WASHINGTON – The Pentagon announced Tuesday it was temporarily suspendingoperational training for Saudi military students in the United Statesfollowing a shooting rampage last week by a Saudi air force officer.
Saudi Arabian military students in the United States will continueclassroom instruction but operational training is halted pending a securityreview, senior Defense Department officials said.Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old lieutenant in the Saudi Royal Air Force,opened fire in a classroom at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida onFriday, killing three American sailors and wounding eight other peoplebefore being shot dead by police.
Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist ordered a review to becompleted, within 10 days, of policies for screening foreign students. Thesuspension of operational training applies to all members of the Saudimilitary currently undergoing training in the United States. “The ones thatare pilots will be grounded,” an official said.
Pentagon officials said the security study was being done with thecooperation of the Saudi government. The policy review will apply to allinternational military students but the suspension of operational trainingonly applies to Saudi students, they said.
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Pentagon officials did not provide a figure for the number of Saudiscurrently undergoing military training in the US but they said the overallnumber of international military students is between 5,000 and 5,100.
Meanwhile, a shooting in a New York suburb not far from the Statue ofLiberty left a police officer dead on Tuesday, and reports said severalother people may have been killed during two hours of gunfire. — Agencies.
