WASHINGTON - The Pentagon said on Thursday that it found no threat in its review of the roughly 850 military students from Saudi Arabia currently studying in the United States, following a shooting attack by a Saudi Air Force officer that killed three people at base in Florida earlier this month.
"We can report that no information indicating an immediate threat scenario was discovered," said Garry Reid, a director for defense intelligence, counter-intelligence, law enforcement and security, briefing Pentagon reporters.
The conclusion clears the way for the US military services to, at their discretion, lift a freeze on operational training that had grounded Saudi military pilots and had restricted Saudi air crews to infantry officers to classwork.
The FBI has said US investigators believe Saudi Air Force Second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, acted alone when he attacked a US Navy base in Pensacola, Florida, on Dec. 6, before he was fatally shot by a deputy sheriff.