American Community Security Update November 29, 2001 We use this service to provide you the most up-to-date safety and security related information we have available. We will continue to do so, sending out messages as soon as new information becomes available. In addition to sharing security-related information, we will continue to include news and information about our American Citizens Services of a more general nature. This week we are including preliminary information about absentee voting and the 2002 elections. If you have any suggestions for future topics, or if there is some aspect of our services you'd like to know more about, please FAX us your ideas at 03- 3224-5856. Security Situation: The security situation in Japan remains the same with no new threat information reported from either the American or Japanese side. However, the embassy continues to maintain a heightened state of alert and encourages all Americans to do the same. Alert individuals prepared for terrorist acts, can minimize the likelihood that these acts will be successfully carried out against them. OSAC Meeting: This past week the Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) met at the embassy. OSAC is a group of American businesses who send representatives (some are security professionals, but most are not) to discuss what they can do to enhance the security posture of their company. All American businesses based in Japan are encouraged to join. Call the Embassy's Regional Security Office at (03) 3224- 5000 for more information. Absentee Voters: 2002 Elections Start In March: We now have less than 49 weeks before the 2002 general election to get accurate, non-partisan information about registration and absentee balloting to the roughly 3.5 million non-Department of Defense Americans who reside abroad. Overseas voters are eligible to vote in primary, runoff and special elections, in addition to the general election on Tuesday, November 5, 2002. Three states - California, Illinois and Texas - have primaries starting in March. California's March 5th primary is just 13 weeks away. The Embassy would like to reach out to a lot more of our fellow citizens, help them to register (maybe for the first time) earlier in the year and vote in the primaries as well as the general election. We will try to set clear cutoff dates for mailing ballots back to the US by pouch or Military Postal System so there is no question among voters, and hopefully we can eliminate much of the traditional last-minute rush. We will send you additional information as the coming year unfolds. The U.S. Embassy will be receiving specific information about registration and absentee balloting in coming months. We are not staffed to handle email inquiries at this time. Please contact us by phone or FAX if you have questions. ------------------------------------------------------ Contact us: ------------------------------------------------------ The American Embassy in Tokyo 1-10-5 Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-8420 Tel: 03-3224-5174 Fax: 03-3224-5856 http://www.tokyoacs.com