After Pensacola shooting, Pentagon screening of Saudi troops trainees finds no approaching threat

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon has found nothing indicating a stream hazard among Saudi infantry trainees after scouring supervision and blurb databases in a search for red flags about extremism, officials pronounced Thursday.

The expedited screening of some-more than 850 Saudi students during U.S. bases wasintended to frustrate attacks like a Dec. 6 uproar in that a Saudi officer gunned down 3 others at a Navy bottom in Florida.

The Pentagon is operative on skeleton for more difficult credentials checks for all unfamiliar infantry students training in a United States, said Garry Reid, a Defense comprehension official. 

The examination after a sharpened during Naval Air Station Pensacola found zero that would prove other Saudi trainees poise a threat, according to a comparison Defense central who was not certified to pronounce publicly since of a ongoing investigation.

The Pentagon charge force reviewing unfamiliar tyro vetting is expected to suggest continual screening of supervision and blurb databases, including amicable media posts, for red flags, a central said.

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The FBI identified a shooter during Pensacola as Mohammed Alshamrani, a second major in a Royal Saudi Air Force. He was one of 852 Saudi nationals in a U.S. for infantry training underneath a confidence team-work agreement with Saudi Arabia. The FBI has examined tweets attributed to Alshamrani in that he bloody U.S. support for Israel. 

A internal sheriff’s emissary shot and killed Alshamrani. The Navy identified his victims as Airman Mohammed Hathaim, 19, from St. Petersburg, Florida; Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, 23, from Coffee, Alabama; and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, from Richmond Hill, Georgia. Eight others were wounded.

Saudi pilots grounded

The Pentagon grounded Saudi pilots training in a United States after a attack. The Saudi students have resumed classroom training though not moody training with a Navy or Air Force, according to Cdr. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman, and Ann Stefanek of a Air Force. 

Since 2000, some-more than 1 million unfamiliar infantry have been lerned by American army here and abroad, according to Army Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, who leads a Defense Security Cooperation Agency. That includes some-more than 28,000 Saudi nationals.

“International infantry students are here as tyro visitors to learn skills and professions, though also to learn about a people, a culture, and a values,” Hooper told reporters final week. “And this can't be overstated.” 

“These tellurian relationships,” he said, “promote long-term invulnerability and vital relationships, boost a interoperability, and capacitate partners to minister to a common confidence objectives over a prolonged term.”

Vetting of unfamiliar infantry trainees has especially been finished by the State Department, with submit from a Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, according to a comparison Defense central who was not certified to pronounce publicly.

Calls for extended vetting procedures

In a Dec. 10 memo to infantry leaders job for extended vetting, Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist referred to Saudi Arabia as an “essential partner” for a Pentagon. The nation is the tip customer of U.S. arms and hosts a flourishing fortuitous of U.S. infantry sent to a Middle East to confront Iran. 

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The new procedures will be some-more closely aligned to those for U.S. personnel, Norquist wrote. 

There are some-more than 5,000 students from 150 countries training in a United States. The Pentagon does not horde students from Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, China, Cuba or Russia, pronounced Air Force Lt. Col. Uriah Orland, a Pentagon spokesman.

Training includes English instruction, tellurian rights, and handling apparatus such as aircraft.

The Pentagon has declined to yield a list of bases where Saudis sight in a United States, with a difference of a few in Florida, including Pensacola. 

Orland declined to yield a duplicate of a U.S.-Saudi agreement that governs a instruction of Saudi students by American forces.

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