Also the phone calls came before the emails, at “the very beginning of this incident”,
Background Conference Call With Senior State Department Officials
October 9, 2012
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/10/198791.htm
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL:“...I neglected to mention from the top that that agent from the top of this incident, or the very beginning of this incident, has been on the phone. He had called the quick reaction security team, he had called the Libyan authorities, he had called the Embassy in Tripoli, and he had called Washington. He had them all going to ask for help.”
According to Col. Hunt the Critical Incident Report sent from the consulate would have automatically and simultaneously alerted all of those people and more. It’s not like further calls were necessary to let anyone know what was going on.