Baghdad, Iraq ? The U.S. Embassy, a diplomatic fortress in central Baghdad’s isolated “Green Zone,” has begun hiring its local staff from neighboring Jordan, rather than recruiting Iraqis.

An internal embassy notice obtained by The Associated Press says the “Jordan Hiring Program” was devised because Iraqis face “unique security and safety risks” in working for the embassy, a reference to the threat of violence facing Iraqis associated with the U.S. occupation.

Embassy officials would not answer questions about the program, including whether they were having difficulty hiring Iraqis or whether they had concerns Iraqis might pose security risks as possible sympathizers with the anti-U.S. insurgency.

Housed in the huge, semicircular Republican Palace of the ousted Baathist Party regime, the embassy is the largest U.S. mission in the world, with a total staff of more than 5,700, including 2,300 in privately contracted security jobs, according to a U.S. Senate report.

The “locally engaged staff” totals more than 200, but it could not be learned how many are Iraqi Arabs and how many are Iraqi Kurds or Arabs from other countries.

U.S. embassies around the world hire host-country nationals for many positions, typically clerical jobs and posts for which the local language is essential.

Newly hired Jordanians “will not replace the loyal and talented Iraqi employees already working in Baghdad,” said a circular distributed internally within the embassy Jan. 31 and obtained more recently by AP.

Iraqi civilians secure a rope around the neck of a large statue of President Saddam Hussein, attempting to tear it down in 2003 in downtown Baghdad. The U.S. Embassy, a diplomatic fortress in central Baghdad's isolated Green

“It is intended as an interim measure to cover Embassy LES (locally engaged staff) hiring needs while Embassy employment poses special dangers and risks to Iraqi staff.”

The new staff will technically be employees of the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, on 12-month temporary duty in Baghdad, during which they will be housed by the U.S. mission.

The four-page administrative notice said the Amman embassy would advertise the openings in Jordanian newspapers, and Baghdad embassy supervisors could interview applicants via video conferencing. New hires would be trained in the United States before returning to Amman and then Baghdad.

The 4-square-mile International Zone, also known as the Green Zone to distinguish it from the dangerous “red zone” beyond its walls, encompasses foreign embassies, offices of Iraq’s interim government and apartments, trailers and other accommodations for the thousands of Americans and other foreigners living in relative safety there.

It is ringed by miles of 12-foot-high blast walls, and its interior is crisscrossed by still more concrete barriers and concertina wire and dotted with checkpoints anchored by U.S. armored vehicles.