WASHINGTON ( Halbeeg News) – The Pentagon has suspended operational training for all Saudi military students in the United States.
Washington halted flight instruction, firing range training and all other operations outside the classroom in the wake of a shooting last week at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida by a member of the Saudi Royal Air Force.
More than 800 students from Saudi Arabia have been limited to classroom training in the wake of a shooting at a Pensacola Navy base that left three people dead.
Senior Defense Department officials, speaking to reporters in a hastily organized conference call on Tuesday night, insisted that suspending operational training for students from Saudi Arabia — the only country singled out for a broader review of security procedures governing the international military students — would be short-term and would not upset the strategic relationship between the two countries.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper called his Saudi counterpart, Khalid bin Salman, to discuss the new limitations on Saudi military students, who are now essentially restricted to classroom training like English language courses.
The suspension will affect nearly 900 Saudi students across the country, the Defense Department said on Tuesday. Classroom teaching, including language courses, will continue while Pentagon leaders review vetting procedures for all foreign military trainees.
An estimated 5,200 international students in the United States will be covered by the security review.
An investigation into the shooting on Friday that left three young sailors dead and eight other people wounded. Several lawmakers, including Senator Rick Scott of Florida and Representative Matt Gaetz, whose congressional district includes Pensacola, had called for a review of foreign military programs and their screening process.
The suspension of operational training for hundreds of Saudi military students is an extraordinary rebuke by the Pentagon, especially at a time when President Trump has tamped down suggestions that the Saudi government must be held to account on an array of recent issues.
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