“There were NO Marines guarding Stevens”
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When I started living in Slovakia, there were about a
half dozen guys in casual street clothes hanging around in front of the US embassy.
I was told that they were marines, stationed there after 9/11.
A few years before I left in 2009, they disappeared.
I would have expected any US embassy in the middle east to
have a sizable contingency of marine guards, even if incognito.
Except the embassy is in Tripoli...and the raid was on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi -- 400 miles to the east.
I don't know if there are any provisions for the embassy guard to travel with the Ambassador, but I suspect they are generally concerned with the Embassy and its grounds.
I had a business appointment at the US embassy in a Latin American country whose government is strongly anti American and there are often ant American demonstrations in the streets organized by the governing leftist party. I went through three layers of security before entering the embassy building for my meeting. The first two layers were 100% administered by local security guards. Not an American to be seen and most of the locals did not speak English. The third security station was also staffed by locals, however there was a US citizen to greet my party and execute a final review of papers. I never saw a Marine.
The security guards impressed me as being the quality of the average TSA agent or rent a cop in the US.
It occurred to me at the time if the Embassy were ever attacked by a mob, it would overrun the security quickly unless the local police and military intervened quickly. Unfortunately I doubt under this administration the Marines would be allowed to appear in strength and defend the embassy with lethal weapons.
Another observation was most of the physical security barriers were designed to keep suicide car bombers from getting close enough to the buildings to cause damage. The fences appeared to be designed for decoration and to keep casual pedestrians from walking onto the grounds. An unrestrained mob would have been over them in seconds.
Based on what I have seen, as well as the news events of the past week, I’m glad I am not employed by the foreign service overseas.