State Department Noon Briefing, October 31, 2000

Q: Do you have anything on Saudi Arabia and Kuwait? There were reports
that if you call the Embassy in Saudi Arabia, you get warnings to
American citizens, which apparently in the past were used when there
were specific threats. And the Pentagon -- there are reports out of
the Pentagon that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have now been upgraded to
Threat Con Delta.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, first of all, you have to check with the Pentagon
on their particular status.

Q: I'm not asking about status. I'm just asking about how you all view
it.

MR. BOUCHER: I'm trying to check and see what I've got in terms of the
latest announcements for that area. It's the October 18th version Gulf
one, right?

Okay, the US mission put out a -- okay, we have a general warning to
Americans from October 18th that applies to the Persian Gulf, the
Arabian Peninsula and Turkey, indications that individuals may be
planning terrorist actions against the United States citizens and
interests in those areas, counseling people to exercise caution in
considering travel to those areas, and telling people who are there to
take precautions.

Our Embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia put out a Public Announcement on
October 31st which, in part, repeats that message of October 18th but
also advises people that -- that's today, yeah -- but also advises
people that CENTCOM has raised its level of security alert in Saudi
Arabia to Threat Con Delta. This level of security alert places US
forces in Saudi Arabia at the same level as the US military in Bahrain
and Qatar. No specific information that indicates a threat of imminent
terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia. US military has taken this step as a
precautionary measure. So it basically -- the substance of this is the
same as the Announcement that we put out October 18th, and they're
repeating it to the local community because the Defense Department has
taken basically the same substance and put it out and raised their
threat level.

Q: Do you know about these phone recordings? Is that something that
the United States --

MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't. Embassies use a whole variety of ways to get
out information to their Warden network. Warden networks are the way
we spread information throughout the American community. So it will be
faxes -- this particular one went out by fax. It's likely that they
will put this on a phone recording or some other means so that it can
be available to as many Americans as possible.

Q: And if I could just finish up with that, you say there is nothing
specific, but why Saudi Arabia and why Kuwait? I mean, what is -- let
me think how I can word this. Are there credible threats for those
specific countries?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, once again, we have the October 18th warning that
applies to the Persian Gulf, Arabia and Turkey.

Q: (Inaudible) -- new?

MR. BOUCHER: The military upgraded its level of security alert in
Saudi Arabia, so our Embassy is telling other Americans in Saudi
Arabia so that they know what the military is doing. But the substance
of the warning is the same.

Q: Why Saudi Arabia?

MR. BOUCHER: We said that this brings US forces to the same level of
security alert as Bahrain and Qatar. So it is the same level as --
we're just -- I mean, we feel like when you -- first of all, we've
warned Americans generally in the region, okay? We have told people
that there is the possibility of attack in those specific places. But,
second of all, when we then take steps with our own people to change
our security status, whether it's embassy people in terms of
authorized or ordered departure or whether it's the military, we also
feel the obligation to keep Americans informed, and that's what
they're doing.

Q: Richard, Threat Con Delta sounds really cool and all, but is there
any --

MR. BOUCHER: I have no idea what it means.

Q: Exactly. (Laughter.) What's the civilian or the State Department
equivalent of this? Is it authorized departure, ordered departure? Is
there one, or is it just some other -- it's one of these Pentagon
words that is meant to strike fear into the hearts of would-be
terrorists or something? It sounds ridiculous.

MR. BOUCHER: You can ask the Pentagon that one. In terms of the
embassies, we don't have, you know, Threat Con this, that and the
other for our embassies. We have what we consider a fairly high state
of vigilance. We do tell you when we, for example, convene emergency
action committees in our embassies, when we've asked them to review
their security procedures, when we've asked them to close. We report
more in terms of specific steps that we might be taking, rather than
some generalized level of vigilance.

When we do take a specific step like authorized or ordered departure,
that too has a lot to do with the threat, but it also has a lot to do
with the circumstances regarding our ability to protect people, the
kind of housing that they live in, the availability of commercial
flights. So it's not necessarily just a reflection of the threat.

Q: Well, that's why I asked about Saudi Arabia because, as I
understand it, the difference between Threat Con Charlie and Threat
Con Delta is that with Threat Con Charlie there are known threats but
no specific threats, and with Delta there are specific threats. I'm
just wondering if maybe you could find out and update us later about
whether there are specific threats now for Saudi Arabia.

MR. BOUCHER: I will find out if there are any but, really, the
differences between different threat levels for the military, you'll
have to ask them.

Q: In that area, in Indonesia, you have a new statement out -- slipped
under out door in the middle of the night -- be careful in Java
particularly. I've lost track. Wasn't this the point where you were
going to take another look at the Embassy there?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think it was the middle of the night, was it?

Q: Well, it was after everybody went home.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, that's not necessarily the middle of the night.

Q: No. It could have been 11:00.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, anyway, it was morning in Indonesia when we got it
out.

Q: Oh, good.

MR. BOUCHER: So that's where it really matters, right?

Q: Well, thanks for the --

MR. BOUCHER: Those are the people most likely to go to Java.

Q: Can we just go back to the Middle East real quick?

Q: All right. Go ahead if you want, but --

MR. BOUCHER: All right. Should I do Indonesia first?

Q: It's a simple thing. Is the Embassy reopening or not?

MR. BOUCHER: No. There is, again, credible information that -- about a
threat to the Embassy compound. They decided October 24 to (inaudible)
public services. They reviewed that on October 31st. They reviewed the
threat information that was available, and they have decided to remain
closed for public services through November 2nd, which is Thursday.

They have released a Warden Message to the American community October
31st to advise the American community that public services will remain
closed. But, as before, they can make arrangements to see American
citizens who need American citizen services. They have also continued
to urge Americans to exercise caution in regard to personal safety and
to avoid areas of instability and potentially dangerous situations.

We did put out a revised Public Announcement on travel to Indonesia
and East Timor that contained a new paragraph on Java, and
particularly relating to the incidents in hotels in Java, in Solo, on
Sunday, October 29th.

Q: It doesn't say, but I don't know that it's yours -- you know, your
job to tell us, but did the people who run these hotels comply with
the demands and provide names of American travelers to them? Islamic
groups who sent reps to the --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we quite know that yet. We are certainly
very concerned about the status of Americans in Indonesia, including
the latest incidents in Solo and threats to the Embassy in Jakarta. We
are working very closely with Indonesian officials to try to obtain
more information about the events in Solo and the organizations that
might have been involved. We do look to the Indonesian police to give
us that kind of information, to bring the perpetrators to justice, and
above all to safeguard US citizens from those kind of threats.

Protecting the lives, safety and security of American citizens in
Indonesia and around the world is one of our greatest
responsibilities. We take that very seriously, so our Embassy there is
following up. But I don't have that kind of detailed information at
this point.

Q: Do you have more information on the warning released on Sunday from
the US Embassy in Egypt?

MR. BOUCHER: In where?

Q: Egypt?

MR. BOUCHER: In Egypt? These things are --

Q: Actually, it was released on Friday, and only now is word of its
existence starting to kind of -- people, I guess, have looked on the
web site and saw it. But the notice is dated on Friday, but it never
went out. For Egypt and the region, actually.

MR. BOUCHER: For Egypt and the region. All right, I don't think I've
seen that one. Until I do, I can't quite place it.

But, Chuck, are you aware of Egypt's specific one on Friday?

What you may be getting is the fact that when we have these general
announcements out, when we issue from here something worldwide,
embassies then take it and make sure it gets to their local community.
They put it on their local web sites, put it on phone recordings, they
fax it out to their Warden network, they share it with American
groups, who then pass it on in newsletters and things like that,
because the goal is to get this information out to the people who
might be most affected, which in many cases are the Americans who live
in a particular country.

Q: Can I tell you the quote that I have? It says the possibility
exists that extremist groups may be planning terrorist acts in Egypt
and other areas in the region. The newly released warning advises
tourists to exercise caution in considering travel to Egypt.

MR. BOUCHER: That's the same thing as the October 18th one.

Q: This was a new one released on Sunday, according to --

MR. BOUCHER: All right. It sounds -- the language sounds very similar
to what we put out worldwide on October 18th -- or not worldwide, but
Persian Gulf, Arabian Peninsula, and Turkey. Does that cover Egypt? I
don't know. But I'll check on the statement that the Embassy put out.
I assume it's a repeat of what we put out globally.