by Scott McEwen
45. As quoted in Flashing Red, page 7.
46. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 47.
47. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to Washington, D.C., July 9, 2012.
48. Nancy A. Youssef, “Ambassador Stevens Twice Said No to Military Offers of More Security, U.S. Officials Say,” McClatchyDC, May 14, 2013, www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/14/191235/amb-stevens-twice-said-no-to-military.html.
49. Flashing Red, page 11.
50. Testimony of Eric Nordstrom before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, October 14, 2012.
Chapter 8: Benghazi 911: When SEALs Answer the Call
1. Jack Murphy and Brandon Webb, “Breaking: The Benghazi Diary, a Hero Ambassador’s Final Thoughts,” June 26, 2013; sofrep.com/22460/ambassador-chris-stevens-benghazi-diary/.
2. U.S. State Department, Accountability Review Board (ARB) Report (unclassified), December 2012, page 19, www.state.gov/documents/organization/202446.pdf.
3. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to State Department, Washington, D.C.
4. Accountability Review Board Report, page 20.
5. Ibid.
6. Abd-al-Sattar Hatitah, “Al-Sharq al-Awsat Obtains the Story of the Guards Who Talked to the Culprits of the Attack on the US Consulate from Benghazi,” Al-Sharq al-Awsat, October 11, 2012 (translated FBIS).
7. Nancy A. Youssef and Suliman Ali Zway, “No Protest before Benghazi Attack, Wounded Libyan Guard Says,” McClatchyDC, September 13, 2012, www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/13/168415/no-protest-before-benghazi-attack.html.
8. Hatitah, “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Obtains the Story.”
9. U.S. House of Representatives, Interim Progress Report for the Members of the House Republican Conference on the Events Surrounding the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi, Libya, April 23, 2013, page 38, oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Libya-Progress-Report-Final-1.pdf.
10. Siobhan Hughes and Adam Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details,” Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2013, online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324244304578470880723398290.
11. Interim Progress Report, page 38, quoting Defense Department timeline.
12. Ibid., quoting Defense Department timeline. Accountability Review Board Report, page 2.
13. Interim Progress Report, page 38, quoting Defense Department timeline.
14. Ibid., page 39.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid.
17. Hughes and Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details.”
18. Interim Progress Report, page 39.
19. Ibid.
20. Ibid., pages 39–40. “Benghazi Timeline: How the Attack Unfolded,” CBS News, November 2, 2012, www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57544719/.
21. Adam Housley, “Special Forces Could’ve Responded to Benghazi Attack, Whistle-Blower Tells Fox News,” Fox News, April 30, 2013, www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/30/special-ops-benghazi-whistleblower-tells-fox-news-government-could-have/.
22. Lee Ferran, “American Killed in Libya Was on Intel Mission to Track Weapons,” ABC News, September 13, 2012, www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/glen-doherty-navy-seal-killed-libya-intel-mission/story?id=17229037.
23. Jack Murphy and Brandon Webb, Benghazi: The Definitive Report (New York: HarperCollins, 2013).
24. Hughes and Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details.”
25. Interim Progress Report, page 40.
26. Ibid., pages 40–41.
27. Ibid., page 41.
28. Ibid.
29. Ibid.
30. Ibid.
Chapter 9: The Rescue That Wasn’t
1. Lucy Madison, “Panetta on Benghazi: We Did ‘Everything We Could,’ ” CBS News, February 7, 2013, www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57568199/panetta-on-benghazi-we-did-everything-we-could/.
2. Julian Pecquet, “White House Defends Obama’s ‘Bump in the Road’ Comment,” Hill; September 24, 2012, www.thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/251265-carney-defends-obamas-bump-in-the-road-comment-on-middle-east-violence.
3. Rod Powers, “Installation Overview—Aviano Air Base, Italy,” About.com, undated, usmilitary.about.com/od/airforcebaseprofiles/ss/Aviano.htm.
4. U.S. Air Force, Aviano Air Base, “31st Operations Group,” fact sheet, April 24, 2009, http://www.aviano.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=4354.
5. James Rosen, “Sen. Graham Challenges Joint Chiefs Chairman on Benghazi Testimony,” Fox News, May 10, 2013, www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/09/sen-graham-challenges-joint-chiefs-chairman-on-benghazi-testimony/
6. Franklin Fisher, “Osan Airmen Practice ‘Hot Pit Refueling,’ ” Stars and Stripes, March 26, 2004, www.stripes.com/news/osan-airmen-practice-hot-pit-refueling-1.18050.
7. Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, “Former Dep. Chief of Mission in Libya: U.S. Military Assets Told to Stand Down during Benghazi Attack,” Fortuna’s Corner, May 6, 2013, www.fortunascorner.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/former-dep-chief-of-mission-in-libya-u-s-military-assets-told-to-stand-down-during-benghazi-attack/.
8. Mark Townsend, “Benghazi Attack by Gaddafi’s Forces Was ‘Ploy to Negate Air Strikes,’ ” Guardian (London), March 19, 2011, www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/19/benghazi-gaddafi-military-air-strikes.
9. Josh Bennett, “USS Mount Whitney Remembers 9/11,” America’s Navy, press release, September 11, 2012, www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=69492.
10. Micah Zenko and Emma Welch, “Where the Drones Are: Mapping the Launch Pads for Obama’s Secret Wars,” Foreign Policy, May 29, 2012, www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/05/29/where_the_drones_are.
11. Sharyl Attkisson, “Diplomat: U.S. Special Forces Told ‘You Can’t Go’ to Benghazi during Attacks,” CBS News, May 6, 2013, www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57583014/diplomat-u.s-special-forces-told-you-cant-go-to-benghazi-during-attacks/.
12. Norman Friedman, The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems, (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2004).
Chapter 10: Benghazi Timeline
1. U.S. State Department, daily press briefing, April 5, 2011, www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/04/160022.htm#LIBYA.
2. Joby Warrick and Liz Sly, “U.S. Envoy Arrives in Libya To Seek Ways to Help Rebels,” Washington Post, April 6, 2011.
3. U.S. State Department, daily press briefing, April 7, 2011, www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2011/04/160298.htm#LIBYA.
4. U.S. State Department, “Briefing on Recent Developments in the Middle East and Other Issues,” with Jake Sullivan, April 26, 2011, www.state.gov/p/nea/rls/rm/161818.htm.
5. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” compiled by the Regional Security Office, U.S. Embassy, Tripoli, Libya, November 2012, page 1, www.abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/7.19.12%20Libya%20Security.pdf.
6. U.S. State Department, “On the Record Briefing: U.S. Representative to the Transitional National Council Chris Stevens on Libya,” August 2, 2011, www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2011/08/169486.htm.
7. U.S. State Department, “Background Briefing on Libya,” October 9, 2012, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/10/198791.htm. The person speaking is identified in the transcript as “Senior State Department Official Number One.”
8. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 1.
9. Ibid.
10. Tabassum Zakaria, Susan Cornwell, and Hadeel al-Shalchi, “For Benghazi Diplomatic Security, U.S. Relied on Small British Firm,” Reuters, October 17, 2012, www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/18/us-libya-usa-bluemountain-idUSBRE89G1TI20121018.
11. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 8.
12. Ibid., page 10.
13. Ibid., page 12.
14. Ibid., page 13.
15. Ibid., page 15.
16. Ibid., page 16.
17. Ibid., page 18.
18. Sheryl Attkisson and Margaret Brennan, “Security Dwindled before Deadly Libyan Consulate Attack,” CBS News, October 8, 2012, www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57528335/security-dwindled-before-deadly-libyan-c
onsulate-attack/.
19. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 23.
20. U.S. Senate, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Flashing Red: A Special Report on the Terrorist Attack at Benghazi, by Joseph I. Lieberman and Susan M. Collins, December 30, 2012, page 17.
21. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 24.
22. Ibid., pages 24–25.
23. Ibid., page 25.
24. Ibid.
25. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to Secretary of State in Washington, D.C., dated March 28, 2012.
26. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 28.
27. Ibid., page 29.
28. Ibid., page 30.
29. Ibid.
30. Chris Stephen, “US Diplomatic Mission Bombed in Libya,” Guardian (London), June 6, 2012, www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/06/us-embassy-attack-libya.
31. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 31.
32. Ibid., page 32.
33. Ibid., page 33.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid., pages 33–34.
36. Ibid., page 34.
37. Ibid., page 39.
38. Ibid., pages 39–40.
39. Ibid., page 40.
40. Ibid., page 41.
41. Ibid., page 44.
42. “Libyan Jihadis Claims US Consulate Attack,” Agence France Presse, June 11, 2012.
43. U.S. Library of Congress, Federal Research Division, Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile, August 2012, page 3, available at www.fas.org/irp/world/para/aq-libya-loc.pdf.
44. “Supporters of Shariah Call for Implementation of Islamic Law in Libya,” BBC Monitoring Middle East, June 16, 2012.
45. Steve Inskeep, “In the New Libya, Lots of Guns and Calls for Shariah,” NPR Morning Edition, June 13, 2012, www.npr.org/2012/06/13/154839952/in-the-new-libya-lots-of-guns-and-calls-for-shariah.
46. Tara Bahrampour, “As Libya Holds Post-Gaddafi Election, Islamists’ Strength to Be Tested,” Washington Post, July 4, 2012, www.articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-07-03/world/35487400_1_islamist-group-libyan-voters-secular-parties.
47. George Grant, “British Ambassador Escapes Missile Attack on Car,” Times (London), June 12, 2012, www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3442776.ece. Ibrahim Majbari, “RPG Hits British Diplomatic Convoy in Libya, 2 Hurt,” Agence France Presse, June 11, 2012.
48. “British Guns Accounted For after Benghazi Consulate Attack,” Tripoli Post, October 12, 2012, www.tripolipost.com/articledetail.asp?c=1&i=9292.
49. Mohamed Al-Tommy and Hadeel al-Shalchi, “Gunmen Attack Tunisian Consulate in Benghazi,” Reuters, June 18, 2012, www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-libya-gunmen-tunisia-idUSBRE85H1V620120618. “Gunmen Storm Tunisian Consulate in Libya’s Benghazi,” Agence France Presse, June 18, 2012.
50. Chris Stephen, “Libyan Military Prosecutor Shot Dead in Benghazi,” Guardian (London), June 22, 2012, www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jun/22/libyan-military-prosecutor-shot-benghazi.
51. As quoted in Flashing Red, page 7.
52. “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” page 47.
53. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to Washington, D.C., July 9, 2012.
54. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to State Department in Washington, D.C., August 2, 2012.
55. Nancy A. Youssef, “Ambassador Stevens Twice Said No to Military Offers of More Security, U.S. Officials Say,” McClatchyDC, May 14, 2013, www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/05/14/191235/amb-stevens-twice-said-no-to-military.html.
56. Flashing Red, 11.
57. Testimony of Eric Nordstrom before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, October 14, 2012.
58. U.S. State Department, Accountability Review Board (ARB) Report (unclassified), December 2012, page 19, www.state.gov/documents/organization/202446.pdf.
59. Cable from U.S. embassy in Tripoli, Libya, to Washington, D.C.
60. Accountability Review Board Report, page 20.
61. Ibid.
62. Abd-al-Sattar Hatitah, “Al-Sharq al-Awsat Obtains the Story of the Guards Who Talked to the Culprits of the Attack on the US Consulate from Benghazi,” Al-Sharq al-Awsat, October 11, 2012 (translated FBIS).
63. Nancy A. Youssef and Suliman Ali Zway, “No Protest before Benghazi Attack, Wounded Libyan Guard Says,” McClatchyDC, September 13, 2012, www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/13/168415/no-protest-before-benghazi-attack.html.
64. Hatitah, “Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Obtains the Story.”
65. U.S. House of Representatives, Interim Progress Report for the Members of the House Republican Conference on the Events Surrounding the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi, Libya, April 23, 2013, page 38, oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Libya-Progress-Report-Final-1.pdf.
66. Siobhan Hughes and Adam Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details,” Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2013, online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324244304578470880723398290.
67. Interim Progress Report, page 38, quoting Defense Department timeline.
68. Ibid., page 38. Accountability Review Board Report, page 22.
69. Interim Progress Report, page 38.
70. Ibid., page 39.
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. Hughes and Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details.”
74. Interim Progress Report, page 39.
75. Ibid.
76. Ibid. “Benghazi Timeline: How the Attack Unfolded,” CBS News, November 2, 2012, www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57544719/.
77. Adam Housley, “Special Forces Could’ve Responded to Benghazi Attack, Whistle-Blower Tells Fox News,” Fox News, April 30, 2013, www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/30/special-ops-benghazi-whistleblower-tells-fox-news-government-could-have/.
78. Interim Progress Report, page 40. Hughes and Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details.”
79. Hughes and Entous, “Diplomat Airs Benghazi Attack Details.”
80. Interim Progress Report, page 40.
81. Ibid., pages 40–41.
82. Ibid., page 41.
83. Ibid.
84. Ibid.
85. Ibid.
86. Ibid.
Chapter 11: The Teams: Why the Unique Culture of the SEALs Matters
1. “Parents of Slain Navy SEAL: Obama Admin Put a Target on Our Son’s Back,” Fox News Insider, May 10, 2013, www.foxnewsinsider.com/2013/05/10/parents-navy-seal-aaron-vaughn-blast-biden-2011-helicopter-crash-killed-their-son.
1 (SBU) Action Memorandum for Under Secretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, “Future Operations in Benghazi, Libya.” December 27, 2011.
2 Id.
3 “Securing Our Embassies Overseas.” U.S. Department of State. Retrieved at: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/about/overview/c9004.htm.
4 Transcribed interview of Benghazi Assistant Regional Security Officer David Oliveira, October 9, 2012. See also “Al-Qaeda in Libya: A Profile,” A Report Prepared By The Federal Research Division, Library Of Congress, Under An Interagency Agreement With The Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office’s Irregular Warfare Support Program, August 2012, at p. 4.
5 Travel Warning, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs. Libya. August 27, 2012. Retrieved at: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5762.html.
6 U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Libya, Regional Security Office, “Security Incidents since June 2011.”
7 Id. See also, the State Department’s Accountability Review Board Report for a list of security incidents in Benghazi, Libya, during 2012 that were directed at western interests. These include: a March 2012 event in which members of a militia searching for a suspect fire weapons near the U.S. diplomatic compound and attempt to enter; an April 2012 incident in which a U.K. armored diplomatic vehicle is attacked after driving into a local protest; an April 2012 event in which a homemade explosive device is thrown over the U.S. diplomatic compound’s north wall; an April 2012 event in which an IED was thrown at the mot
orcade of the U.N. Special Envoy to Libya in Benghazi; an April 2012 event in which a Special Mission Benghazi principal officer is evacuated from International Medical University (IMU) after a fistfight escalated to gunfire between Tripoli-based trade delegation security personnel and IMU security; a May 2012, event in which the Benghazi International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) building was struck by rocket propelled grenades; a June 2012 IED attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound; a June 2012, event in Benghazi where the British Ambassador’s convoy was attacked with a rocket propelled grenade and possible AK-47s; a June 2012, event in which a rocket propelled grenade attack is made on the ICRC compound in Misrata (400 km west of Benghazi); a June 2012, attack in which protestors storm the Tunisian consulate in Benghazi; an August 2012 event in which a small bomb is thrown at an Egyptian diplomat’s vehicle parked outside of the Egyptian consulate in Benghazi.
8 Testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, October 10, 2012.
9 Department of State, Accountability Review Board for Benghazi Attack of September 2012, December 19, 2012, at p. 31; Interview of Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom, October 1, 2012.
10 Interview of Regional Security Officer Eric Nordstrom, October 1, 2012. See also, email from James Bacigalupo to Brian Papanu and David Sparrowgrove, May 7, 2012, 1:01 p.m., Subject: FW: Special Agent Tony Zamudio’s TDY Performance in Benghazi.
11 Testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, October 10, 2012.
12 “Securing Our Embassies Overseas.” U.S. Department of State. Retrieved at: http://www.state.gov/m/ds/about/overview/c9004.htm.
13 Email from Alec Henderson to John B. Martinec, “RE: Benghazi QRF agreement,” (Sep. 9, 2012 11:31 PM).
14 12 STATE 38939, April 19, 2012, Signature: CLINTON.
15 Email from Jennifer A. Larson to Eric Nordstrom, Ambassador Gene Cretz, et al., April 21, 2012, 1:57 p.m., Subject: Re: Tripoli–Request for DS DTY and FTE Support.
16 Email chain between Ambassador Chris Stevens and John Moretti, June 7, 2012, 3:34 a.m., Subject: MSD/Tripoli.
