News

DATE=6/25/99 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT NUMBER=2-251104 TITLE=U-S EMBASSIES CLOSED (L) BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE DATELINE=WASHINGTON CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: THE UNITED STATES HAS CLOSED SIX OF ITS EMBASSIES IN AFRICA IN RESPONSE TO NEW TERRORIST THREATS LINKED TO OSAMA BIN LADEN. THE SAUDI EXILE WAS INDICTED FOR LAST YEAR'S TERRORIST BOMBINGS OF U-S EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA -- ATTACKS WHICH KILLED 224 PEOPLE. CORRESPONDENT NICK SIMEONE HAS DETAILS. TEXT: STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIALS SAY THEY HAVE CONCRETE EVIDENCE ABOUT WHAT THEY CALL CONTINUED PLANNING BY BIN LADEN FOLLOWERS. IN RESPONSE, U-S EMBASSIES IN GAMBIA, TOGO, MADAGASCAR, LIBERIA, NAMIBIA AND SENEGAL HAVE BEEN CLOSED, AT LEAST UNTIL MONDAY. STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN JAMES RUBIN: /// RUBIN ACT /// WE DID DEVELOP INFORMATION THAT SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS WERE ENGAGED IN SURVEILLANCE OF CERTAIN EMBASSIES. /// END ACT /// TERRORISM EXPERT BRIAN JENKINS EXPLAINS WHAT THAT MEANS: // JENKINS ACT // IT COULD BE AS SIMPLE AS A VAN PARKED ACROSS THE STREET. IT COULD BE AS SIMPLE AS PARTICULAR INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING IN A PARTICULAR PLACE, REPEATEDLY BEING THERE DAY AFTER DAY. THOSE ARE THE SIMPLE ONES, OBVIOUSLY. THE COUNTER-SURVEILLANCE EFFORT IS MUCH MORE SOPHISTICATED THAN THAT. /// END ACT /// ALREADY, AMERICAN EMBASSIES AROUND THE WORLD ARE ON A GENERAL HEIGHTENED STATE OF ALERT BECAUSE OF INCREASED SECURITY CONCERNS. THE SENATE HAS APPROVED THE STATE DEPARTMENT'S REQUEST FOR MORE THAN ONE-BILLION DOLLARS IN FUNDING TO UPGRADE SECURITY AT EMBASSIES AROUND THE WORLD -- A REQUEST MADE IN THE WAKE OF THE TWIN TERRORIST BOMBINGS AT THE U-S EMBASSIES IN KENYA AND TANZANIA. THOSE BOMBINGS LAST AUGUST WERE BLAMED ON THE OSAMA BIN LADEN NETWORK, LANDING HIM ON THE F-B-I'S 10-MOST-WANTED LIST AND PROMPTING THE UNITED STATES TO RETALIATE BY BOMBING SUSPECTED TERRORIST SITES IN SUDAN AND AFGHANISTAN. NEARLY A YEAR LATER, THE SAUDI EXILE STILL REMAINS AT LARGE AND, IT APPEARS, MAY AGAIN BE PLOTTING MORE STRIKES AGAINST AMERICAN TARGETS. (SIGNED) NEB/NJS/WTW 25-Jun-99 12:12 PM EDT (1612 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .