WASHINGTON -- It is a short drive from Georgetown University, where Prince Turki al-Faisal went to school as a young man, along the Potomac River, downstream past the Watergate and the Kennedy Center to the embassy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where he has taken up duties as his country's top diplomat in the United States.  However, it has been a long journey in the intervening years between scholarship and diplomacy. In an exclusive interview with SUSRIS on March 2, 2006, Prince Turki, son of King Faisal, brother of Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, former director of the Kingdom's Intelligence Service and a founding member of the King Faisal Foundation talked extensively about his marching orders as Ambassador to the US, and about the issues attached to the Saudi-US relationship.

Prince Turki, who succeeds long-serving ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan, told SUSRIS he has been charged by King Abdullah to, "Just be frank with them," in connecting with the American public, the Congress and the media through a robust outreach program and a new openness at the embassy. Recounting his meeting with Senator Arlen Specter, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee which held hearings last fall called "Saudi Arabia: Friend or Foe," the ambassador said he called on him to supply any information about the Kingdom the Senator required. "He doesn't have to search for an interlocutor when he has concerns or questions to ask," said Prince Turki, "He knows that I am here and that I am available."

In his relationship with the media Prince Turki is similarly open about the embassy being a resource. "The embassy is at their service," he said. "They don't need to depend on anonymous sources or unmentioned government officials. They can come directly to me and get the information." In just a few months -- he presented his credentials to President Bush in December but has been on the job since September -- the ambassador has already traveled across the country to meet Americans and answer questions. He says, among the people he has met in visits to Georgia, Arizona, Texas, Massachusetts and New York, he has found great warmth and "a great deal of curiosity." Prince Turki noted, "People want to know everything about Saudi Arabia." Acknowledging the dramatic shift in public opinion about the Kingdom after 9/11 he said he wanted to restore Americans' faith in the relationship that was strong for over 60 years, "to recoup the previous position that Saudi Arabia enjoyed in the American public's view and hopefully to improve on that."

Turning to questions about the history of the Saudi-US relationship Prince Turki told SUSRIS details of his experiences as chief of the General Intelligence Directorate. Among the chapters in the relationship that were shrouded in secrecy were deals to acquire military hardware from the Soviet Union's arsenals to be transferred for analysis and exploitation by the United States and its allies in the Cold War. About the ability to discuss the close cooperation and coordination that had been hidden from public view he said, "There is no more Soviet Union or the Cold War so one can talk more freely about it now than before without compromising either ones' conscience or ones' national interests."

The former intelligence director also described efforts by Saudi Arabia and several other countries to fill the vacuum left by the United States in combating the spread of Marxism in Africa in the 1970s. The intercession of Congress into the operations of the US intelligence community had the effect, according to Prince Turki, of limiting its ability to operate. "Our American friends were in trouble, their intelligence collection and capability [had] been diminished." The result was an effort, spearheaded by France and including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Morocco and Egypt, dubbed the "Safari Club." "We actually engaged in countering Soviet expansion in all of these areas. Whether by money, by human resources, by intelligence work -- all kinds of skullduggery you can think of in the intelligence field was used," he said. "We were successful in some areas."

In the wide-ranging interview Prince Turki also discussed Saudi Arabia's efforts in combating global terrorism, and addressing the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the situation in Iraq. The interview will be presented in two parts via email to SUSRIS subscribers and posted to the SUSRIS.org Web site. Part one will be available tomorrow, Thursday, March 9 and part two will be available on Tuesday, March 14. You can subscribe to the free SUSRIS email service by visiting www.SUSRIS.org and entering your email address in the "Newsletter Sign-up" box.

For more: http://www.SUSRIS.org

• Issues of the Day: Saudi Ambassador to the US On Sunday Talk Show - SUSRIS IOI - Feb. 6, 2006

• Community and Cooperation - Prince Turki Al-Faisal - SUSRIS IOI - December 2, 2005

• The Global Scourge of Terrorism: Ambassador Prince Turki al Faisal Shares His Outlook - SUSRIS Item of Interest - Nov. 8, 2005

• Prince Turki Al-Faisal's Views on Terrorist Attacks and Bin Laden - SUSRIS IOI - Dec. 7, 2004

• Prince Turki al-Faisal Talks With Charlie Rose - The Charlie Rose Show - PBS - February 13, 2006

  • Part 1 - Relations, Oil

  • Part 2 - Iraq, Iran, War on Terror

  • Part 3 - Middle East Peace

About Prince Turki al Faisal

• Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia Bio

• BBC Profile

• Global Security.org