WASHINGTON - The United States on Tuesday scrambled to assure Saudi Arabia that U.S. policy toward its Gulf ally had not changed after reports of a briefing to a Pentagon advisory panel depicting Riyadh as an emerging enemy and backer of terrorism.

Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal to tell him that President Bush did not view the longtime Gulf ally as a potential enemy.

Sources familiar with the July briefing, including former U.S. officials, told Reuters on Tuesday that an analyst from the private Rand Corporation told the Defense Policy Board that Washington should press the Saudis to stop funding militant Islamic outlets worldwide and halt anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli statements in the kingdom.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, asked if Bush felt Saudi Arabia was doing enough to fight terrorism, said, "Yes."

"Saudi Arabia is a long-standing friend and a long-standing ally. We very much appreciate the way they are cooperating in the global war on terrorism," he told reporters flying with Bush to Texas.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also quickly attacked the leak from a classified briefing, stressing it was one analyst's opinion and represented neither the views of the U.S. government nor the advisory Defense Policy Board of former top government officials and military officers.

"I just think it's a terribly unprofessional thing to do. It's harmful in this case ... because it creates a misimpression," he told Pentagon employees in response to questions about a report by The Washington Post about the briefing by Rand analyst Laurent Murawiec.

'PURE FICTION.' SAYS SAUDI SPOKESMAN

"Of course Saudi Arabia is like any other country. It has a broad spectrum of activities and things, some of which obviously ... that we agree with and some we may not," Rumsfeld said.

Saudi Arabia was a key U.S. ally in the 1991 Gulf War against Iraq and has bought billions of dollars in American arms and provided bases for U.S. forces in the region.

While the Bush administration and the conservative Saudi leadership have remained friends and allies publicly, some U.S. officials have privately voiced deep concern over Islamic militancy in the kingdom and Saudi support of fundamentalist education throughout the Muslim world.

Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah's foreign policy adviser, Adel al-Jubeir, told Reuters in a telephone interview from Saudi Arabia that the analyst's views were "pure fiction."

"They fly in the face of reality and in the face of history," he said. "Our two countries have been friends and allies for over 60 years and the relationship has gone from strength to strength. To describe our two countries as having a relationship of enmity is ridiculous."

Rumsfeld said in response to questions at the Pentagon meeting that a number of aircraft hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 attacks on America were Saudis, but he said "there are those issues that Saudi Arabia is wrestling with just as other countries are wrestling with."

HARSH ASSESSMENT OF SAUDI FUNDAMENTALISM

Saudi Arabia, along with many Middle East and European allies of the United States, has expressed strong reservations about any U.S. attempt to invade Iraq and oust Saddam Hussein, who Washington says is developing chemical, biological and nuclear arms.

Sources familiar with the briefing, who asked not to be identified, declined to provide details of the July meeting of prominent intellectuals and former senior U.S. officials and retired officers, who provide advice to the Defense Department on policy.

But the Post reported direct quotes from Murawiec, who it said provided a harsh assessment of Saudi Islamic fundamentalism.

"The Saudis are active at every level of the terror chain, from planners to financiers, from cadre to foot-soldier, from ideologist to cheerleader," the Post reported Murawiec as saying. "Saudi Arabia supports our enemies and attacks our allies."

The briefing urged U.S. officials to target Saudi oil fields and overseas financial assets if the Saudis refused to stop funding Islamic fundamentalist outlets around the world and halt anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli statements in the kingdom, according to the Post.

Members of the Defense Policy Board include former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Defense Secretaries James Schlesinger and Harold Brown, former House of Representatives speakers Newt Gingrich and Thomas Foley; and several retired senior military officers.

The Rand Corporation, a prominent think tank, issued a brief statement on Tuesday saying that "the briefing prepared by Laurent Murawiec was not a Rand research product."

"It represents one personal contribution to an ongoing policy debate on which there are a wide range of views within Rand and elsewhere," it said. "The opinions and conclusions expressed are those of the author and should not be interpreted as representing those of Rand or any of the agencies or others sponsoring its research."