REQUEST TO TERMINATE AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE FOR

S E C R E T AMMAN 002669 SIPDIS U/S FOR MANAGEMENT GRANT GREEN NEA FOR A/S BURNS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/05/2023 TAGS: AEMR ASEC AMGT PTER CASC KFLO PGOV JO SUBJECT: REQUEST TO TERMINATE AUTHORIZED DEPARTURE FOR AMEMBASSY JORDAN REF: A. AMMAN 1902 ¶B. AMMAN 2398 ¶C. AMMAN 2137 ¶D. AMMAN 2540 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Gregory L. Berry for reasons 1.5 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) The post EAC met on 29 April 2003 to review security conditions and events following the end of military operations in Iraq. Apart from the incident reported in reftel C, there have been no security- related incidents involving Americans recently. Nevertheless, the EAC decided to postpone a recommendation to lift authorized departure pending consultations with local security services and the Department. It was agreed that the EAC would meet again to reassess the situation once those consultations had taken place. ¶2. (S/NF) On 4 May 2003 the EAC met again to hear reports from the RSO and ORCA on their meetings with Jordanian security authorities. They reported that their GoJ contacts had informed them that anti-American emotions had decreased substantially with the end of the war in Iraq and recommended that family members who had been evacuated be permitted to return to post. The RSO also consulted with the Threat Analysis Division within DS regarding our assessment of the current security climate provided in ref D. DS concurs with this assessment. ¶3. (C) On the political front, we are beginning to move past war-related concerns with the GoJ and are resuming work on important issues which took a lower priority during the war. Although many of our Jordanian contacts continue to express their disapproval of U.S. actions in Iraq, and although news about Iraq still figures prominently in the press, a shift in attention to the upcoming elections and the Arab-Israeli Peace Process is increasingly evident. Although EAC members understand that serious security threats remain in Amman -- just as they did before the Iraq war -- there is a real sense of life beginning to return to normal in Jordan. ¶4. (C) Post has taken a deliberate and cautious approach to determining whether security conditions supported the lifting of authorized departure. Given the above assessment, it is the sense of the EAC that the threat level in Jordan has decreased to roughly where it was before the war. It is time to allow family members and non-emergency personnel to return to Jordan. Therefore, with the unanimous agreement of the EAC, I recommend that the authorized departure for Amman be terminated when the current period expires on May 7, 2003. ¶5. (C) Ambassador Gnehm, who is away from post, concurs in this recommendation. ¶6. (U) Please advise. BERRY