Background Briefing

Secretary Cohen's upcoming trip to the Middle East

Speaker: Okay. As you know, this briefing is on background, but here are the bona fides of the briefer. And he will be cited as a senior Defense official. And he will give you the substantive details of the Secretary's trip to the Middle East. Some of the schedule details are still being worked out, so it will be heavy in substance and light on schedule.

Senior Defense Department Official: We are going to the Middle East. We'll go to the Gulf and to countries, Egypt, Jordan and Israel, in addition. Let me talk a little about the themes, and then I suspect you guys have a few questions, so we'll do questions.

One broad topic will be long term Gulf security. We are interested in ensuring that our partners in the Gulf remain secure from external threats. We have an increasing problem worldwide, but in addition, in the region on weapons of mass destruction and on missiles, and we will talk to them about that. We will obviously talk about Iraq. We have gotten very, very good support from all our friends in the Gulf. We will continue to discuss overall strategies and how to deal with Saddam Hussein. This is not a meeting where we are -- or sets of meetings where we're asking for anything, but we want to get their views on how to deal with this threat to the region. We have interests, of course, with the peace process countries. We will talk about the peace process. We remain committed to having that go forward. We will emphasize the importance of having that go forward. We, of course, in Jordan, have had the recent death of the King, which we regret. We will now do our very best to work with King Abdullah of Jordan to ensure that the U.S. backing is there to continue to have Jordanian support as King Hussein had done for a long time, both for the peace process and for the United States. There will be meetings in Egypt to talk about the overall bilateral relationship. Egypt has itself a significant leadership role in the Middle East. We'll talk about that. And then, of course, we'll meet in Israel where we have any number of both specifics and general support. We obviously will talk about the kinds of support that we have given and will continue to give to the Israelis to ensure that the qualitative edges maintained from a military point of view to discuss the concerns that they have with respect to weapons of mass destruction and with respect to missiles.

Let me stop there and throw it open to you guys.

Q: You don't expect to discuss any arms deal or anything with any of the Gulf states? Sales of weaponry, in fact, anywhere.

A: There are a number of arms transfers in process, and I expect that some of them certainly could come up. They're not the heart and soul of the trip. Do you want a run down to remind you of some of the things that are in play?

Q: Yeah.

A: Okay. For example, in Kuwait, we have the Paladin, which we have agreed to transfer to Kuwait. They are still finalizing the process. It wouldn't -- they may be finished by the time we get there, but if they haven't, we may still have discussions with them on that. The UAE is planning to purchase F-16s, and we are still discussing the finalization of the electronic warfare suite. I think that that will -- that's at a fairly technical level, so the Secretary won't get into the technicalities of it. At least I expect that he won't. But I think we have gone fairly far forward on that and we will just make sure that the processes are in place to make that sale final.

Q: Excuse me. You're not talking about the AMRAAM. You've already agreed on the AMRAAMs, right?

A: I'm just talking about the electronic.

The -- I have half a dozen. Do you have any particular one in mind, Charlie?

Q: No.

A: Those are two key ones.

Q: Can you discuss a little bit more on the UAE. I've been following this pretty closely. The United Arab Emirates discussions -- it was only about a month ago that they actually gave you their shopping list of what they really wanted by way of EW. How far along have the discussions gone?

A: The technical discussions have actually taken place for a lot longer period of time then just a month ago. We are trying to -- a lot of that had taken place -- this is commercial sale as you recall, or it's in part a commercial sale. A lot of that had taken place through the company. So when you say they had only given us -- we have, in order to help finalize this, started to have direct government to government conversations and with the company. My impression is that we are a long way there in terms of being close to finalizing. We're not final because if we were, I would tell you today. But I think we're pretty close, and I expect we will get there. The Secretary's trip is not going to be the closer on this. It's not meant to be a technical meeting. But I anticipate that this will go forward in a positive fashion.

Q: A month or so or two months?

A: I don't want to -- you know, if you had asked me two months ago, I would have told you it would be closed by today. So I don't want to speculate.

Q: But it's not on the rocks right now?

A: Not on the rocks. It's the opposite of being on the rocks. I think it's going forward in a positive fashion.

Q: Do you expect there to be much discussion with the Gulf nations about the almost daily strikes in the more or less air war over the northern and southern no-fly zones? And if so, what kind of shape do expect those discussions to take?

A: I think that there will be discussions about our enforcement of the no-fly zones, in particular what the Gulf countries -- they will want to talk about Southern Watch. They obviously are very cognizant of this because the aircraft come from the area in general, and they were also cognizant, of course, of what went on in Desert Fox. We have had some discussions, you know, at lower levels before the Secretary will have gotten there, and Secretary Albright, she was in Saudi -- I can't remember if she went to Jordan. I'm not sure if she went anywhere else. The Secretary's not -- Secretary Cohen is not the first person to be in the region since Desert Fox. I would expect -- as I said, we have gotten all the support that we have requested from all these countries. I think that they will simply want to be -- to hear at this high a level what the strategy is, which they know, and that we are continuing the strategy and that there are not any surprises. And the answer to that is we are continuing to do what we've done. And you heard the Secretary talk about it yesterday, those of you who were at the DRI briefing. That we will continue to enforce the no-fly zone. We will continue to ensure that there are no dangers to our pilots. And we will take steps that we've been taking.

Q: (Inaudible) What is your strategy? Is it to bomb and bomb until you spur a coup or a rebellion? Is that the whole point of this?

A: No. Our strategy is to enforce the no-fly zone. As you know, after Desert Fox, Saddam Hussein said that the no-fly zones would no longer be respected by Iraq. We have long undertaken those zones to ensure security initially of the Shia, this was in 19 -- I wasn't in the government then. If I recall, it was 1991 or early '92 in the south and likewise in the north. In the north for the Kurds, of course. We will continue to maintain the zones in order to ensure stability and security in those regions. We have said in the south that we would not tolerate Saddam moving substantial forces south. That's the so-called no-drive zone, below 32. As you recall, about a year and a half ago or so, we expanded the no-fly zone up to 33 up from 32. When he said that he would not respect them, that obviously in and of itself created a threat to our pilots. The Iraqis open fire frequently for a period of time on our pilots, and we are not going to let them fly in a region of danger. And they have the ROE -- if it allowed them to ensure that they would not be put in a dangerous position and if people take action against them, then we have the right to and will, in fact, do as the CINC directs to ensure that the danger is undercut.

Q: Do you plan on expanding the rules of engagement?

A: We're going to follow the same rules of engagement that we're now following right now.

Q: (Inaudible) has been raised about the increasing zeal with which you are responding to these challenges to aircraft.

A: If I understand the question, no, the Gulf countries are quite comfortable with what we're doing.

Q: (Inaudible) no-fly zone in the south has taken on enormous significance in the recent days following the assassination of the leading Shia cleric. There have been reports of trouble in the south. Is it not conceivable that Saddam, that the enforcement of the no-fly zone in the south is taking on, as I said, more significance and that Saddam may respond more forcefully to that enforcement if indeed the reports coming from the south are true?

A: Let me say right off, I don't know what's in Saddam Hussein's mind. We plan to continue to enforce the no-fly zones, and we plan to do it in a way that keeps the danger down. This is not related to anything that has to do with what has gone on in Iraq with respect to the Shia.

Q: You said before that you're not going there, to these nations, asking for anything new in particular. Are you going asking, however, for maintenance of the status quo? Do you feel it necessary to ask for that in light of what's been going on?

A: These are countries with whom we have substantial security interests. We have an interest in their security; they have an interest in our helping establish their security. We're partners in the region. When you're a partner with a country, you obviously don't just have one conversation and then each go their separate ways. You have regular conversations. We have forces in the region, and they talk to their counterparts. We have the State Department through the embassies in the region, and they talk to their counterparts. We periodically have the Secretary of State in the region, and we periodically have the Secretary of Defense in the region. These are just regular consultations and a way to ensure the two countries, sovereign countries, coordinate their policies. And so, what we're doing is coordinating the policy. It's important in the sense that you should have these conversations at a senior level. It's not new because, as you well know, the Secretary of Defense was there I think in October and then in November, if I recall correctly. The Secretary of State was there in January. Now we're here in March. This is just part of a regular pattern of high-level consultations which are supplemented by, if you will, medium- and lower-level consultations.

Q: Will you be discussing with them the strategy for fostering a change of regime?

A: We will talk to them about what our policy is. We looked, as you well know, to maintain containment until regime change would be possible. This is something that we think is necessary in order to have a stable region. We expect that this is something the people of Iraq will have to do. And we will certainly talk to our counterparts about what our strategy is.

Q: Will you be discussing how to further the objective of a change of regime?

A: For example, we will talk about what we're going to do with respect to enforcement of the no-fly zones. The Secretary of Defense is head of the Pentagon, which is military activity. He'll talk about those kinds of issues.

Q: Have you been able to substantiate any of the reports coming out of the south about civil disturbances, new executions of senior military officials following the assassination of the grand Ayatollah?

A: I have heard the same reports. And I personally was in Asia last week, so I got a lot of it out of the same newspapers that you're reading. I don't know where we stand on how -- do we think those are all --

Speaker: We're pretty sure that something happened. The reports that come out of opposition sources typically in the past have been somewhat exaggerated, and it's not entirely clear exactly --

A: I'm not trying to not answer your question. What I'd like to do is give you good information, not speculation. What we can do, especially for those of you who are on the plane, is try to give you some more information along those lines.

Q: What about Egypt and Israel (inaudible)?

A: Let me see what I can do for you. For example, in Israel, we have a new minister of defense. He's a well known person to the United States, but he's new in this government. I'm not sure how much past contact the Secretary has had with him, but I know he hasn't had any contact face-to-face as minister of defense and Secretary of Defense. So it's important for them to talk with respect to our overall relationship with Israel to make sure they each have a good understanding of what the other is thinking. And then we will talk about various programs and discuss the way ahead on those. One program in which I think you all know we are working -- there are no final decisions, of course -- is the Arrow. The Israelis have a high level of concern which I think is warranted with respect to concerns about missile threats and weapons of mass destruction. We've been working with them on the Arrow for a number of years. They are, of course, interested in greater cooperation. This is sometimes put in terms of the third battery, but it also has to do with interoperability. And we are still working on funding issues related to that. But I'm sure the Secretary and Mr. Arens will talk about the Arrow, for example.

Q: The SECDEF and Netanyahu said last year that they had agreed on a third battery.

A: We certainly understand why the Israelis want a third battery. The issue, Charlie, as I think you know very well, is an issue of funding. And then that's not, it's simply not resolved yet.

Q: On the issue about missile defense, while you're in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, will the issue of their air defense needs be coming up --

A: Yes. I don't think we'll necessarily get to systems, although eventually, we'd have to get to systems. And let me make the issue a little broader. It's missile defense, but it's also weapons of mass destruction. We are interested in talking with the Gulf states, as we are, for example, in Europe and NATO, as we are in Asia with the Japanese, for example, on the issue of weapons of mass destruction and on missile defense. And we think it's very important that our allies as well as ourselves have the appropriate capabilities. We have started a series of dialogues, and last year, about a year ago, there was a conference. If I remember right, it was April. But in any event, it was in the Gulf about this. We will have a further conference this year here, right, in May. We will talk to them about counterproliferation efforts, about issues like passive defense; we will talk to them about missile defense. You used the word air defense. We will talk to them about all those issues. We will not -- and the broad objective at the level of the Secretary of Defense is to make sure that number one, their senior people understand the reality of the problem, that they are interested in directing their staff to help resolve it. And then we will go forward with what we tend to call expert level talks where we pick out mechanisms how to do that. We are not yet down at the mechanism level. If you're not there, you've not hit the systems.

Q: On Egypt, you (inaudible) --

A: I'm sorry. With respect to Egypt, it perhaps goes without saying, but it probably should be said. I mean, we have had excellent relations, defense relations, with Egypt for many, many years. The Egyptians are very supportive of our military activities. We have a very extensive bilateral relationship. This relates not only to the rather substantial aid, which is $1.3 billion a year, that we give to the Egyptians to help support their military, but it's also reflected in very extensive exercises, the most well known of which is Bright Star, which I think most or all of you know is a multilateral exercise held in Egypt with quite a number of countries there. The Egyptians give us very substantial support in terms of Gulf security in a variety of ways, not the least of which is very substantial help in terms of transit rights both overflight and through the Suez Canal. We will talk about all these issues, that is to say enhancing bilateral cooperation, what should be done with respect to the use of the FMF funding, how do we see the problems in the Gulf. I'm quite confident we will talk about the peace process. President Mubarak has been a very important factor in the peace process since the beginning actually. And he will continue to be. So those will be the broad sets of issues we'll talk with Egyptians.

Q: (Inaudible) backing King Abdullah? What do you mean when you say we are going to continue to back the --

A: For example, as the president said, we think it's very important to help Jordan. There is a potential supplemental that will be directed towards Jordan. We've talked about having it be on the order of $300 million over three years. That's in addition to the regular aide. From a military point of view, we need to make sure that we use those monies most effectively. The Jordanian military has very good airplanes because they're buying F-16s. They have had not as much money as they would like in order to support their ground capabilities, for example. Gen. Zinni has been there and talked about how they should structure their forces given the threats that are on their borders. We have had other conversations with the joint military commission to the same effect. And the Secretary will be talking about how to support them from a military point of view as well as being the president's representative, of course, more broadly and politically.

Q: Are you urging a restructuring of their forces --

A: They're looking -- no. But they are looking at modernizing. And as they modernize, they now have four heavy divisions. They have told us themselves that they have a concern with border security and they are looking at the possibilities of more mobile, somewhat lighter capabilities, and we'll talk to them about that possibility.

Q: On Israel, what's the status of the aid that was promised in connection with the Wye River Accord? Is that (inaudible) the Israelis have stopped them from any agreement?

A: My understanding is that was always going to come as a supplemental later in the year. It's still my understanding that that's the case.

Q: Will that be a subject of discussion in Israel?

A: Yes, but I think we've had more detailed discussions then just the overall. I mean, the president and the prime minister have talked about the overall numbers. We've talked to the Israelis potentially about how it might actually be used in some level of detail. So, we have had lots of significant discussions with them. Then it will, of course, be up to the Congress as to when and whether to implement that, to appropriate that money.

Q: That amount would be $230 million?

A: I've lost it, Joe. That's over three years. $1.2 billion over three years.

Q: (Inaudible) possibility that they'll be discussing the situation with the northern border and the security strip in Lebanon?

A: I think there's a good likelihood that that will come up. Obviously, the Israelis have a high degree of concern. And it is usual when we do talk to them for them to lay out for us the nature of the security problems that they face. In recent conversations, they have been very focused, as I mentioned already, on the weapons of mass destruction and the missile problem. But this is obviously a problem of immediacy, and they will probably want to talk to us and explain to us about how they see the problem and what they plan to do.

Q: I was wondering why (inaudible) all the countries that are helping you with enforcement of the no-fly zone except Turkey?

A: I'm sorry, say again?

Q: I mean (inaudible) includes Saudi Arabia, but the Secretary's not going to Turkey?

A: He's also not going to 55 other countries that are our close allies. We just can't go everywhere all the time.

Q: Egypt was mentioned in the CIA (inaudible) as one of the countries accused of developing technology of weapons of mass destruction. Do you share the CIA's concern on that and have you discussed it with the Egyptians?

A: I have to plead ignorance, because I haven't read that report.

Q: On Israel's financing, when President Netanyahu met with the U.S. Congress about three years ago, he pledged that he wanted to pull back some of the billion and a half dollars in FMF and FMS aid Israel gets every year from the U.S. Has that materialized at all?

A: The approach was slightly different. He indicated in general terms that he thought that overall aid levels potentially could go down. That was in the context of some period of time ago. We have had a -- and there were two parts to the regular aid, if you will. There's, as you said, the FMF. There's also ESF, which is the Economic Support Fund. We have actually decreased the ESF, I'm going to lose the number here, and increased the regular FMF by about half of the ESF reduction. So he has, in fact, worked with us to do what he said. The Wye numbers obviously come up because of, you know, as a separate, extraordinary initiative.

Q: Desert Fox and the continuing bombing now over northern and southern Iraq, is it a part of cost sharing with the Gulf states (inaudible)?

A: I never would have described Desert Fox or Operation Southern Watch or Operation Northern Watch as cost sharing, so I guess I just don't agree with the whole premise. It is true that a number of countries in the region do help us with respect to U.S. forces, but the operations and the strategy are developed separately from that.

Q: Regarding to the problems of people who are in the northern zone, do you have any suggestions, anything more specific that you can say to Israel about military aid, about military (inaudible) United States has provided?

A: I think the answer to your question as you put it is no. We work with Israel on all their problems of security, and we have had discussions with respect to some of the problems that come out of the northern Lebanon situation, in particular with respect to Katusha rockets. As I think you know, we have a joint R&D program with them with respect to a weapons system. An acronym is THEL, and I forget what that stands for. But that is a potential response. That is in R&D, and that is an ongoing program. So it's not as if we -- every time that they have a specific problem, we have to generate a new program because we're working with them regularly.

Let me get a follow up question to that.

Q: Is it -- was there a mechanism for cost sharing for the Gulf security (inaudible) with Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and was that included in other operations after that, Desert Fox? Who paid for Desert Fox? I mean, is it merely --

A: We don't have cost sharing arrangements that relate to operations.

Press: Thank you.

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