http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/terrorism/261137-rep-issa-closes-in-on-clinton
Issa’s staff has also praised Clinton for vowing to cooperate with the investigation of how an attack on the consulate left U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other American diplomats dead.
http://news.yahoo.com/state-dept-reveals-details-benghazi-attack-062900114.html
( Paging Susan Rice - is this today's version of the truth from the State Department ? )
Rep. Issa closes in on Clinton
- 10/10/12 05:00 AM ET
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is setting his sights on his biggest political target yet: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is treading more carefully than he did with his investigation of Attorney General Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious gun-tracking program, which led to a House vote placing Holder in contempt.
Issa has not called on Clinton to testify at a hearing Wednesday morning meant to investigate security lapses at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
“After dealing with the Department of Justice’s stonewalling in Operation Fast and Furious, the State Department and Secretary Clinton have been a breath of fresh air,” said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa, in an interview with The Hill. “They pledged their cooperation when we made our first two witness requests.”
But there are signs that a prolonged investigation by the pugnacious Issa and his panel, which enjoys subpoena power over the administration, will bring the two Washington heavyweights into conflict.
While Issa has not directly criticized Clinton, one of his lieutenants — Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) — did on Tuesday, arguing the White House and Clinton had been more concerned with normalizing relations with Libya’s new government than with security.
“It seems to be a coordinated effort between the White House and the State Department, from Secretary Clinton to President Obama’s White House,” Chaffetz said on the Fox News Channel morning show.
He said State had been too concerned that “putting up barbed wire on our facility would lead to the wrong impression.”
Issa has called four witnesses for the hearing.
Two of them have alleged that the State Department refused requests for more security in Libya, prompting Issa’s probe.
Eric Nordstrom, a regional security officer who left Tripoli about two months before the attack, told the committee that Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs Charlene Lamb wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi “artificially low,” according to the Democratic memo.
And Lt. Col. Andy Wood, the head of a 16-member special operations team that left Libya in August, said Stevens wanted his team to stay in the country.
The State Department is sending Lamb and Patrick Kennedy, the undersecretary for management, to give its version of events.
Wednesday’s hearing should be well-attended, even with Congress not in session.
Seven Republicans and four Democrats confirmed to The Hill that they planned on going, and another six lawmakers said they had prior engagements. No one said he or she would avoid it because it would be too partisan.
The Republicans who confirmed their attendance are Reps. James Lankford (Okla.), Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Pat Meehan (Pa.), Scott DesJarlais (Tenn.), Trey Gowdy (S.C.) and Jim Jordan (Ohio). Democrats include Reps. Chris Murphy (Conn.), Danny Davis (Ill.) and Jim Cooper (Tenn.) and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.).
A fight between Issa and Clinton would have implications not only in the 2012 election, but possibly 2016 as well, given speculation — rejected by Clinton — that she might run again for the White House.
The real target for all of Issa’s investigations is Obama, whom Clinton is under pressure to protect even as she looks to cement her own reputation as a successful secretary of State.
And Issa, in going after State, is setting himself up for a battle with one of the country’s most popular and influential political figures.
Clinton is also a Washington player with a cadre of loyal lieutenants dedicated to protecting her image — not to mention her husband, President Bill Clinton.
Clinton and Issa have tangled in the past.
In 1998, Clinton, whose brother was married to Sen. Barbara Boxer’s daughter, campaigned with the California Democrat against Issa, who ended up losing the Senate election to a primary challenger despite pouring millions of dollars into the race.
Issa and Clinton came up against each other again in 2003, when California’s Democratic governor, Gray Davis, was in the midst of being recalled.
Problems for Clinton could arise down the road as the committee looks into whether it was misled by the administration — a central theme to Issa’s investigation of Holder.
After the Benghazi attack, the administration initially held that it wasn’t premeditated, but rather caused by a protest that got out of control. Officials now acknowledge the attack was terrorism.
Similarly, the Justice Department initially denied letting guns fall into the hands of criminals when Congress began asking questions about Operation Fast and Furious.
The department later rescinded that stance, but the damage was done and Issa fervently went after senior DOJ officials, and eventually Holder, for misleading Congress.
For the time being, Issa’s office holds that Clinton’s response has been noticeably different from the DOJ’s and says it is optimistic about the course of the probe.
“In great contrast, the State Department, to this point, does not seem to have drawn any hard lines in terms of either casting blame or defending what happened,” said Hill. “They have indicated publicly that they share the committee’s desire to learn what happened here.”
A State Department official on Tuesday offered a closed-door briefing requested by the chairmen of eight panels with jurisdiction over foreign affairs, which Issa sat in on, after being given permission by Clinton to do so.
and....
http://news.yahoo.com/state-dept-reveals-details-benghazi-attack-062900114.html
( Paging Susan Rice - is this today's version of the truth from the State Department ? )
State Dept reveals new details of Benghazi attack
By | Associated Press – 4 hrs ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — All was quiet outside the U.S. Consulate as evening fell on Benghazi andPresident Barack Obama's envoy to Libya was retiring after a day of diplomatic meetings.
There was no indication of the harrowing events that night would bring: assailants storming the compound and setting its buildings aflame, American security agents taking fire across more than a mile of the city, the ambassador and three employees killed and others forced into a daring car escape against traffic.
Senior State Department officials on Tuesday revealed for the first time certain details of last month's tragedy in the former Libyan rebel stronghold, such as the efforts of a quick reaction force that rushed onto the scene and led the evacuation in a fierce gun battle that continued into the streets. The briefing was provided a day before department officials were to testify to a House committee about the most serious attack on a U.S. diplomatic installation since al-Qaida bombed the U.S. embassies in Kenyaand Tanzania 14 years ago.
The account answers some questions and leaves others unanswered. Chief among them is why for several days the Obama administration said the assault stemmed from a protest against an American-made Internet video ridiculing Islam, and whether the consulate had adequate security.
The officials, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said Ambassador Chris Stevens arrived in Benghazi and held meetings on and off the consulate grounds on Sept. 10. He spent the night, and then out of prudence spent the whole of the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks meeting people inside the compound, an enclosed area about 300 yards long by 100 yards wide, with a 9-foot outer wall topped by barbed wire and augmented by barriers, steel drop bars and other security upgrades.
When Stevens finished his final meeting of the day, he escorted a Turkish diplomat outside the main entrance of the building. The situation was calm, the officials said, and there were no protests. Five U.S. agents and four local militiamen were providing security.
A little more than an hour later, around 9:40 p.m., everything changed.
The compound's agents were alerted by loud noises, gunfire and explosions near the front gate. A barracks near the entrance for the local militiamen was burned down. In the control center, agents watched on cameras as a large group of armed men flowed into the compound. They immediately sounded the alarm and made telephone calls to the embassy in Tripoli, officials in Washington, the Libyan authorities and the U.S. quick reaction force located at a second compound a little over a mile away.
One agent, armed with a sidearm and an assault rifle, took Stevens and State Department computer specialist Sean Smith to a safe room inside one of the compound's two main residences — an area protected by a heavy metal grill and several locks and stocked with medical supplies and water. The other agents rushed to equip themselves with long guns, body armor, helmets and ammunition at other buildings. Two tried to make it to the building with Stevens but took fire and were forced to retreat.
The attackers began to overrun the compound, the officials recounted. The intruders penetrated Stevens' building and tried to break the grill locks for the safe room but couldn't gain access. So they dumped cans of diesel fuel in the building, lit furniture on fire and set aflame part of the exterior of the building.
In the compound's other residence, two agents barricaded themselves against the attackers who had gotten inside the building. The attackers failed to enter the tactical operations center, where the last two agents were located, smashing the door but failing to break it.
Meanwhile, Stevens' building rapidly filled with thick diesel smoke and fumes from the burning furniture. Inside, visibility was less than 3 feet and, unable to breathe, the Americans went to a bathroom and opened a window, trying to get air. They decided to get out of the building. The security agent went first, flopping out onto a patio enclosed by sandbags and taking fire immediately.
Stevens and Smith didn't make it out, the officials said. The agent, suffering severely from smoke inhalation, went in and out of the building several times to look for them — in vain. He then climbed a ladder to the roof of the building and collapsed, radioing the other agents in a barely audible voice to alert them to the situation there.
The other four agents were able to then reunite, taking an armored vehicle to Stevens' building. They reached the collapsed agent and tried to set up a perimeter, taking turns going into the building and searching on hands and knees for the missing Americans. Smith was pulled out, dead. Stevens could not be found.
A six-member quick reaction security team arrived on the scene from its compound across town, the officials said. About 60 Libyan militiamen accompanied the team, and it again tried to secure a perimeter around Stevens' building, taking turns searching inside. Taking fire, the Libyan forces determined they couldn't hold the perimeter. An evacuation plan was quickly put in place to retreat to the reaction force's compound.
The evacuation proved anything but easy. Agents piled into an armored vehicle with Smith's body, facing immediate fire as they left through the main gate. Crowds and groups of men blocked two different routes to the security compound, so the Americans looked for an alternate way through heavy traffic at a speed of about 15 mph, so they wouldn't attract attention.
On a narrow street, according to officials, the agents reached a group of men who signaled for them to enter a compound. They sensed an ambush and sped away, but not before taking heavy fire from AK-47 machine guns at a distance of only 2 feet and hand grenades thrown against and under the car. Two tires were blown out.
They raced past another crowd of men and onto a main street, crossing a grassy median into opposing traffic. The agents then drove against oncoming traffic, eventually reaching their compound.
Once there they had to endure several more hours of intermittent gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades fired their way.
A team of reinforcements from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrived on a chartered aircraft at the Benghazi airport and reached the security compound.
But the Americans could do little when their main building was hit by mortar fire around 4 a.m. Two security personnel were killed, and one agent who had been involved in the earlier fighting was severely wounded.
The men decided to leave the city. They spent the next hours securing the annex and moving a large convoy of vehicles to the airport.
They flew out on two planes.
and......
Before attack on U.S. mission in Libya, State Dept. concluded risk of violence was high
Less than two months before the fatal attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, the State Department concluded that the risk of violence to diplomats and other Americans in Libya was high and that the weak U.S.-backed government in Tripoli could do little about it.
“The risk of U.S. Mission personnel, private U.S. citizens and businesspersons encountering an isolating event as a result of militia or political violence is HIGH,” a State Department security assessment from July 22 concludes.
The department approved a 30 percent “danger pay” bonus for Americans working in Libya during the summer, according to documents released by Congress on Tuesday.
The department’s former top security officer told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he had recommended keeping U.S. military and additional State Department security forces on hand through October, documents released by the committee show.
“The [Libyan government] was overwhelmed and could not guarantee our protection,” former regional security officer Eric A. Nordstrom wrote Oct. 1. “Sadly, that point was reaffirmed Sept. 11 2012 in Benghazi.”
“There was a clear disconnect between what security officials on the ground felt they needed and what officials in Washington would approve,” the committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), said Tuesday. “Reports that senior State Department officials told security personnel in Libya to not even make certain security requests are especially troubling.”
The Republican-led committee released the department’s compilation of more than 200 security-related threats of events ahead of a hearing on the Benghazi attack, scheduled for Wednesday.
“The government of Libya does not yet have the ability to effectively respond to and manage the rising criminal and militia violence, which could result in an isolating event,” the State Department Regional Security Office for Libya concluded, using jargon for a security threat.
Top State Department security and management officials are slated to answer questions Wednesday about what the agency knew about the threats to U.S. personnel ahead of the Sept. 11 attack that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
The Libya attack has increasingly become a political issue, with Republicans charging that President Obama and top administration officials misread the danger signs and tried to deflect questions about terrorism afterward.
“This latest assault cannot be blamed on a reprehensible video insulting Islam, despite the administration’s attempts to convince us of that for so long,” Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday.
Democrats are arguing that congressional Republicans blocked additional funding for diplomatic security earlier this year.
and......
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/u-s-security-official-in-libya-tells-congressional-investigators-about-inappropriately-low-security-at-benghazi-post/
U.S. Security Official in Libya Tells Congressional Investigators About ‘Inappropriately Low’ Security at Benghazi Post
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ABC News has learned that Eric Nordstrom, the former Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Libya, has told congressional investigators that security at the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was “inappropriately low” – and believed that State Department officials stood in the way of his attempts to change that.
Nordstrom and the commander of a 16-member Security Support Team, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, heard that foreign fighters were flowing across the Egyptian border and were making their way across the border to the Libyan city of Derna – which is to the east of Benghazi — and from there were making their way to Benghazi. But State Department officials seemed oblivious to their Benghazi post’s vulnerability.
Nordstrom was worried -he did not know how much the Americans could rely on members of a local Libyan militia in Benghazi that provided security — the “17th of February Martyrs Brigade.” Mostly merchants and shopkeepers before the war, they seemed eager, but they hadn’t much experience and other than a daily $30 stipend for food from the U.S. Embassy, they hadn’t been paid in months.
Nordstrom had “no idea if they would respond to an attack,” he told investigators.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., will hold hearings on what went wrong today at noon ET. Nordstrom will testify at that hearing.
Nordstrom twice wrote to the State Department – in March and July 2012 — to beef up the presence of American security officers in Benghazi, but neither time was there a response. At no point from December 2011 through July 2012, when he left Libya, were more than three Diplomatic Security Service agents permanently and simultaneously stationed at the Benghazi post.
Nordstrom wanted at least five personnel to be stationed at Benghazi, but the State Department would not allow it. There were American security officers, however, at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, including three Mobile Security Detachments, which were part of the DSS, and a 16-member Security Support Team detailed from Special Operations Command AFRICOM, commanded by Wood. But the State Department would not give him permission to deploy them to be stationed at Benghazi. Deputy Assistant Secretary for international programs Charlene Lamb, in Nordstrom’s view, wanted to keep the number of U.S. security personnel in Benghazi “artificially low,” according to a memo for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Wood, a former Green Beret, told ABC News that he and other members of the Security Support Team wanted to remain in Libya past their deployment was scheduled to end in August, and that Ambassador Stevens wanted them to remain as well. Nordstrom has said that Lamb told him not to request for the Security Support Team to be extended again. (Its deployment had been previously extended in February 2012.)
Lamb will testify before the House committee later today.
“I do recall one conversation with her where she (Lamb) said that since we now had a residential safe haven in Benghazi that she didn’t seem to have a problem with having no agents on the compound because if something happened then personnel could simply go to that residential safe haven,” Nordstrom told investigators.
That safe haven proved a deathtrap. Situated inside the main residence in Benghazi, consisting of three bedrooms and a bathroom set aside from the rest of the building by metal grillwork and several locks, the safe haven is where Stevens and information officer Sean Smith suffered severe smoke inhalation after the attackers set the house on fire.
On Tuesday afternoon, State Department officials acknowledged that despite earlier explanations from the Obama administration, there was no protest outside the Benghazi compound at all. Only an hour before gunmen methodically and deliberately stormed the post, the streets were empty and everything seemed calm. Obama administration officials originally claimed the trouble began with demonstrations against an anti-Muslim video, a protest that, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told ABC News’ THIS WEEK on the Sunday after the attack, “seems to have been hijacked, let us say, by some individual clusters of extremists.”
Rice and White House officials now say those initial accounts were based on early intelligence, since corrected. State Department officials now call the attack unprecedented given the number of gunman, weapons and lethal force used.
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