Homeland Security

Let me start off, though, with an unfortunate statement regarding the attack on the Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen. 

The United States condemns the despicable attack on health workers at the Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen, early this morning.  That attack left three American citizens dead and a fourth injured.

There can be no justification for an attack such as this on an institution providing critical humanitarian services to the Yemeni people.  We extend our deepest condolences to the victims, to their families and their loved ones. 

Personnel from the United States Embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, are in Jibla to assist in this very difficult time and the United States welcomes the Yemini Government's arrest of a suspect earlier today.  We'll be working closely with Yemeni authorities to fully investigate this murderous attack.

I don't know if there are any questions on that situation.

QUESTION:  Were they aid workers?  There's been a couple of conflicting reports. 

MR. REEKER:  I'm sorry, Barry?

QUESTION:  What was their job?  What were they doing?

MR. REEKER:  These were workers at the Baptist hospital, an institution that's been in Jibla, Yemen, for over 30-some years. 

QUESTION:  But they worked for the US Government.  They weren't --

MR. REEKER:  No, that is not at all correct.  They do not work for the US Government.  They work for the Baptist hospital in Yemen.  There were three American citizens who were killed and a fourth, as I said, was injured.

QUESTION:  Are you planning to update in any way your travel advisory for Yemen as a result of this incident?

MR. REEKER:  At this stage, I'm not sure whether they would issue a new travel warning.  I think our most recent update for Yemen, November 30th, remains in effect.  It warns Americans to defer nonessential travel to that country.  All American citizens in Yemen, we think, should exercise maximum caution, take prudent security measures, try to avoid crowds and vary times and routes of travel.  We'll see if we adjust the travel warning to note this terrible incident of murder and make any changes there.  But it certainly remains a dangerous place in our view and our current travel warning reflects that.

QUESTION:  From your initial contact with the Yemeni authorities, do you have any reason to believe that this attack was an individual -- was purely an individual act, or do you have any suggestion that it was something organized by a group?

MR. REEKER:  Well, Yemeni authorities have arrested a suspect, as I noted in the statement, and we're working closely with them to investigate the attack.  I just don't have any more details at this point.  I think we have to let that investigation go forward.  But they have investigated a suspect.  And with our consular officials that traveled from the Embassy in Sanaa down to Jibla, we also had security officials that would go and try to look into the security situation for the other American citizens who are there.

QUESTION:  So there's consular and security people in Jibla right now?

MR. REEKER:  Yes.

QUESTION:  Okay.  Along the lines of Jonathan's question, that last warning that you mentioned, the one from November 30th, talked about the threat of a possible Kenya-like, the attack in Kenya targeting Israelis.  Is there any indication that this is the kind of thing that was being planned when you released that -- the latest update on the 30th of November?

MR. REEKER:  At this point, no, I can't make any connections with what happened in this particular situation.  As I said, a suspect has been arrested by Yemeni authorities --

QUESTION:  Right.

MR. REEKER:  It's an investigation.  So I can't draw any conclusions.  Yemen is a dangerous place for Americans.  We've made that quite clear.  These people who were murdered were living knowing that that risk existed, but they were dedicated to helping the Yemeni people in terms of providing the critical health and hospital care that they've made available for many decades now.

QUESTION:  Do you know if the Secretary has talked to anyone from Yemen, or are there any plans to do so?  I mean --

MR. REEKER:  I don't have any calls.  We've been in touch closely with our Ambassador.  I spoke to Ambassador Hull this morning.  Obviously, our officials have been in touch with Yemeni officials, as well, and we'll look forward to working on it. 

Any other questions on Yemen?

Let's start with --

QUESTION:  So can you say it was a terrorist attack at this point?

MR. REEKER:  Again, it's under investigation.  I couldn't give you any more details at this point in what happened.  We know these people were killed.  It's a horrible crime, but we have to let the investigation go forward and make that determination.

Elise.

QUESTION:  Are you satisfied --

MR. REEKER:  Could I -- could we just go one at a time?  I'm sorry.  Elise and then --

QUESTION:  Are you satisfied that the Yemeni Government is doing everything it can to crack down on fundamentalist militants?

MR. REEKER:  We certainly continue to work with Yemen and thank them for the efforts they have made in fighting terrorism.  I think their government has acknowledged the difficulties and the need to do this.  That's why we're helping them wherever we can in developing their counterterrorism capabilities and working with them, but also in investigating crimes like this one where we don't know the full circumstances of the crime, but certainly appreciate their full investigation.  And the fact that they have already arrested a suspect in the case is a good start.

Elise.

QUESTION:  What is the status of US personnel in Yemen?  I know a while back you had a ordered departure or voluntary.  Has that been removed?  Are you at full capacity?

MR. REEKER:  The Embassy in Sanaa, our Embassy there, is on a sort of status where young dependents, underaged family members, are not allowed to join parents at the Embassy.  So it's -- I hazard to call it an adults-only Embassy, but that is the status now.  So the Embassy is functioning in its full capacity in Sanaa carrying out all of the important engagement with the Yemeni Government and Yemeni publics that we need to carry out as part of our foreign policy.  But we do not have underage dependents there.

QUESTION:  Could you elaborate a little bit on why it's dangerous for Americans to be in Yemen?

MR. REEKER:  I just would send you to the travel advisory, Barry.  It outlines that in some language -- some general, some specific -- and you can pull that up any time.  It was most recently reissued on November 30th.

QUESTION:  Well on the possibility that by the time I read it there won't be another briefing for a couple of days, let me push it a little further and ask if the US thinks that Yemen is unable -- you made some reference to difficulties -- but is Yemen unable to assert security and is Yemen a playground for al-Qaida and other terrorists or are they grabbing hold?  They've become, you know, more democratic.  They've made some reforms.

MR. REEKER:  I don't have anything broadly new to add on that, Barry.  I answered your colleague's question about that in general.  We work with the Yemeni Government, Yemeni authorities in law enforcement cooperation and sharing of intelligence to crack down on terrorism, which is certainly something worldwide that we have to worry about.  Yemen has been in a dangerous neighborhood and continues to be in a dangerous neighborhood.  Our travel advisories make that very clear.  Our Embassy works closely with the Department here in Washington to keep the public abreast of our assessments in terms of safety and concerns in Yemen.

In this instance, we have the tragic murder of three health workers and the wounding of a fourth -- health workers who happened to be American citizens.  We're investigating that crime.  The Yemeni Government has already made an arrest in that and they'll continue to follow that.  So we'll work very closely and try to keep the public aware of any other information we can provide them so that they can make their own decisions in terms of travel or residency in Yemen or any other part of the world.

Terri.

QUESTION:  Has the Embassy altered its schedule at all?  Is it closing?  Has increased security been put up around the Embassy? 

MR. REEKER:  The US Embassy in Sanaa remains open to the public.  As you know, the Embassy has operated at a very high state of alert for a long time.  They constantly review their security posture.  They take additional steps, as necessary.  And I just can't get into any specific steps in terms of security measures.

I would note -- and this follows on what I said to your colleague -- that Yemeni support, support from the Government of Yemen for Embassy security needs, has been and continues to be excellent, and we very much appreciate the Government of Yemen's efforts in that regard.

QUESTION:  Phil, along those lines along what you said to Barry about continuing to advise the public so they can make their own decisions about travel or residing there, the Embassy, in its statement this morning, said that it was going to ask Yemeni authorities to increase their security efforts to protect Americans.

Have you gotten any reply yet to that request?  And doesn't that request, in itself, mean that you are a little -- you are concerned that perhaps the government wasn't providing the amount of security to American interests that it should be? 

MR. REEKER:  I think if you look at the Warden message that we sent out on the basis of what happened today, we have talked to the Yemenis and they are investigating this crime and we're doing that.  We're working with them as well to see what other steps might be taken, anything else they can do to provide security immediately for Americans who are in locations such as this, working at a hospital, and others steps that they can take. 

So we've made it quite clear in our travel warnings, our consular information, that there are dangers associated with traveling worldwide and certainly with traveling in Yemen.

QUESTION:  So, to the best of your knowledge, you don't know if there's been a response, if they've said yes, okay, and this is how we'll do it in terms of --

MR. REEKER:  I couldn't get into that kind of specific detail of what they're working out on the ground in Yemen. 

QUESTION:  But it did say, didn't it, did it not, that they were going to ask -- we are asking the Yemeni authorities to provide additional security for Americans?

MR. REEKER:  "We are requesting additional protection for American citizens in Yemen," is what the statement put out by the Embassy was.

QUESTION:  So, to the best of your knowledge, there hasn't been a response?

MR. REEKER:  I couldn't say that.  I didn't ask.  They are, hopefully, getting some sleep in Yemen now.

QUESTION:  Will US personnel participate in interrogating the suspect?

MR. REEKER:  I don't know about the investigation in that kind of detail.

Anything else on Yemen?

Yes, sir.

QUESTION:  Did the president of Yemen contact the Secretary or the President today?

MR. REEKER:  For the President, you would have to talk to the White House.  I'm not aware of the Secretary having had any phone calls with the president of Yemen today.

Gene.  On Yemen?

QUESTION:  Yes.  How many Americans are there in Yemen and how many other organizations similar to the Baptist hospital, who are obviously soft targets, are there?  There's at least one oil company, but what about others?

MR. REEKER:  I don't know if I could get into that much detail for you.  We try to keep records based on American citizens who register with our Embassy, and I understand that there may be approximately 30,000 American citizens in Yemen.  That includes, obviously, people with dual citizenship, Yemeni-Americans --

QUESTION:  That includes what?

MR. REEKER:  Dual citizens.

QUESTION:  Dual citizens, yeah.

MR. REEKER:  Yemeni-Americans.  And I couldn't give you any specifics on the other types of aid workers, people that reside or work temporarily in Yemen like these hospital workers.

QUESTION:  Well, how big is the Embassy in terms of officers and --

MR. REEKER:  That's a kind of detail I'd have to go back and check, and I don't think we've been providing that types of detail publicly so we can avoid the nose counting of so-called official Americans in countries.  It's not a prudent safety measure to discuss those specifically.

QUESTION:  Does the government have other offices outside of Sanaa?

MR. REEKER:  I am aware of the presence of some Americans in Aden, but the specifics of it I don't have with me, Gene.

Anything else on Yemen?

QUESTION:  Just a technical thing on that 30,000 figure, roughly.  That's -- I mean, that's the number that have registered with Embassy?

MR. REEKER:  That's an approximation we make.  I can't get into the science of how we make those approximations based on anecdotes, based on registries, based on general information, working with other sources.

QUESTION:  And do you know if that figure is substantially lower than it was, say, a year or two years ago, like around the time of the Cole attack?

MR. REEKER:  I really have no idea.  I mean, the number, I think, is substantially -- the majority of that number are Yemeni-Americans and I don't know whether that number in terms of people residing in Yemen has changed.

Anything else on this? 

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QUESTION:  No, I thought Elise had a question.

MR. REEKER:  Elise.

QUESTION:   I have a question on these five men that are allegedly of Arab or Middle Eastern descent that are supposed to be missing, entered the country illegally, and the US has some concerns about that.  Is there anything you can say about that in terms of --

MR. REEKER:  What would you want me to say?

QUESTION:  Well, I was told that you might have something to say about it.

MR. REEKER:  I was told you might ask me a question.  (Laughter.)  I think I know what you're trying to get at.

Regarding the FBI, the five individuals that the FBI is putting out information on and trying to locate, in working with the FBI, we have checked visa records.  There is no record of any of the five individuals identified by the FBI as ever having applied for a US visa, so there's no record of anyone with those names identified by the FBI having ever applied for or, obviously, then, having received a US visa, which I think is probably the question you wanted to ask me.

QUESTION:  Do you believe that they entered through Canada?  Is that --

MR. REEKER:  You would have to ask the INS or someone that deals with entry and exit from the United States on that.

Terri.

QUESTION:  A follow-up.  Can you give us, sort of, a status report on how secure you believe the border between the US and Canada is in light of the story?

MR. REEKER:  I don't think it's the State Department that does border security.  I would direct you to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Justice Department, domestic law enforcement, military or defense.

QUESTION:  But in terms of visas being granted, do you feel that most people are coming into the country legally with visas that are granted by the United States?

MR. REEKER:  Again, entrance into the country is not the purview of the State Department.  You would have to talk to the INS about that.  We have talked at some length about the work we have been doing in terms of the visa function, the tightening up, the increased sharing, the tremendous growth in the number of names in our database, the tip-off database, the other databases where we get directly from intelligence and law enforcement the names so that they can be checked as part of any visa application.

And, as you know, that's resulted in a significant backlog in some places in visa things, but we've been trying to work on that, too, so that legitimate travelers who have strong reasons to visit the United States, whether to conduct business, to visit family, to vacation, to seek healthcare, to pursue educational opportunities, so that they can be allowed in because they make up such an important part of our culture and our economy while we keep, essentially, the bad guys out. 

And so we have been working very hard on that, coordinating very closely with the other US Government agencies, obviously, and making sure that we do just that -- let the right people in and keep the bad people out.

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QUESTION:  Two brief, unrelated.  New Year's Eve, historically, has been a time where there has been an expression of for security reasons in this country.  I was just wondering if you could describe any new or additional security measures in the run-up to this New Year's Eve, like the change of alert.

MR. REEKER:  In this country?

QUESTION:  Regarding terrorist threats, yes, here or overseas.

MR. REEKER:  In this country, you'd need to consult with domestic law enforcement and security agencies.  Overseas, I'm not aware at this stage that we are updating our Worldwide Caution that remains in effect for American citizens to consider threats that exist worldwide.

And then I would remind everybody who is residing overseas or traveling overseas during the New Year's period, just as any time, to consult our website for particular regions or countries and to keep in touch with US embassies or consulates in those regions so that we can advise them through our Warden systems and other methods of any other information we do become aware of.

There are dangers out there.  We want people to continue with their lives, their business, their travel, but it's important to at least be aware of the situation and take the precautions any individual deems necessary.

QUESTION:  So, at this point, are you aware of any likely international alert or any particular country alert?

MR. REEKER:  At this point, I'm not aware of that.  Today is the 30th of December.  If we have information that comes to light that we need to release today or tomorrow or any other day, we will do that as expeditiously as practicable.

QUESTION:  Number two, quickly.  The five men at the border.  Are you aware of country of origin, ethnicity, nationality, and, if so, have there been any contacts with these countries they have come from?

MR. REEKER:  No, I would refer you to the FBI for that.  The only piece of it that we had at this stage to share with you was the fact that we had done the check of the -- where did it go?  There it is.  The visa -- the check of visas.  And we had found that under the names that the FBI provided to us, there is no record of any of the five individuals as having ever applied for a US visa.

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QUESTION:  Since this is the last press conference and end of the year --

MR. REEKER:  Better not be on clones.

QUESTION:  No.  Aside from the three "axis of evil" countries, what progress diplomatically -- are you sure that the diplomatic progress that we've made with governments, various religions and NGOs are satisfactory in combating the problems we've had as a result of the terrorist attacks over a year ago?

MR. REEKER:  I'm not quite sure if I understand the question, Joel, but let me take a stab at it.

QUESTION:  All right.

MR. REEKER:  As you can see from the discussion we've had today, diplomacy, and, in particular, American diplomacy, affects all of us in the United States and around the world at different levels.  It's important for our security.  It's important for our economy, our prosperity.  It's important in reflecting and promoting our values around the world in terms of human rights and other things.  So we work very closely with other governments, with other diplomats, with international organizations, with nongovernmental organizations and with publics. 

This year you've heard us talk a lot about public diplomacy and the important role that plays in helping others in the world understand the United States and understand our policies.  So we pursue those efforts.  Those are long-term efforts, often.

We've worked with many, many governments in the war against terrorism because diplomacy is an important part of that.  As you know, we have a full toolbox that we use, whether it's economic steps, financial steps that have been crucial in fighting the war on terrorism, whether those are bilateral steps that we take working with individual other countries or multilaterally, working with the United Nations, where they've passed resolutions and where we've been at the forefront of helping other countries to seize assets, to cut off flows of financing to terrorist groups.

Law enforcement cooperation has been crucial with arrests around the world of terrorist suspects.  Intelligence sharing and information sharing of all varieties has been very important.  So we've seen governments around the world come together, perhaps in an unprecedented way, since September 11th, 2001, to work to fight against terrorism because this is something that affects everyone in the civilized world.  And so we will continue that.  It's not a short-term struggle.  The President has been quite clear.  Secretary Powell has reiterated to you that this will take a long time.  But we're determined and we're patient.  And so we deal with all of these different things, we juggle different issues, but all working towards the same general goals.

And I would just remind you, as we did earlier, that there's no cookie-cutter approach to diplomacy.  There are different tools that need to be used at different times.  There are different approaches to different countries to different problems.  Everything has its own context and its own history.  And Secretary Powell, as the United States chief diplomat, as the head of President Bush's foreign policy apparatus, has been leading all of us in this building, working around the globe with friends and allies to deal with problems as they arise, to try to pursue peace and security, prosperity and a better life for all of us.

And with that, Happy New Year to everyone.  Thanks.