The State Department is telling American companies in Saudi Arabia to cooperate with Saudi authorities in protecting their workers against terrorist attacks.
Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said Thursday the United States has "full confidence" in the Saudis' willingness to do whatever it takes to protect Americans and other foreigners in the country.In addition to the thousands of military and diplomatic personnel stationed in Saudi Arabia, 40,000 American civilians live and work in the desert kingdom.
The State Department issued an advisory Wednesday warning the Americans to take extra security precautions in light of continuing threats of terrorist attacks on U.S. facilities or places frequented by Americans.
Burns said the State Department had received several threats in recent weeks. "We can't know if some of these (threats) are serious or whether they are not serious, but we can't take the risk that American citizens there may be ignorant of the general situation as we appreciate it," he said.
Since the June 25 truck-bombing that killed 19 U.S. airmen in Dhahran, Defense Secretary William Perry has been reviewing measures for protecting military personnel and Secretary of State Warren Christopher has talked to the embassy in Riyadh about how to protect U.S. diplomats. Last November, five Americans and two Indians were killed in a terrorist attack on a military facility in Riyadh, the capital.
Asked who private citizens should rely on for their security, Burns said: "I think that the private companies have to . . . provide for their own security. They have to work privately with Saudi security organizations."
"In a situation like this, the United States is not in control," Burns added. "It's a foreign country. We must work with the Saudi government, and we're doing that. And we're taking steps to upgrade security at all levels."
He said the department was also working closely with all the major companies there to advise them of how best to protect their employees.
Asked whether American civilians were at more risk than the military, Burns said: "I cannot make that judgment. . . . I would assume as a matter of logic that official Americans probably represent a different kind of target, a higher level of target than private Americans do."
A spokeswoman for Mobil Oil Co., which has 100 to 150 workers in Saudi Arabia, declined comment on specific measures the company was taking to protect its workers.