. And as our embassies and as the investigative personnel out there say they need something else or as the Kenyan or Tanzanian Governments identify an additional requirement to us, we will work with them to see that those requirements are met to the maximum extent possible.
QUESTION: Do you know how many medical personnel have been deployed?
MR. FOLEY:I think we have that figure; we'll get it to you in a few minutes.
QUESTION: Have any other nations besides Israel been invited to participate in the investigation at all - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, others that have some real-time experience?
MR. FOLEY:I can't confirm that; we're not discussing publicly with whom we're discussing the security investigation. Obviously, this is a very sensitive matter; and as the Secretary indicated yesterday, it would just be irresponsible to talk about publicly about what we're doing in terms of the investigation.
QUESTION: Are you cooperating with any of the other regional security groups in the Middle East who have real-time experience in this in Cairo or Riyhad or any place else?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: The State Department's Diplomatic Security Service works with every US Government intelligence agency and with every national security service in the world; that is part of our job. We work with the host nation's security service. So we do that on a daily basis and after an incident like this, that does not stop us from doing it; we continue the process that we were engaged in of working with host nation security and intelligence services.
QUESTION: Where is your regional security officer in East Africa located?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: There is a unit in Nairobi and there is a unit in Dar Es Salaam and there are units all over East Africa.
QUESTION: Can you take a couple of minutes and talk about the Tanzanians, the Kenyans. We're all focused on American victims. These are loyal people who work for us and some of them have lost their lives; some have been badly injured. What debt does the US have to these people? In a real sense, what does the US do to cushion the awful impact of what's happened?
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: We have responded to the needs of our Kenyan employees just as we have responded to the needs to our American employees. And as our medical teams and emergency rescue teams have gone in, they have gone in to rescue both host country nationals as well as Americans.
In the situation in Nairobi, we have provided the bulk of the medical equipment - fluids, syringes, bandages and other things - to the Kenyans and the Kenyan officials. As we have moved to take our people out for emergency medical treatment, we have indeed moved the Kenyans out as well. We took ten Americans on a Medivac flight out to Lanstuhl, Germany. We have Medivac'd five Kenyan employees there as well --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: On that same aircraft --
DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY CARSON: On that same flight. And we are in the process today of evacuating seven more Kenyan nationals to Germany for medical attention.
Equally, we would like to praise the Kenyans for what they have done to and for Americans, because Kenyan facilities were used to treat many Americans who were slightly injured or bruised and those who needed emergency attention. But we have not flagged in trying to provide support. Indeed, we've put something in the neighborhood of $5 million in emergency medical assistance and rescue equipment into the area. Most of that has been done to save not only American lives, but also Kenyan and Tanzanian lives. We respect and value the work of our Kenyan and Tanzanian colleagues, and we have not forgotten them as we have sought to save our own.
QUESTION: A follow-up question about the budget concerns - I know you haven't decided yet what you're going to be asking for from Congress, but has there been a re-assessment since 1985 of the money needed to bring all of the buildings up to standards? It was $3.5 billion before; $1 billion's been spent; 10 years have elapsed. Have there been any kind of rough estimate made in the last 13 years? Also, can you say what kinds of companies normally get these contracts -- if they have to be from the United States or not?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Let me take the latter part before I forget it. The law requires that any construction contract overseas for a State Department facility valued at more than $7 million go to an American company.
Taking the former question, we constantly evaluate our physical plant needs overseas. We look at it every year in the budget process. We analyze what facilities need to be upgraded; what facilities need to be expanded; what facilities need to be maintained; and what facilities have just reached the point where, for whatever reason - size, age or security - we need to build a new facility. So this is an ongoing and continuous budgetary process.
MR. FOLEY: Our officials have about five more minutes, would you say? So if we can finish up on Kenya and Tanzania in the next five minutes --
QUESTION: Can I follow that one?
QUESTION: There is no number - no estimate since 1985?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Every year the State Department puts together a budget that has essentially - there's a foreign buildings part; it's called security and maintenance of buildings abroad. Then we have an operations portion of our budget, of which the Diplomatic Security Service - there's a part of the appropriation called diplomatic and consular programs for overseas. We factor our requirements, both buildings and operations every year, into the budgetary process.
QUESTION: What's appropriated this year, if you can't say how much is all together?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: This year, the foreign buildings appropriation is around $400 million; but that is renting properties, maintaining properties, paying the salaries of the personnel who rent and maintain them.
QUESTION: If I could just follow that - did either of these two buildings appear on the Inman Report as being recommended for security improvements or in these annual reviews that you talked about? In other words, was Dar Es Salaam up to be rehabilitated in two years, or Nairobi, et cetera?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Nairobi was a relatively recent building. It was built, I believe, in the early 1980s; and therefore, it was a new facility in comparison to many of our others and therefore was not any candidate for immediate replacement. It was a candidate for periodic maintenance. Our embassy in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, is also of relatively recent vintage. There was an annex added on to it in the early '80s as well. So size-wise and age-wise, they were both in very good shape.
That is not to say, however, that we have - we have made security improvements to the buildings over the course of time. Our security program doesn't only consist of saying we're going to build a new building somewhere else. It consists of taking existing buildings and making the maximum number of security improvements that we can make, given size, shape, structure and other conditions.
MR. FOLEY: We have time for two more questions.
QUESTION: Did you mention how many of the 280 missions/embassies are not up to Inman standards?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: First, no; and then --
QUESTION: I mean, is there a list that you do? Do you go over this every couple of years? Are there 150, are there --
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: Every year we review our list of properties. We look at our budgetary resources; we look at threat levels; and we direct our funding to those properties which are most in need as a combination of maintenance and security. It is a prioritization process that is constant and ongoing.
MR. FOLEY: One last question.
QUESTION: Mr. Kennedy, in recent years have there been specific recommendations for improving security in either the Kenyan embassy or the Tanzanian embassy that for one reason or another were not met?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: There have been recommendations to improve security at both buildings, and we have made improvements to both buildings.
QUESTION: That wasn't the question - have there been recommendations that were not met?
ASSISTANT SECRETARY KENNEDY: I would have to go back and look, but I do not think that there were any specific recommendations that I am aware of - and I have to go check - that say that we should have done this particular thing to this building and we didn't do it.
MR. FOLEY: Okay, thank you both very much.
Barry, you're going to get the first crack again, given you're the dean of our corps.
QUESTION: I pass.
MR. FOLEY: Okay.
QUESTION: If Barry passes, I have one. Are you going to be putting out biographical information on the victims that were employees of the State Department; and if not, why not?
MR. FOLEY: I'm sorry, do you mean the announced deceased?
QUESTION: Yes, yes, right.
MR. FOLEY: Well, I think that whatever we do will be in conformity with past patterns. I believe that, for example, the list that was released - was it on Saturday - did not contain, for example, hometowns and dates of birth, because we were interested in getting that information quickly out. I think we can look at that for you, Norm.
QUESTION: Yes, well, I mean, we'd like to have it today. Presumably these people are on a payroll somewhere - you must know where you're sending the checks.
MR. FOLEY: We'll look into that for you.
QUESTION: Give us a little more information about the Secretary's schedule over the next few days.
MR. FOLEY: Yes, well, the Secretary is here. I don't have her schedule before me tomorrow, but she's in the office tomorrow. Wednesday morning at approximately 6:00 a.m., she will be departing from Andrews Air Force Base to Ramstein, Germany, for the sole purpose of accompanying the bodies of our deceased Americans from Germany back to the United States.
QUESTION: Do you know roughly when she gets there?
MR. FOLEY: Well, this is a guess-timate at this point, but it is in the neighborhood of 7:30 p.m. German time.
QUESTION: No (inaudible).
MR. FOLEY: Not that I'm aware of, no, I don't think so. Then she will - and this is still in the planning stage, if you will - but it's expected that from the airport, she'll probably go to the hospital in Lanstuhl and pay her respects, if this is possible, given the medical condition of those injured to those who are there -- be they American or Kenyan -- who are there in the hospital. Then she'll be leaving the next morning directly from Ramstein with the bodies of our deceased colleagues returning directly from Ramstein on a military aircraft to Washington.
QUESTION: Is it Washington - do you think it's Washington for sure?
MR. FOLEY:Yes.
QUESTION: Don't bodies usually go to Delaware or something?
MR. FOLEY:I think that's another aspect that will be addressed after their arrival.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
MR. FOLEY:I can't confirm the details of the arrival and the ceremony here because, as you know, this will be a White House matter.
QUESTION: Has she not spoken with any of her counterparts abroad in relation to the bombing?
MR. FOLEY:She's spoken with some, yes. She called Foreign Minister Godana of Kenya on Friday - the day of the explosion. She tried to reach Foreign Minister Kikwete of Tanzania on that day, but they were unable to speak until Saturday. She spoke to Foreign Minister Dini while she was in Rome on Friday morning. She's spoken to Secretary General Kofi Annan on Saturday, I believe; she spoke to Foreign Minister Vedrine also on Saturday. I might add she called - I believe she initiated the call - Prime Minister Netanyahu yesterday or over the weekend. It was August 9 - was that yesterday - yes - to thank the government and the people of Israel for their extraordinary assistance in the search and rescue effort in Nairobi. And the President also sent a message through our Ambassador in Tel Aviv.
The Secretary noted that the Israeli team had played an phenomenal role in leading the search and rescue effort. The experience and expertise of the Israeli teams literally made the difference between life and death for at least one victim of the blast. The Secretary expressed to the Prime Minister the gratitude of the President, herself and the American people for Israel's generous assistance at this time of need.
I think you can expect that she'll continue to be in contact with colleagues around the world. That's the list as I have it now, but maybe tomorrow I'll be able to update the list.
QUESTION: The French are involved too. (Inaudible) - I would assume she would have --
MR. FOLEY:Yes, the French have been involved and they offered assistance and she spoke to Foreign Minister Vedrine and I believe that they did talk about this.
QUESTION: Speaking about the rescue effort, do you have any numbers about how much in medical supplies? And you said you were going to get back to the personnel that's been sent over there for the rescue mission?
MR. FOLEY:Yes, you'll have to bear with me because we've completed the expert level briefing. I have some of that information available, but it's going to take me -- I'd like to come back to that, if I could.
QUESTION: I realize this is hypothetical, but if there were a need to extradite people from either country to this country, do we have extradition treaties with either country?
MR. FOLEY:I'll have to take that question.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - since the vast majority of people killed or injured were locals and not Americans?
MR. FOLEY:It's hypothetical at this point, and I would like to take the question about extradition. I believe this is a matter that's arrived at as a result of consent and agreement on the part of two governments; because as was indicated, for example, by Secretary Albright yesterday, there have been instances - nine in the last five years alone - where we've been able to extradite or render back to the United States to justice a number of terrorists. Some of those were accused of having committed terrorist acts in the United States, but some committed terrorist acts overseas. I think, Betsy, that the real answer is that it's probably on a case-by-case basis.
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QUESTION: Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 4:05 P.M.)
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