Exerpt on Yemen: December 30 Daily Press Briefing

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.