U.S. to Lower Profile in Saudi Arabia

The United States moved Wednesday to reduce its diplomatic presence in Saudi Arabia by offering free flights home to nonessential diplomats and families of U.S. officials because of “ongoing security concerns.”

The State Department also advised all other American citizens to consider leaving the country.

While the offer falls short of ordering diplomats out, it reflects the acute U.S. security worries in the kingdom, which has seen several residential compounds attacked this year. On May 12, suicide bomb attacks claimed the lives of nine bombers and 26 other people, including several Americans, at housing compounds in Riyadh, the capital.

State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said that while the U.S. remains “fully confident that Saudi authorities are doing everything they can to protect their citizens and foreign nationals in the kingdom against terrorist attacks,” the decision to urge Americans to leave “is based on the reality that the terrorist threat in Saudi Arabia remains at a critical level.”

No single specific threat or piece of intelligence led to the department’s action, a U.S. counter-terrorism official said. Instead, the decision was based on a review of the entire terrorism picture in the kingdom.

There are 200 to 300 nonessential U.S. officials and family members in Saudi Arabia, and about 30,000 Americans in all.