DATE= 10/24/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE= U-S GULF THREAT (L ONLY)

NUMBER=2-268374

BYLINE= ALEX BELIDA

DATELINE= PENTAGON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The Defense Department has confirmed that U-S forces in two Persian Gulf states are on a heightened state of alert because of specific new terrorist threats. More on this from V-O-A Pentagon Correspondent Alex Belida.

TEXT: U-S forces in Bahrain and Qatar are now at what is called "threat condition delta," the highest in a series of alert levels.

The Pentagon spokesman, Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, says the move was ordered because of what he describes as specific threats made against U-S forces. He says the credibility of the information is unknown. But following the deadly terrorist attack on the U-S destroyer Cole in Yemen earlier this month, the spokesman calls the move prudent.

/// QUIGLEY ACT ///

The credibility of the threat information was simply unknown to us, but given the circumstances, the recent attack on the Cole and the general higher level of threat throughout that region, we thought it was simply the prudent thing to do to go to the higher threat condition in those two specific areas.

/// END ACT ///

There are about 11-hundred U-S military personnel in Bahrain, mainly staff and support personnel for the U-S Fifth Fleet. In Qatar, there are fewer than 50 U-S military personnel, mainly caretakers of military equipment stored there.

Admiral Quigley declines to give any details of the threat or how long the higher alert status will remain in forces. But he says the security measures required by "threat condition delta" are stringent.

/// QUIGLEY ACT ///

In each of the threat conditions, alpha, bravo, charlie and delta, each is a more restrictive series of security precautions that you take at the local level. They are increasingly restrictive in the movement of people, in the checking of visitors, in the checking of vehicles, in the offset of allowed parking next to facilities, buildings and the like ...

/// END ACT ///

The spokesman says the last time U-S forces were placed on "threat condition delta" was following the 1998 terrorist bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. (Signed)

NEB/BEL/JP