Following is an excerpt from the August 6 State Department briefing containing comments about U.S-Saudi relations:

QUESTION: Can you say whether Secretary Powell has been in touch with the Saudi Government about the Defense Department briefing that describes Saudi Arabia as an enemy?

MR. REEKER: Just to be quite clear, when you say Defense Department briefing, that was not in the capacity of a Defense Department briefing or a briefing like we do here. The views expressed by private individuals as outlined in a newspaper article today, and as the Defense Department has also told you, do not reflect the views of the President of the United States or of the US Government.

Secretary Powell has assured the Saudi Foreign Minister of this in a telephone conversation this morning. As we have reiterated, the musings of private individuals do not reflect US Government views or policies. And indeed, briefings by outside individuals are not reflective of views in the Department of Defense or the State Department or any part of the US Government.

The United States and Saudi Arabia enjoy excellent relations. We share a broad array of interests, including a common vision of peace, stability and prosperity in the region. We are pleased that we have been able to expand this relationship to include common efforts against the threat of international terrorism. The Saudi Government has cooperated in the international campaign against terrorism and we welcome steps taken by Saudi Arabia to help combat the problem of terrorism financing, an important aspect of our war on terrorism globally.

As with any relationship, we have differences with the Saudis. We raise these differences, they raise their differences. We have private discussions at all levels, and then we work to resolve them. That is what diplomacy is about. But certainly these views that have been bantered about by certain individuals do not reflect the views of the President, nor of the US Government, and the Secretary made that quite clear in his telephone conversation today.

QUESTION: To the Foreign Minister, you say? Excuse me.

MR. REEKER: Yes, Barry, that's what I said.

QUESTION: Who took the initiative of the call this morning?

MR. REEKER: I believe Secretary Powell called Foreign Minister Saud.

QUESTION: And are we to -- did Powell call Foreign Minister Saud because --

MR. REEKER: That's what I just said.

QUESTION: I understand that, but did he call because of the Tom Ricks article in The Washington Post? Is that what prompted the phone call?

MR. REEKER: They speak quite often, but I think he wanted to make quite clear that those views, as the Defense Department already had, that those views do not represent the views of the US Government, that these musings of private individuals are not indicative of US policy.

QUESTION: So this wasn't a routine, how are you, foreign minister call; this was an FYI?

MR. REEKER: I think they discussed a number of issues in terms of the bilateral relationship. We have a regular dialogue, including discussions about progress in the strategy on the Middle East process. As you know, we have met with Foreign Minister Saud and other Saudi officials, as well as other Arab leaders. They are taking their responsibilities that the President outlined in terms of working on this process, along with the Israelis, along with the Palestinians, along with others in the international community. So that is part of a regular dialogue they have. But in the phone call today, the Secretary did reiterate the points I just mentioned.

Joel.

QUESTION: Phil, but you -- I mean, you talked about how we have the cozy relationship with the Saudis, but, you know --

MR. REEKER: It's not the word I used, but go ahead.

QUESTION: Well, no. But --

MR. REEKER: You like paraphrasing.

QUESTION: Excellent bilateral relations, et cetera. But if you look at what the Rand guy was talking about in this briefing, he didn't really use many facts that aren't well known, just the fact that -- and the State Department acknowledges this -- Saudi money has gone to fund the families of homicide bombers, that Saudi money does fund rather radical madrassas (inaudible) education throughout the world, and institutions that we ourselves want to see changing because we, I think, fear that there is a fueling of terrorism in those institutions, and yet --

MR. REEKER: And your point is?

QUESTION: Well, despite all this, is there at least a reevaluation that is going on within the State Department thinking about maybe this embrace of the Saudis is not the wisest thing for our foreign diplomacy?

MR. REEKER: Again, I think your characterization of embraces or otherwise doesn't reflect the way diplomacy is conducted. We work with countries with which we have relationships. We have a broad array of interests. We sometimes have differences and we are able to discuss those differences because we have strong diplomatic relations. That is what that's about. That's how we can effect changes, how we can make our interests and our points known. We have discussed some of the concerns we have had in this regard. The Saudis have discussed some of these concerns.

We have worked with Saudi Arabia in terms of the financial aspects of the war on terrorism. We have provided expertise. We have had teams that have gone back and forth between our two countries on that, and they have -- we have indeed expanded our efforts in this regard in recent times. I think that is all part of the process of diplomacy and why it is important to have those channels at a variety of levels to make clear when we have differences and concerns and how we can work mutually to the benefit of both our countries and both our peoples.

QUESTION: But how do they have a vision of peace if we know they're fueling terrorism?

MR. REEKER: Again, you need to listen to what I've said.

QUESTION: I'm listening.

MR. REEKER: And you need to look at what we have been working on in the Middle East in terms of the Saudis taking an active role, meeting with the President and talking about the responsibilities they have and meeting those responsibilities and working with the parties in the Middle East to work toward the strategy that the President has enunciated on June 24th.

QUESTION: And I get that, but the Saudi Committee for Support of the Intifada Al Quds, which is the one that did the telethon, which is giving the money to the families of the homicide bombers, is headed up by the Interior Minister, who is a member of the royal family.

MR. REEKER: Joel, we have been through all of that. We have talked about before what the Saudi official government has said and steps they're taking to look into those things and steps they're taking to ensure that financing does not go to terrorists. And we will continue to work on those subjects.

So to go over it again here, I can just refer you back to what we have said before, what I have said now about how we work together with the Saudis to see that issues of concern to us are addressed, and that is what diplomacy is about and why we will continue to maintain our relations with Saudi Arabia and with so many other countries to look out for the interests of the United States and our people as we work together all around the world.

QUESTION: One last follow-up. Other than the word of the Saudi Government, what assurances do we have that their money is no longer going into these --

MR. REEKER: We watch these things very closely through a variety of mechanisms, most of which I am not in a position to share with you here.

Yes, Barry.

QUESTION: Has anybody talked to the Rand Corporation, or intends to talk to the Rand Corporation, from the State Department?

MR. REEKER: I don't know. I don't know, Barry,

QUESTION: And by "musings," a word you used twice, which is --

MR. REEKER: I could use it three times, or not.

QUESTION: Well, it sort of suggests, you know, sort of -- well, we all know what "musings" mean. They're just sort of almost like talking in your sleep, someone talking in his sleep. Is there any basis --

QUESTION: You're paraphrasing?

MR. REEKER: We have a dictionary here in our room.

QUESTION: The Rand Corporation is a government-financed, well-regarded research group.

MR. REEKER: Exactly.

QUESTION: And the State Department is dismissing everything that was said as "musings"?

MR. REEKER: I didn't say that, Barry. I said that the views of private individuals speaking to a group of private individuals do not reflect US Government policy.

QUESTION: Sure.

QUESTION: Phil, that's the -- it's the Defense Policy Advisory Board. It's not --

MR. REEKER: It's the Defense Policy --

QUESTION: I mean, it's not like us, a bunch of private individuals.

MR. REEKER: Eli --

QUESTION: It's the people who are supposed to advise the Secretary of Defense on policy --

MR. REEKER: -- who got this from another individual. It was not the Board who was making these statements, Eli.

QUESTION: I understand the Board is not making the statements, but according to Tom Ricks's reporting, the -- everybody except for Henry Kissinger pretty much agreed.

MR. REEKER: I have no way of adjudicating that, Eli, because I wasn't there, nor have I talked to any individual there, and I don't believe you were either.