Washington: Pentagon officials had previously stated that the Pensacola shooting would not impact the US hosting Saudi military personnel. But a recent update in the review of security and screening speaks another story.
A new memo revealed that the Pentagon will be entirely pausing the training of Saudi troops on US military bases and that this amounts to about 5,000 troops. Officials say they can have classroom training, but nothing operational.
This is a substantial step up from a report earlier in the day from the US Navy, which announced 175 Saudi Air Force personnel were being grounded at Pensacola base for the time being.
Though Pentagon officials downplayed it as a brief safety stand-down, the impact looks particularly broad and is an uncomfortable reminder that the large presence of Saudi personnel in the US is being facilitated by particularly lax standards.