U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

................

QUESTION: New subject -- is that okay? bin Laden - can you say if the US has seen stepped up activity by Bin Laden and his network that may indicate increased terrorist attacks?

MR. FOLEY: Well, you may have noticed a week ago, on June 10, the State Department issued the most recent in a series of public announcements reminding American citizens worldwide to remain vigilant with regard to their personal security. This latest public announcement noted the continuing threats by Usama bin Laden to kill Americans and added that he does not distinguish between military and civilian targets. The Department has also advised all US diplomatic missions that these threats are continuing.

We've said all along that we believe bin Laden will strike again. We do not have specific information about timing or location, but the general pattern of activity of bin Laden's organization that we've noted for many, many months has continued. We take all threats from bin Laden seriously. You probably saw he gave a media interview in recent days and certainly that was no surprise to us. We regard him as a serious threat and we have taken a number of counter-measures and precautions in response.

The United States has been engaged in an active counter-terrorism effort with our friends and allies to thwart additional terrorist attacks. Working with diplomats, intelligence and law enforcement officials, we've stepped up efforts to share information about terrorist activity, to implement effective counter-measures and to arrest and prosecute suspected terrorists.

As you may know, 15 suspected bin Laden operatives have been indicted for the Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam bombings. Two of them were indicted yesterday in New York. Since the bombings in August, the Department has also increased security at US diplomatic posts and missions worldwide. A number of our posts have temporarily suspended or limited services to the public at various times, as you know, because you reported on this, and others may do so in the future.

Ten months after the Africa bombings, we continue to operate worldwide at a heightened state of readiness.

QUESTION: Has there been a change in the hours or the services that are available at US missions in Africa - any hours trimmed?

MR. FOLEY: Well, I'm not in a position to provide that kind of information today. As you know, from time to time we have alerted you - because we have an obligation to alert the public, including American citizens traveling - of adjustment in hours, of adjustment in services. I can check if there's any information in that regard that is pertinent and that I can make available to you.

But in terms of a specific threat assessments and security postures, for obvious reasons I don't want to get into that publicly. But I'll check in terms of our embassy profile or functioning.

QUESTION: I was just going to follow up, too. Can you say, just for the record, in terms of whether the pattern that the US has seen, whether there has been sort of an up-turn in the past few weeks; that you've seen up-turns in increased activity before and that there's another sort of increase in activity that leads --

MR. FOLEY: I wouldn't want to characterize it in that way. As I stated, we do not have specific information about timing or location. On the other hand, though, bin Laden is regarded as an utmost threat. He is responsible for the bombings of our two embassies last August. He stated before then that he had terrorist intentions toward American citizens - did not distinguish between civilians and officials or military. He has restated his intentions. So we've made clear all along, including last August after the bombings, that another attack could take place at any time.

Obviously, we are extraordinarily vigilant in this regard, and we've continued to see a pattern of activity on the part of his organization. For obvious reasons, though, Kelly, I cannot be specific about our posture or what we're seeing, apart from what I've already said.

................

(The briefing concluded at 2:15 P.M.)

[end of document]