Kaine Meets With State Department On Current Situation In Libya

WASHINGTON, D.C.  – U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern, South and Central Asian Affairs, released the following statement on the current situation in Libya: 

“Yesterday I met with a high-level State Department official to review safety measures for U.S. citizens and personnel in Libya, especially given the increase in fighting this week between rival groups. I wanted to understand clearly the contingencies that are in place, including the deployment of additional U.S. Marines and military assets to Italy, in case the evacuation of U.S. government personnel is needed and the violence in Libya becomes a threat to our people.

“I want to make sure that we are doing all we can to improve our embassy security processes and procedures going forward to ensure the full safety and wellbeing of U.S. government personnel serving around the world, which includes taking up the pending Embassy Security bill that was passed out of the Foreign Relations Committee. Passing this important legislation is the responsible thing to do and would make our diplomatic personnel significantly safer.” 

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