2012 Benghazi attack

This article is about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. For the worldwide protests, see Reactions to 'Innocence of Muslims'.

U.S. Consulate attack in Benghazi
File:2012 Benghazi consulate attack.png Fire burns in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi after the attack there on September 11, 2012
Location	Benghazi, Libya
Date	September 11–12, 2012 22:00 – 02:00 EET (UTC+02:00)
Target	United States consulate and second location (annex)
Attack type	Armed assault, rioting, arson
Weapons	Rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, assault rifles, diesel canisters, gun trucks, mortars
Deaths	4 Americans
Injured	2 Americans, 7 Libyans

On September 11, 2012, the United States consulate in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by militias, heavily armed with rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, various small arms (possibly AK-47 and FN F2000 NATO assault rifles), gun trucks, and mortars, in a sustained gunbattle that lasted nearly 5 hours. Killed in the attack were United States Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other members of his diplomatic mission: Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and private security employees and former U.S. Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods; two other Americans were injured. The attack damaged the main consulate building and also the surrounding buildings in the compound, including the annex.

The attack was widely reported as a reaction to the anti-Islamic film Innocence of Muslims, but this was disputed by the Libyan government. U.S. intelligence confirmed later that the "deliberate and organized terrorist attack" was not prompted by the film. However, the coinciding protest of the film in Cairo, Egypt launched a series of demonstrations and other reactions against the film around the world. There were non-fatal protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo against the movie that same day. When U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice appeared on Sunday political talk shows on September 16, she asserted that the attacks were a "spontaneous reaction" to "a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world." However, some private analysts and US and Libyan officials noted early on that the Benghazi attack appeared to have been professionally executed.

On September 12, President Obama strongly condemned the attack and the administration said it would open an investigation into whether it was a planned terrorist attack. On September 20, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the formation of a panel, separate from the FBI investigation, to investigate the attack, and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney for the first time called the event "a terrorist attack". According to The Daily Beast three separate U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the attack that it was "planned and the work of al Qaeda affiliates operating in Eastern Libya."

Libyan officials have alleged that it was part of a planned two-part attack that also included a raid on a safe house. Libyan authorities have arrested some 50 people in connection with the attack. Mohammed Magarief, president of Libya's new interim assembly, said that the suspects were connected to al-Qaeda and that the attack was planned by foreigners who had entered the country a few months earlier. Libyan President Mohamed Magarief told NBC News that there were no protestors at the site before the attack, that the attack was pre-planned, and that the anti-Islam film had "nothing to do with" the attack.

On September 21, about 30,000 Libyan protesters against the armed groups stormed several militia headquarters, including Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militia alleged to have played a role in the attack. They forced militia members to flee and seized control of a number of compounds, releasing four prisoners found inside.

The Washington Post Fact Checker blog reported on September 27 that the Obama administration's response was a "case study of how an administration can carefully keep the focus as long as possible on one storyline [the video] — and then turn on a dime when it is no longer tenable."

Details

Background

Al-Qaeda had sponsored a series of terrorist attacks on United States facilities over the previous two decades, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, and the September 11th attacks of 2001. In April 2012, two former security guards for the consulate threw a homemade IED over the consulate fence; the incident did not cause any casualties. In May 2012 an Al-Qaida affiliate calling itself the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi. The group later released a video of what it said was its detonation of an explosive device outside the gates of the U.S. consulate on June 5, which caused no casualties reported but damaged the consulate's perimeter wall. The Brigades claimed that the attack was in response to the killing of Abu Yahya al Libi, a Libyan al-Qaeda leader who had just died in an American drone attack, and was also timed to coincide with the imminent arrival of a U.S. diplomat. There were no injuries, but the group left behind leaflets promising more attacks against the U.S.

After the fatal September 11 attack, CNN reported that a Benghazi security official and a battalion commander had met with U.S. diplomats three days before the attack and had warned the Americans about deteriorating security in the area. The official told CNN that the diplomats had been advised that "[t]he situation is frightening, it scares us."

On the day of the attack, Al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri declared that al Libi's death still needed to be avenged.

On September 14, CNN correspondent Arwa Damon found Ambassador Stevens' diary at the unsecured site of the attack. In it, Stevens expressed his concern about the growing al-Qaeda presence in the area and his worry about being on an al-Qaeda hit list. The U.S. State Department later accused CNN of violating privacy and breaking its promise to Stevens' family that it would not report on the diary.

The attack

J. Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the Benghazi attack

The assault on the Benghazi consulate consisted of two separate attacks that forced the Americans from the consulate and then besieged them in a second building in a gunbattle that lasted four and half hours, according to a detailed timeline from a senior administration official. According to the U.S. State Department, at 10:00 p.m. CAT, the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was attacked by gunmen, who in minutes gained entry into the compound. A Libyan security guard who was wounded in the attack said in an interview that the area was quiet "until about 9:35 pm, when as many as 125 armed men descended on the compound from all directions." The attackers lobbed grenades and stormed through the facility’s main gate shouting "God is great", according to the guard. According to eyewitness Mohammad al Bishari, the property's landlord, assailants moved in from two directions. The attackers set the consulate on fire using diesel canisters. The main building, containing Ambassador Stevens, Information Management Officer Sean Smith, and a security officer, became engulfed in fire. The three became separated, and the security officer was the only person to make it out alive. At about 10:45, U.S. security personnel tried to retake the main building but were unsuccessful and retreated to the annex.

With the assistance of Libyan forces, the American security personnel were able to evacuate the rest of the main building to the annex. Gunmen attacked the annex at midnight, killing two American security personnel. By 2:00 a.m. CAT on September 12, Libyan and American security forces had "regained control of the situation". However, they could not locate the body of Ambassador Stevens, who had already been taken to a local hospital. At the hospital Stevens was administered CPR for 90 minutes by Dr. Ziad Buzaid. According to Dr. Buzaid, Stevens died from asphyxiation caused by smoke inhalation, although the circumstances of the ambassador's death are still being investigated.

The bodies were taken to Benina International Airport and flown to the capital, Tripoli, and scheduled to fly to a U.S. airbase in Germany. Abdel-Monem Al-Hurr, the spokesman for Libya's Supreme Security Committee, said: "One American staff member has died and a number have been injured in the clashes. There are fierce clashes between the Libyan army and an armed militia outside the U.S. consulate", while adding that roads leading to the compound were sealed off and Libyan state security forces had surrounded the building. From Germany, the four bodies arrived at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, DC, where President Barack Obama and members of his cabinet held a ceremony in honor of those killed.

Soon after the attack, US and Libyan government officials noted that it appeared to have been a complex and professionally executed attack. On September 13, Libya's deputy Interior Minister, Wanis al-Sharef, said that the attacks on the consulate were suspected to be timed to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, and that militants used protests over the anti-Islam film as cover for their assault. He described the attack as a two-phase assault on the consulate and separate annex.

Rescuing of Stevens

A 22-year-old freelance videographer, Fahd al-Bakoush, later published a video showing Libyans trying to rescue U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens from a room filled with smoke at the attacked diplomatic mission where he was found unconscious, which confirms reports that suggested the U.S. envoy died of asphyxiation after the building caught fire. Some of the Libyans who entered the compound tried to rescue Stevens after they found him lying alone on the floor in a dark smoke-filled room with a locked door accessible only by a window. According to U.S. officials, security personnel were separated from Stevens during the attack in the chaos of smoke and gunfire that ensued. A group of men pulled him out of the room through the window, and then placed on the courtyard's stone tile floor. The crowd cheered "God is Greatest" when Stevens was found to be alive. He was then rushed to the hospital in a private car as there were no ambulance to carry him. According to U.S. officials, amid the evacuation, Stevens and foreign service officer Sean Smith were inside the consulate with a regional security officer. They got separated in the smoke. The security officer and others went back in to try to find the two of them and found Smith dead. They pulled him out but flames and gunfire forced them to flee before they could find Stevens.

Seif Eddin Zoghbia was the general surgeon on duty at the Benghazi Medical Center when the ambassador was rushed in by strangers five hours later at around 1 a.m.. For the next half hour, doctors and nurses tried to revive the body to no avail, said Zoghbia, adding that the ambassador died of asphyxiation and that there were no signs of trauma on his body. Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid later told The Associated Press that Stevens was nearly lifeless when he was brought by Libyans, Stevens had severe asphyxia from the smoke and that he tried for 90 minutes to resuscitate him with no success. Only later did security officials confirm he was an American and an ambassador. Stevens' body was later returned to U.S. custody.

Fatalities and injuries

Four Americans died in the attack: Ambassador Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and two security personnel, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs. Initial reports indicated that ten Libyan guards died; this was later retracted and reported that seven Libyans were injured.

Security breaches

Sensitive documents were missing after the attack, including documents listing the names of Libyans working with the Americans, and documents relating to oil contracts. Mortars attacked the annex, whose location was not generally known to the public, where embassy staff had regrouped. Other locations in Libya of this type are no longer regarded as safe. Afterwards, all staff were moved to the capital, Tripoli, with nonessential personnel to be flown out of Libya.

Aftermath

Libyan response

Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur's office condemned the attack and extended condolences, saying: "While strongly condemning any attempt to abuse the person of Muhammad, or an insult to our holy places and prejudice against the faith, we reject and strongly condemn the use of force to terrorise innocent people and the killing of innocent people." It also reaffirmed "the depth of relationship between the peoples of Libya and the U.S., which grew closer with the positions taken by the U.S. government in support of the revolution of February 17." Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, the President of the General National Congress of Libya, said: "We apologise to the United States, the people and to the whole world for what happened. We confirm that no-one will escape from punishment and questioning."

Libyans held demonstrations in Benghazi and Tripoli on September 12, condemning the violence and holding signs such as, "Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans", and apologizing to Americans for the actions in their name and in the name of Muslims. The New York Times noted that young Libyans had also flooded Twitter with pro-American messages after the attacks. It was noted that Libyans are typically more positively inclined towards the United States than their neighbors. A 2012 Gallup poll noted that "A majority of Libyans (54%) surveyed in March and April 2012 approve of the leadership of the U.S. -- among the highest approval Gallup has ever recorded in the... region, outside of Israel." Another poll in Eastern Libya, taken in 2011, reported that the population was at the same time both deeply religious conservative Muslims and very pro-American, with 90% of respondents reporting favorable views of the United States.

Ali Aujali, the ambassador to the United States, praised Stevens as a "dear friend" and a "real hero" at a reception in Washington, D.C., alongside Hillary Clinton. He also urged the United States to continue supporting Libya this "very difficult time" and that the young Libyan government needed help so that it could "maintain...security and stability in our country."

The Libyan response to the crisis was praised and appreciated in the United States, and President Obama emphasized how the Libyans "helped our diplomats to safety" to an American audience the following day, while a New York Times editorial criticized Egypt's government for not doing "what Libyan leaders did."

On September 16, Libyan authorities arrested four people in connection with the attack, and were investigating another 50 suspects. Mohamed Magarief said that the attack was pre-planned. He said that suspects were connected to al-Qaeda, or its "affiliates and maybe sympathisers" and said that it was "planned by foreigners" that has entered the country from "Mali and Algeria" a few months before the attacks.

Anti-militia demonstrations

On September 21, about 30,000 Libyans marched through Benghazi calling for the support of the rule of law and for an end to armed militias. Carrying signs with slogans such as "We Want Justice For Chris" and "Libya Lost a Friend," the protestors stormed several militia headquarters, including that of Ansar al-Sharia, an Islamist militia who some allege played a role in the attack on U.S. diplomatic personnel on September 11. At least 10 people were killed and dozens more wounded as militiamen fired on demonstrators at the headquarters of Sahaty Brigade, a pro-government militia "operating under the authority of the ministry of defence." By early the next morning, the protestors had forced militia members to flee and seized control of a number of compounds, releasing four prisoners found inside. Protesters burnt a car and a building of at least one facility, and looted weapons. The militia compounds and many weapons were handed over to Libya's national army in what "appeared to be part of a coordinated sweep of militia bases by police, government troops and activists" following the earlier demonstrations. Some militia members accused the protestors of being Qaddafi loyalists, looking to disarm the militias in the wake of the revolution.

Government campaign to disband militias

On September 23, taking advantage of the growing momentum and rising anger against the militias evinced in the earlier anti-militia demonstrations, the Libyan president declared that all unauthorized militias had 48 hours to either disband or come under government control. The government also mandated that bearing arms in public was now illegal, as were armed checkpoints.

It has been noted that previously, handling the militias had been difficult as the government had been forced to rely on some of them for protection and security. However, according to a Libyan interviewed in Tripoli, the government gained the ability to push back against the militias because the "mandate of the people."

On the 24th, the government commenced with a raid on a former military base held by a rogue infantry militia.

Across the country, militias began surrendering to the government. The government formed a "National Mobile Force" for the purpose of evicting illegal militias. On the same day as the declaration, various militias in Misrata held meetings, ultimately deciding to submit to the government's authority, and handed over various public facilities they had been holding, including the city's three main jails, which were handed over to the authority of the Ministry of Justice. Hours before the announcement, in Derna, the two main militias (one of them Ansar-al-Sharia) active in the city both withdrew, leaving both their five military bases behind.

Hundreds of Libyans, mainly former rebel fighters, gathered in the city centers of Tripoli and Benghazi to hand over their weapons to the government on the 29th of September.

U.S. government response

Early on, administration officials described the attack as a protest, although one U.S. official acknowledged that the attack was likely organized and deliberate, as other sources were indicating. It was announced that the FBI would investigate the possibility the attack was planned.

President Barack Obama, with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, delivering a statement at the White House on September 12, 2012 in which he condemned the attack on the U.S. consulate.

U.S. President Barack Obama strongly condemned "this outrageous attack" on U.S. diplomatic facilities while also stating that "[s]ince our founding, the United States has been a nation that respects all faiths. We reject all efforts to denigrate the religious beliefs of others." He further ordered that security be increased at all such facilities. A Marine FAST team was sent to Libya to "bolster security".

On September 14 the remains of the slain Americans were returned to the U.S. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attended the ceremony. During her remarks Clinton "repeated her denunciations of a privately produced, anti-Muslim video posted to the Internet that has been blamed for the violent, anti-American reactions in the Middle East." That same day White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said “These protests were in reaction to a video that had spread to the region. The cause of the unrest was a video, and that continues today, as you know, as we anticipated.”

Five days after the attack, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice did a "Full Ginsburg" (that is, appeared on five different Sunday political talk shows on the same day). She reiterated that the attacks were a "spontaneous reaction" to "a hateful and offensive video that was widely disseminated throughout the Arab and Muslim world."

The United States Navy dispatched two Arleigh Burke class destroyers, the USS McFaul and the USS Laboon, to the Libyan coast. The destroyers are equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles. American UAVs were also sent to fly over Libya to search for the perpetrators of the attack.

On September 20 Secretary Clinton announced the formation of a panel to investigate the attack. This panel's inquiry was to be separate from that of the FBI.

On September 26 Clinton acknowledged a possible link between Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the September 11 attack.

Criticism of U.S. government response

Republican Party members took issue with the Democratic Party controlled administration, accusing the White House and State Department of overplaying the role of the protests against a trailer for a controversial anti-Islamic movie in the case of Libya and the government's alleged reluctance to label the attack as "terrorist". Representative Mike Rogers (R-MI), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, has questioned whether there were any protests at all in Benghazi, saying: "I have seen no information that shows that there was a protest going on as you have seen around any other embassy at the time. It was clearly designed to be an attack." According to critics, the consulate site should have been secured better both before and after the attack.

On the 20th, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a classified briefing to U.S. Senators, which several Republican attendees criticized as uninformative.

GOP legislators also took issue with delays in the investigation, which CNN attributed to "bureaucratic infighting" between the FBI, Justice, and State. On the 26th, Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) said he "cannot believe that the FBI is not on the ground yet."

The Washington Post Fact Checker blog reported on September 27 that the Obama administration's response was a "case study of how an administration can carefully keep the focus as long as possible on one storyline [the video] — and then turn on a dime when it is no longer tenable."

During an October 3, 2012 guest appearance on a Fox News national security program hosted by former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs K.T. McFarland, DEFCON3, Congressional counterterrorism advisor Michael S. Smith II asserted that one area of criticism the Obama administration should prepare to address in the wake of the September 11, 2012 attacks in Libya pertains to its policy of “inaction” when opportunities arose “to go in, especially into Libya during the Arab Spring, and begin to capture, recapture, or kill a lot of jihadis like the individual who’s believed to have led the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi. The policy, however, was one of inaction.” Asked by McFarland if he thought events in Libya like the September 11, 2012 attacks reflect an example of success with al Qaeda’s possible efforts to “hijack” Arab Spring revolutions, Smith stated: “I’m not absolutely certain about that. I think what we see in the post-Arab Spring era is much stronger influence being asserted by the Muslim Brotherhood. … Meanwhile, I think we might want to look upon the September 11, 2012 attacks and similar events in this light: Al Qaeda … has had a much easier time exploiting policy vacuums in Washington than leadership vacuums in the Arab Spring.”

Investigation timeline

On September 12, CNN reported that, according to a globalsecurity.org expert, "in all likelihood" the assault rifles used in the attack were the AK-47 and the Belgium-made FN F2000 NATO assault rifles.

On September 12, Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharif of the Libyan government told a news conference in Benghazi that it was likely that the perpetrators had been Gaddafi loyalists, suggesting the attack could have been intended as a revenge for the extradition of Abdullah al-Senoussi (Gaddafi's former intelligence chief) from Mauritania the previous month.

On September 13, CBS News reported that the FBI opened an investigation into the deaths; a team was sent to investigate, with another team for security. The FBI officials are set to arrive by September 21 in Benghazi to work with Libyan officials. U.S. officials said surveillance over Libya would increase, including the use of unmanned drones, to "hunt for the attackers." CNN reported that the attackers were part of an Al Qaeda spinoff group. They spoke with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who said the killings were possibly linked to the terrorist group blamed for the 9/11 hijackings. According to Sen. Feinstein, “The weapons were somewhat sophisticated, and they blew a big hole in the building and started a big fire.”

On September 15, SITE Intelligence Group released a report that al-Qaeda said the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya was in revenge for the killing of the network's number two Sheikh Abu Yahya al-Libi.

On September 16, in an exclusive interview with NPR in Benghazi, President Mohammed el-Megarif said that foreigners infiltrated Libya over the past few months, planned the attack, and used Libyans to carry it out. According to el-Megarif: "The idea that this criminal and cowardly act was a spontaneous protest that just spun out of control is completely unfounded and preposterous. We firmly believe that this was a precalculated, preplanned attack that was carried out specifically to attack the U.S. Consulate." He said the attackers used the protesters outside the consulate as a cover, and there is evidence showing that elements of Ansar al-Sharia, an extremist group in eastern Benghazi, were used by foreign citizens with ties to al-Qaida to attack the consulate.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said one NBC's Meet the Press “What happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, prompted by the video.” However, Senator John McCain (R-AZ), the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, suspected that the attack was planned in advance and not prompted by the furor over the film. He noted that "[m]ost people don't bring rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons to demonstrations. That was an act of terror."

On September 17, Fox News reported that an "intelligence source on the ground in Libya" said "there was no demonstration outside the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi" before the attack. The source was quoted as saying, "There was no protest and the attacks were not spontaneous." The source also said that the attack "was planned and had nothing to do with the movie." The source said the assault came with no warning at about 9:35 p.m. local time and included fire from more than two locations. The information for the time and for multiple directions of the attack corroborates an eyewitness report. Representative Mike Rogers (R) Michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in an interview with Real Clear Politics that there were reports that the Consulate sustained "indirect fire, artillery type fire from mortars. They had direct unit action. It was coordinated in a way that was very unusual. They repulsed a quick reaction force that came to the facility...."

On September 19, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olson, appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. During the hearing Olsen said that the Americans killed in Libya died “in the course of a terrorist attack.” But he said that "the facts that we have now indicate that this was an opportunistic attack," one in which heavily armed militants took advantage of an ongoing demonstration at the Consulate. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) disagreed with Olsen’s statement that the attack did not appear pre-planned. She said, "Based on the briefings I have had, I’ve come to the opposite conclusion. I just don’t think that people come to protests equipped with RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades] and other heavy weapons. And the reports of complicity—and they are many—with Libyan guards who were assigned to guard the consulate also suggest to me that this was premeditated." The conclusion of a premeditated and coordinated attack on the Consulate supported President of Libya's view in the September 16 NPR interview. Olsen told committee members that the U.S. is "looking at indications" that some attackers had connections to al-Qaeda or its North African affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

On September 20, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated that the attack was an act of terror, not a spontaneous attack as he and the White House had stated earlier. On the same day, during an appearance on Univision, a Spanish-language television network in the United States, President Obama said that protests linked to the anti-Islamic trailer on YouTube were used by extremists to launch attacks on the consulate. President Obama is quoted as saying, "What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests." Carney was quoted as saying, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack." In the same report CNN noted conflicting reports that U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens "believed he was on an al Qaeda hit list." Reuters also reported that U.S. authorities are investigating collusion between the militants who launched the attack on the consulate and locally hired Libyan personnel guarding the facility. This corroborates earlier statements by U.S. government officials who stated there were multiple accounts of collusion between the attackers and the Libyan security guards.

On September 21, U.S. officials said that the heavily armed extremists who laid siege to the consulate used "military-style tactics". Intelligence reports also indicate that 50 or more people took part in the attack and used gun trucks and precise mortar fire.

On September 26, The Daily Beast reported that three separate U.S. intelligence officials knew within 24 hours of the attack that it was "planned and the work of al Qaeda affiliates operating in Eastern Libya." On the same day Libyan president Mohamed Magariefd, in an interview with NBC News, said that there were no protestors at the site before the attack and that the anti-Islam film had "nothing to do with" the attack. "Reaction should have been, if it was genuine, should have been six months earlier. So it was postponed until the 11th of September," he said. "They chose this date, 11th of September to carry a certain message."

On October 3, the Washington Post reported that the FBI investigation team was in Tripoli and had not reached Benghazi yet.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting its own investigation of the attack. In an October 2 letter to Secretary of State Clinton, Darrell Issa (R-CA, chairman of the Committee) and Jason Chaffetz (R-UT, chairman of the subcommittee on National Security, Homeland Defense, and Foreign Operations) write that "the attack that claimed the Ambassador's life was the latest in a long line of attacks on Western diplomats and officials in Libya in the months leading up to September 11, 2012. It was clearly never, as Administration officials once insisted, the result of a popular protest." The letter goes on to state that the mission in Benghazi was denied increased security they repeatedly requested. Subpoenaed witnesses set to testify before the committee on October 10 are Charlene Lamb, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State; Eric Nordstrom, Regional Security Officer, U.S. Department of State; and Lt. Col. Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard, U.S. Army. According to Lt. Col. Wood, his 16-member team and a six-member State Department elite force called a Mobile Security Deployment team left Libya in August, one month before the assault on the diplomatic mission. Wood says that's despite the fact that U.S. officials in Libya wanted security increased, not decreased.

See also

• Reactions to the 2012 diplomatic missions attacks
• Ambassadors of the United States killed in office

External links

• Interactive Map of Attack at The New York Times
• Map of Consulate grounds