USG Press Release Concerning “Weapons Release” to Bahrain

Senior Administration Officials on Bahrain
11 May, 2012 – US humanrights.gov

MODERATOR: Thank you, and thanks to everyone for joining us on a Friday afternoon. We certainly appreciate it. As you’ve all seen from the statement we released earlier today, the State Department has informed Congress that it’s in our national security interest to release additional items and services to the Bahrain Defense Force, the Coast Guard, and National Guard. And this is for the purpose of helping Bahrain maintain its external defense capabilities.

And here to talk with you all about that decision, we have three senior Administration officials. For your records, they are [Senior Administration Official One]; we also have [Senior Administration Official Two]; and [Senior Administration Official Three]. Just a reminder this is an on-background call and these individuals should be referred to in your reporting as senior Administration officials.

So with that, I’ll turn it over to [Senior Administration Official One] for some brief opening remarks, and then we’ll get to your questions.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: Hi. Good afternoon, everybody. I think you know that, given the unrest in Bahrain over the past year and pending further progress on reform, the United States has maintained a pause on most arms sales and licenses to the Government of Bahrain, while at the same time continuing to supply some items on a case-by-case basis that directly affected our own national security interests.

Bahrain is an important security partner in a region that’s facing enormous challenges and complications, and maintaining our and our partners’ ability to respond to these challenges is an important component of our commitment to Gulf security. I think many of you might have been on the Secretary’s trip to Riyadh on March 31st when we launched the Strategic Cooperation Forum, which is another example of this commitment we have to Gulf security.

Now in light of our own U.S. national security interests, the United States has decided, as the press statement noted, to release additional items and services for the Bahraini Defense Forces, Bahrain’s Coast Guard, and Bahrain’s National Guard. And the purpose of this is to help Bahrain maintain its external defense capabilities. We have informed Congress of this decision today and we’ll continue our close consultation with Congress on Bahrain in general, including our security cooperation. …more