Pentagon Spokesman's Regular Briefing, Oct. 31
DoD News Briefing
Tuesday, October 31, 2000 1:30 p.m. EST
Presenter: Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon, ASD PA
Q: Ken, the U.S. embassy in Kuwait City says that the threat level
among U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait has been increased due to
what they call threats and tension in the area.
Has that Threatcon Delta you've gone to?
Bacon: Yes. Yes, in both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. forces are
now at the highest alert level, which is the Threatcon Delta.
Q: Is that due to any specific threat to forces in those two
countries, or because of the overall situation?
Bacon: It is due to credible threat information involving unspecified
targets.
Q: So it's now in five countries, or is there still a Threatcon Delta
in Yemen - in Aden?
Bacon: Well, it's in Aden. Aden, and then four countries.
Q: Aden, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia.
Bacon: Right.
Yes?
Q: So if I remember the Qatar and Bahrain situation, there you had
some specific targets mentioned but you didn't have a credibility
measure at the time you put those in, but this time you feel it's
credible.
Bacon: Yes. But against unspecified targets.
Q: Could you give us the number of troops in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait?
You earlier gave us the numbers in Bahrain and --
Bacon: It's approximately 5,000 in each place. It varies, but that's
approximately it.
Q: When did the level raise up, in the last day or two?
Bacon: Yesterday.
Q: How many planes do we have in each location?
Bacon: I don't have the answer to that. [There are about 40 U.S.
military aircraft in Kuwait and about 60 in Saudi Arabia.]
Q: Could we get that later? As long as we have the number of troops,
can we get the number of planes?
Bacon: Probably not, but we'll look at it.
Q: Was this raised yesterday, I mean this alert status?
Bacon: I'm sorry?
Q: Was the alert status raised yesterday?
Bacon: Yes, it was.
Q: And can you tell us anything more about these threats? Are they
linked to any specific organization? Is there any ties with, for
instance, Osama bin Laden?
Bacon: I've said all I can about the threats.
Q: Did the threats link to the decision to keep ships out of the Suez
for now?
Bacon: Well, there is no decision to keep threats - ships out of the
Suez Canal for now.
Q: Can you elaborate on what the situation is regarding the canal?
Bacon: Well, the situation is this. Ships pass through episodically,
and I think there is a false impression that ships go through daily or
weekly. They do not. They tend to go through in groups. And sometimes
weeks can elapse between transits of our shops. We happen to be in a
period now where we do not foresee any ships going through, and have
not. Even before the Cole situation, there were no ships scheduled to
pass through the Suez Canal for some time. I don't want to get into
details, but several weeks. So there can be periods of four to six
weeks when ships don't transit through the canal.
....
Q: Ken, on the Suez Canal, aside from the Cole's route, it's been
reported that the Navy made a decision, or someone in the U.S.
military made the decision not to transit the canal for the time
being. Is that not true?
Bacon: Let me just explain it again. There were no ships scheduled to
go through the canal. The only ship that was scheduled to go through
was the Donald Cook. The Donald Cook is going to accompany the Blue
Marlin bearing the Cole. So, wherever the Blue Marlin goes, the Donald
Cook will go. After that, there is no scheduled transit through the
canal for some time.
Q: (Off mike.)
Bacon: A matter of weeks. As I said, the ships pass through
episodically, sometimes with gaps of four to six weeks between
transits. Typically what you have is a battle group coming through
that might have four, five, six ships. They'll come through not
together but in sequence. And then you have some singletons or
doubletons going through from time to time. So there are long gaps
when no ships transit, no Navy ships transit the canal. Obviously,
commercial trips go through all the time.
Q: (Off mike.)
Bacon: Well, all I'm saying is, the mere fact that there's not a ship
going through today or tomorrow or next week doesn't necessarily mean
anything.
Q: But Ken, weren't there ships - aren't there ships now in the
Persian Gulf that were scheduled to have port calls in the
Mediterranean that will now have port calls in other parts of the
world --
Bacon: I don't know how to be clearer about this. There are no ships
-- there were no ships, there are no ships now scheduled to go through
the canal for several weeks.
Q: (Off mike) - saying, though, that there was - the Pentagon or
CentCom issued instructions prohibiting ships from going through.
That's what the reports were saying. And you're saying there were no
such reports?
Bacon: Right. I'm saying the mere fact that ships aren't going through
the canal doesn't mean that any instructions were issued.
We are evaluating, with the Egyptians obviously, the security
situation in the canal; we do that all the time, so do the Egyptians.
We both have a very fundamental interest in keeping the canal secure.
Q: No instructions have been issued?
Bacon: No instructions have been issued, right.
Q: Can you tell us what are the fees that American warships pay for
going through the Suez Canal?
Bacon: I cannot.
Q: They do pay a fee?
Bacon: Yeah, they do; they pay extensive fees. I just don't know what
they are; we're trying to get them. We've asked and so far we haven't
found the right "green eyeshade" guy in the Navy to tell us that.
[Fees are based on tonnage. The fee for an aircraft carrier is about
$440,000. Fees for other warships typically range from $10,000 to
$100,000 each.]
Q: But it's in the neighborhood maybe, of a million dollars for the --
Bacon: Well, I think it varies on the size of the ship, obviously, but
we'll try to get those figures. I mean, I can't imagine that they're
impossible to get.
Yes.
Q: Just to be clear: Since the Cole - well, since October 12th, there
have been no ships that were scheduled to go through the Suez Canal
whose itinerary has been in any way changed so as not to go through
the Suez Canal?
Bacon: No, that's not what I said. One ship was scheduled to go
through the Canal; the Cook. And the Cook's route will be determined
when the Blue Marlins route is determined.
Q: But other than the Cook, there were no other --
Bacon: That is my understanding; that there was a gap of a number of
weeks.
Yes.
Q: Ken, has the Pentagon given commercial shippers any advice - U.S.
commercial shippers any advice about whether they should use the
canal?
Bacon: Not that I'm aware of, no.