The defense secretary, Mark Esper, said he has instructed the US armed forces to review both security at military bases and screening for foreign soldiers who come to the US for training.
On Friday, a Saudi air force lieutenant killed three people and wounded eight at a navy base in Pensacola, Florida. On Fox News Sunday, Esper said he had asked top defense officials to “make sure we’re taking all necessary precautions” to make sure military installations were secure.
The shooting was the second at a US naval base in a week. A sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, opened fire on three civilian employees on Wednesday, killing two before killing himself.
Esper said he had also asked the Pentagon to “review what our screening procedures are” before soldiers from other countries come to the US for training programs he said were “very important to our national security”.
Donald Trump also indicated a review of policies governing foreign military training. More than 850 Saudis are in the US for training activities. They are among more than 5,000 foreign students from 153 countries.
The president tweeted his condolences and noted that Saudi King Salman had reassured him in a call that the shooter “in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people”.
“This has been done for many decades,” Trump said of the training programmes on Saturday. “I guess we’re going to have to look into the whole procedure. We’ll start that immediately.”
Officials investigating the attack were working to determine whether it was motivated by terrorism. The Saudi student hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a US official told the Associated Press.
The official said one of the three students who attended the party recorded video outside the classroom building while the shooting took place. Two Saudi students watched from a car, the official said. Ten Saudi students were being held on the base while several others were unaccounted for, said the official.
The FBI identified the gunman as Mohammed Alshamrani, 21.
Two sheriff’s deputies were wounded, one in the arm and one in the knee, before one killed the gunman. Six others were hurt. Both deputies were expected to survive.
The navy identified the three men who died and hailed them as heroes for trying to stop the gunman and flagging down first responders after being shot.
“The sailors that lost their lives in the line of duty and showed exceptional heroism and bravery in the face of evil,” Capt Tim Kinsella, commanding officer of naval air station Pensacola, said in a statement. “When confronted, they didn’t run from danger; they ran towards it and saved lives.”
One of the victims was a 23-year-old recent graduate of the US Naval Academy who alerted first responders to where the shooter was after he had been shot several times.
“Joshua Kaleb Watson saved countless lives today with his own,” his older brother, Adam Watson, wrote on Facebook. “He died a hero and we are beyond proud.”
Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, of St Petersburg, Florida, joined the navy after graduating high school last year, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
Haitham’s mother, Evelyn Brady, herself a navy veteran, said the commander of her son’s school called her and told her Haitham had tried to stop the shooter. The former track and field star had been assigned to flight crew training and was looking forward to graduating from the program later this month, she said.
“He said he was going to get his flight jacket for Christmas,” she said. “Now that’s not going to happen.”
The third victim was airman apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21, of Richmond Hill, Georgia.
