American training for hundreds of Saudi Arabian military students could begin “in the coming days” after it was put on hold over a shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola in December.
The Pentagon had stopped training about 850 Saudis who were in the United States after a 21-year-old Saudi Air Force second lieutenant shot and killed three American sailors and wounded several others at the base.
Jonathan Hoffman, chief spokesman for the Defense Department, said an announcement on the matter would be made soon.
“We’re looking forward to turning it back on in the coming days,” Hoffman said during a briefing on Thursday. He said there would be additional screening policies implemented for future students who come to the U.S. to train.
The move comes after the U.S. rescreened and evaluated all of the Saudi students in the country to determine whether any had connections to the shooter or knew about his plans.
Nothing was found indicating the shooter had accomplices, although 21 Saudis were expelled from the country after it was discovered they had expressed extremist views on social media or “had contact” with child pornography.
