ISLAMABAD - Contradicting the reports appearing in a section of media regarding deployment of thousands of US Marines at the US Embassy in Islamabad, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson, Thursday, said only 15-20 US Marines would be deployed in the embassy after its expansion. Briefing a group of journalists on the proposed expansion plan of the US embassy, Patterson expressed astonishment over the media reports that deployment of thousands of Marines was part of the expansion programme. Absolutely baseless and wrong, was the Ambassadors reaction to the news, adding the US could not afford deploying thousands of Marines at its embassies. We have nearly 1,000 Marines in our 150 embassies and consulates around the world, an aide of the US Ambassador informed asking how 7,000, 10,000 or so Marines could be deployed at a single embassy. She also said that the large US embassy was not for spying on Pakistan, rather it wanted to assist Islamabad in energy, education, health and other social sectors. Patterson said that presently there were only 9 Marines in Islamabad and 6 in Karachi while the compound that has been much trumpeted in Pakistani media would accommodate only 15-20 Marines. She said there were a number of reasons behind the $736 million expansion plan of the embassy, which, she added, would be carried out over a period of 7 years. First of all, the US is going to triple its civilian aid to Pakistan, which would require an additional presence of the US officials and support staff, Patterson said. Secondly, the present building is 40-year old and cannot even cater to the needs of our present staff. One of the embassy officials took the journalists to various offices of the embassy where the staff were working in a very congested environment. Another astonishing fact was that a number of containers were piled upon one another and were changed into offices. The US Ambassador said, We have taken 200 houses in Islamabad on rent and the US wanted to put them together in the embassy for the purpose of convenience and security. She said there was nothing dangerous for Pakistan in expansion of the US Embassy; rather it was a sign of more US assistance to Pakistan and better bilateral relations. In response to a question, Patterson said that the expanded US embassy in Islamabad would neither be the largest US Embassy in the World nor would it be the largest embassy in the Islamabads Diplomatic Enclave. Some Arab and European countries have larger embassies than our expanded embassy would be, she said. She informed that around 500-600 additional staff would be hired for the expanded embassy more than half of which would be Pakistani citizens. Responding to another query, Patterson said that US was fully satisfied with the security of Pakistans nuclear arsenal and that her country never expressed any reservation over security of Pakistani nukes in official capacity. She also said that Pakistans security situation had dramatically improved and that its forces had overcome militants in a very short time.