CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. An emergency landing site in North Africa will not be staffed by NASA during the planned launch of shuttle Atlantis Thursday because of a worldwide U.S. security alert and possible terrorist acts against U.S. citizens in Morocco.
Located about 36 miles (57.6 kilometers) north of Marrakech, Ben Guerir Air Base normally is one of three overseas sites staffed by NASA in case a serious systems failure in flight forces an emergency shuttle landing attempt.
Senior shuttle program manager Jim Halsell, however, said the agency decided not to send personnel to the North African air base for the Atlantis launch because of heightened global security concerns in recent weeks.
"We did receive information that for security reasons it would be well-advised if we did not support Ben Guerir," Halsell told reporters in a news briefing here at Kennedy Space Center.
"This is in line with the worldwide elevation of security concerns," he added.
Halsell declined to elaborate on the specific threat, but the move comes on the heels of a worldwide U.S. security alert that was issued June 22 in response to threats from suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.
That alert followed:
- The June 21 indictment by a U.S. grand jury of 14 individuals on charges of murder and conspiracy in connection with the June 1996 bombing of the Khobar Tower military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
- A May alert which warned that U.S. citizens aboard might be targets of terrorist threats from extremist groups with links to bin Laden, who is being sought in the bloody bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Additionally, the U.S. State Department issued a new warning Monday, saying that the federal government had received information that individuals might be planning terrorist activities in Morocco.
Some U.S. government personnel who were temporarily in Morocco already have left the country, the State Department said.
The department also urged U.S. citizens in Morocco to "maintain a high level of vigilance and to take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness to reduce their vulnerability."
"Americans should maintain a low profile, avoid crowds and vary routes and times for all required travel," the department added.
All Americans in Morocco were advised to register with the U.S. Consulate General in Casablanca and to consult the Consulate General for updated safety and security information.
NASA personnel, meanwhile, will staff two other emergency landing sites in Spain during the planned shuttle launch Thursday.
They are: Moron Air Base, which is located about 35 miles (56 kilometers) southeast of Sevilla; and Zaragosa Air Base, which is located at the head of the Ebro River valley about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of Madrid.
Halsell said the NASA decision not to staff the Ben Guerir air base was aimed at keeping agency and contractor officials out of harms way.
"Weve elected simply to take the conservative, prudent path," he said. "There was no reason to expose our people even to the hint of any kind of elevated risk, so we chose not to."
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