U.S. military bases throughout Europe have increased their alert status during the weekend, different outlets confirmed. Concretely, the level of Force Protection Condition is now at "Charlie," which applies when "an incident occurs or intelligence is received indicating some form of terrorist action or targeting against personnel or facilities is likely."
Charlie is the second-highest level of alert, also setting in motion "curtailment plans for nonessential personnel." This includes access to some places to eat and on-post barber shops.
"Many other services will have significant numbers of employees teleworking or offices will be opened with reduced staff. Customers should maintain flexibility and allow for longer-than-normal service times," said in a statement a garrison in Stuttgart, Germany.
Following the news, the U.S. European Command said it's "constantly assessing a variety of factors" on security and safety and added that it will "not get into specific measures" for "operational security reasons."
The statement added that military community members should report any suspicious activity, monitor State Department travel advisories and take precautions to minimize personal risk. Similar measures were taken in 2010 and 2014.
According to Stars and Stripes, an independent military publication, a U.S. military facility in western Germany issued an alert on its own forbidding members from wearing their uniform off base, and having them commute in civilian clothing.
Military officials have been warning about the possibility of a terrorist attack directed at the U.S., either at home soil or abroad, mostly as a result of its support of Israel in its war with Hamas following the latter's attack on October 7.
"We've seen the threat from foreign terrorists rise to a whole new level after October 7," said FBI director Christopher Wray in his written opening testimony before the Senate earlier this month.
"Since then, we've seen a rogue's gallery of foreign terrorist organizations call for attacks against Americans and our allies. Given those calls for action, our most immediate concern has been that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home," Wray added.
He specifically mentioned the "potential for a coordinated attack here in the homeland, akin to the ISIS-K[horasan] attack we saw at the Russia Concert Hall in March."
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