The Pentagon on Tuesday announced that it was temporarily suspending operational training for Saudi Arabian military students in the US following a shooting rampage last week by a Royal Saudi Air Force officer.
Saudi Arabian military students in the US would continue classroom instruction, but operational training is halted pending a security review, senior US Department of Defense officials said.
Mohammed Alshamrani, a 21-year-old lieutenant in the air force, opened fire in a classroom at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida on Friday last week, killing three US sailors and wounding eight other people before being shot dead by police.
US Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist ordered a review to be completed within 10 days of policies for screening foreign students.
The suspension of operational training applies to all members of the Saudi Arabian military undergoing training in the US.
“The ones that are pilots will be grounded,” an official said.
Pentagon officials said that the security study was being done with the cooperation of the Saudi Arabian government.
The policy review would apply to all international military students, but the suspension of operational training only applies to Saudi Arabian students, they said.
Pentagon officials did not provide a figure for the number of Saudi Arabians undergoing military training in the US, but they said that the overall number of international military students is between 5,000 and 5,100.
Alshamrani, who was armed with a lawfully purchased Glock 9mm handgun, reportedly posted a manifesto on Twitter before the shooting denouncing the US as “a nation of evil.”
The FBI on Tuesday said that Alshamrani obtained the gun through an authorized gun seller in Florida in July through a loophole in federal gun laws that allows foreign nationals — usually unable to purchase firearms — to have a hunting license.
US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien has said that the FBI investigation was ongoing, but “to me, it appears to be a terrorist attack.”
The shooting struck a nerve in the US with its echoes of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which Saudi Arabian citizens accounted for 15 of the 19 hijackers that flew airliners into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.
Saudi Arabia remains one of the closest US allies in the Middle East and US President Donald Trump has cultivated a relationship with its controversial de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
King Salman denounced the shooting as a “heinous crime” and said that the gunman “does not represent the Saudi people.”
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
RSS