U.S. Forces in Persian Gulf on Alert for Possible Attack

U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf have been put on high alert after the discovery of “very credible and disturbing information” suggesting that a terrorist attack may be imminent, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Pentagon officials said the warning, announced two days after the State Department issued a similar advisory to embassy personnel and American travelers in the region, applies to the 21,400 U.S. military personnel in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen.

Defense officials declined to divulge specific information about the nature of their evidence or the identity of any suspects. But they said the situation is deemed serious enough to put personnel on “Threatcon Charlie”--the second highest of four graduated alerts.

“It’s a threat; we take it very seriously,” said Kenneth M. Bacon, the chief Pentagon spokesman.

The warning says the attack could come in the next 30 days.

Twenty-four American servicemen have been killed in two attacks in Saudi Arabia in the past three years. In August, 224 people, including 12 Americans, were killed in attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Local military commanders have wide latitude in deciding how to implement alerts. In general, they respond by calling for troops to stay closer to bases, avoid traveling in large groups and vary their travel schedules. They also step up security at the perimeter of bases.

U.S. officials have warned that Americans might be hit in retaliation for America’s missile strikes on a Sudanese pharmaceutical plant and on Afghan camps linked to suspected terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden. Those salvos have been described as the intensification of a U.S. war on Bin Laden’s network.

Since the embassy bombings, U.S. authorities have been rounding up and charging suspects and have vowed to continue those efforts.

Some experts said it is logical that any retaliatory strike would come only now, because it would involve substantial planning and lead time.

“These operations aren’t easy to do,” said Kenneth M. Pollack, a Middle East specialist at the National Defense University.

U.S. efforts to bolster embassy security and protection of forces are improving, but “a determined terrorist will always be able to find chinks,” Pollack said.