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Refueling U.S. warships in the Arabian port of Aden is part of a broader U.S. government effort to develop closer ties with Yemen and to place an electronic eavesdropping post on a nearby island, U.S. intelligence officials said yesterday. Military intelligence specialists hope improving relations with the Yemeni government will lead to intelligence cooperation and the building of a signals intelligence site on the island of Socotra, some 220 miles off Yemen's eastern coast.

The island is ideally suited for monitoring electronic signals throughout the region, especially the hundreds of ships that pass daily through the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. ``It磗 a key strategic collection point,创 said one official.

Closer ties with Yemen also might lead to the use of the island as a place to store supplies and equipment that could be used in the event of a regional conflict, the officials said.

The military and U.S. National Security Agency conduct worldwide electronic spying from scores of listening posts around the world and from satellites in space.

During the 1980s, the Soviet Union operated two electronic eavesdropping posts in Yemen, including a large facility in Aden and a smaller eavesdropping post on Socotra. It could not be learned if the stations are still operated by the Russians.

From those facilities, Moscow monitored communications and military activities throughout the Arabian peninsula, the Red Sea and the India Ocean. The desire for a secret intelligence base on Socotra is one reason the Pentagon chose to risk U.S. ship visits to a potential terrorist hot spot, said officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The guided missile destroyer USS Cole was damaged by a suicide terrorist attack from an explosives-laden small boat on Thursday in Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors and injuring 38 others.

Some in the Pentagon have questioned the decision to allow a ship to refuel in Yemen because it is a known safe-haven for several international terrorist groups. A U.S. Navy ship first visited unified Yemen in May 1998 and since then there have been 12 refueling visits.

Sending U.S. ships to the country was viewed as one way to help build ties with Yemen since the visits are considered a benefit to Yemen and a way to show U.S. support, the officials said.

``It was a step by step approach to to signing up another friendly nation in the region,创 the official said.

The military has no plans for basing ships in Yemen and considered the military cooperation as limited to ship visits and refueling, the officials said.

Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon rejected the idea that engagement diplomacy took precedence over security concerns in ties with Yemen.

The Navy has a variety of refueling points and the Pentagon ``worked hard to develop a way to use a number of ports throughout the Middle East that best supports our operations and that best supports our diplomacy in the area,创 Mr. Bacon said.

``In terms of the policy of engagement with Yemen or any other country in the Middle East, I think it磗 very important to realize that these decisions are not made by just the Defense Department. They are government-wide policies,创 Mr. Bacon said.

Asked about the decision to refuel in Yemen, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said ``there磗 always judgments to be made.创 ``We know ships have to refuel, and everywhere in the Middle East, there is a potential threat of terrorism. .{nl}.{nl}. But ultimately, these decisions and judgments have to be made based on the need to refuel, the opportunity is available, and where we think the best place is to do it.创

U.S. military engagement with Yemen, which is strategically located on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula was promoted by Marine Corps Gen. Anthony Zinni, the recently-retired commander-in-chief of the U.S. Central Command.

``We have been working to improve our relations with Yemen for some time,创 said Adm. Vern Clark, the chief of naval operations. The admiral said the refueling visit ``at the heart of the motivation of the unified commander as they are improving our relations in that part of the world.创

The country was divided into North and South Yemen until unification in 1990. The U.S. Central Command, which is in charge of U.S. military activities in the region, since then has tried to bring Yemen ``into the group of responsible nations,创 one military officer said yesterday.

A Central Command spokesman had no immediate comment on the command's policies toward Yemen. Larry Johnson, a former U.S. government counterterrorism specialist, said Yemen has been improving its cooperation with the United States in combating terrorism, including providing anti-terrorism training to Yemenis.

``The U.S. has been trying to work with Yemen and making them a friend and not a foe in the terrorism battle,创 Mr. Johnson said.

Terrorist activities until the bombing of the Cole had been limited to less lethal actions, such as kidnapping foreigners that have to do more with tribal warfare than with anti-U.S. operations, Mr. Johnson said.

Terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah operate offices in Yemen but the country has ``not been an operational center for those groups,创 he said. Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism official, said Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden has maintained ties to Islamic groups in Yemen and recently married a Yemeni national.

``Bin Laden has a great infrastructure in the country,创 Mr. Cannistraro said. Mr. Cannistraro said it is unlikely that whoever carried out the attack will claim responsibility since doing so would invite U.S. retaliation.