-Caveat Lector-
BILL GERTZ
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Oct 14, 2000
PENTAGON SOUGHT SPY POST OFF YEMEN COAST
Refueling U.S. warships in the Arabian port of Aden is part of a
broader U.S. government effort to develop closer ties with Yemen
and to place an electronic eavesdropping post on a nearby island,
U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday.
Military intelligence specialists hope improving relations with
the Yemeni government will lead to intelligence cooperation and
the building of a signals intelligence site on the island of
Socotra, some 220 miles off Yemen's eastern coast.
The island is ideally suited for monitoring electronic signals
throughout the region, especially the hundreds of ships that pass
daily through the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian
Ocean. ``It's a key strategic collection point,'' said one
official.
Closer ties with Yemen also might lead to the use of the island
as a place to store supplies and equipment that could be used in
the event of a regional conflict, the officials said.
The military and U.S. National Security Agency conduct worldwide
electronic spying from scores of listening posts around the world
and from satellites in space.
During the 1980s, the Soviet Union operated two electronic
eavesdropping posts in Yemen, including a large facility in Aden
and a smaller eavesdropping post on Socotra. It could not be
learned if the stations are still operated by the Russians.
>From those facilities, Moscow monitored communications and
military activities throughout the Arabian peninsula, the Red Sea
and the India Ocean. The desire for a secret intelligence base
on Socotra is one reason the Pentagon chose to risk U.S. ship
visits to a potential terrorist hot spot, said officials who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
The guided missile destroyer USS Cole was damaged by a suicide
terrorist attack from an explosives-laden small boat on Thursday
in Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors and injuring 38 others.
Some in the Pentagon have questioned the decision to allow a ship
to refuel in Yemen because it is a known safe-haven for several
international terrorist groups.
A U.S. Navy ship first visited unified Yemen in May 1998 and
since then there have been 12 refueling visits.
Sending U.S. ships to the country was viewed as one way to help
build ties with Yemen since the visits are considered a benefit
to Yemen and a way to show U.S. support, the officials said.
``It was a step by step approach to to signing up another
friendly nation in the region,'' the official said.
The military has no plans for basing ships in Yemen and
considered the military cooperation as limited to ship visits and
refueling, the officials said.
Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon rejected the idea that engagement
diplomacy took precedence over security concerns in ties with
Yemen.
The Navy has a variety of refueling points and the Pentagon
``worked hard to develop a way to use a number of ports
throughout the Middle East that best supports our operations and
that best supports our diplomacy in the area,'' Mr. Bacon said.
``In terms of the policy of engagement with Yemen or any other
country in the Middle East, I think it's very important to
realize that these decisions are not made by just the Defense
Department. They are government-wide policies,'' Mr. Bacon said.
Asked about the decision to refuel in Yemen, State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said ``there's always judgments to be
made.'' ``We know ships have to refuel, and everywhere in the
Middle East, there is a potential threat of terrorism.
.{nl}.{nl}. But ultimately, these decisions and judgments have to
be made based on the need to refuel, the opportunity is
available, and where we think the best place is to do it.''
U.S. military engagement with Yemen, which is strategically
located on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula was promoted
by Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, the recently-retired
commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command.
``We have been working to improve our relations with Yemen for
some time,'' said Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval
operations. The admiral said the refueling visit ``at the heart
of the motivation of the unified commander as they are improving
our relations in that part of the world.'' The country was
divided into North and South Yemen until unification in 1990.
The U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of U.S. military
activities in the region, since then has tried to bring Yemen
``into the group of responsible nations,'' one military officer
said yesterday.
A Central Command spokesman had no immediate comment on the
command's policies toward Yemen. Larry Johnson, a former U.S.
government counterterrorism specialist, said Yemen has been
improving its cooperation with the United States in combating
terrorism, including providing anti-terrorism training to
Yemenis.
``The U.S. has been trying to work with Yemen and making them a
friend and not a foe in the terrorism battle,'' Mr. Johnson
said.
Terrorist activities until the bombing of the Cole had been
limited to less lethal actions, such as kidnapping foreigners
that have to do more with tribal warfare than with anti-U.S.
operations, Mr. Johnson said.
Terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah operate offices in
Yemen but the country has ``not been an operational center for
those groups,'' he said. Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA
counterterrorism official, said Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden
has maintained ties to Islamic groups in Yemen and recently
married a Yemeni national.
``Bin Laden has a great infrastructure in the country,'' Mr.
Cannistraro said. Mr. Cannistraro said it is unlikely that
whoever carried out the attack will claim responsibility since
doing so would invite U.S. retaliation.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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