The recent security assessment by a key United States military official on Sabah should be a basis for the US State Department to lift its travel advisory, said Defence Minister Najib Razak today.

"We feel vindicated, for whatever we have said or done has been correctly assessed by someone who is very experienced and higher up in the (US) military who knows how to assess a given situation," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

On Tuesday, visiting US Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command, Admiral Thomas Fargo said he was impressed with the security deployment on Sabah's east coast waters bordering the southern Philippines and described it as "excellent by any standard".

Commenting on this, the minister said this was "not an assessment that is biased but one that is objective because it is coming from somebody who is not a member of our own government or armed forces."