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Hey, if Susan Rice qualifies for a big promotion, why not Victoria Nuland?  She's the State Department spokeswoman at the center of the firestorm over the administration's Benghazi talking points -- and if the president has his way, she'll be movin' on up to Assistant Secretary of State: The State Department spokeswoman who earlier this month found herself in the middle of the controversy surrounding key revisions to the Benghazi talking points appears to be in line for a promotion. The White House announced Thursday that President Barack Obama intends to nominate Victoria Nuland as assistant secretary for European and...

This is a very interesting article by Sharyl Attkisson at CBS News. It’s very long and covers different topics surrounding Benghazi, from the decision not to deploy FEST to how the talking points came about. The quote below talks about how certain anonymous White House officials say that the missteps in Benghazi was less about malice and more about incompetence. For instance, they claim that the reasoning behind not deploying the counterterrorism unit known as FEST stemmed from a misunderstanding of FEST’s role and ability. One official does pin the decision not to send in FEST on Under Secretary Patrick...

New details about the Obama administration’s initial story-line on the Benghazi attack are raising additional questions about top-level efforts to downplay terrorism, with one report showing a State Department official pushed to delete a section that could have been used to “beat up” her department. The fresh reports have surfaced two days after three whistle-blowers testified on Capitol Hill about the Benghazi attack. One of them sharply challenged the administration’s decision to describe the attack out of the gate as a protest gone wrong. ABC News reported Friday that, despite administration claims that the flawed description reflected the best intelligence...

The Libyan militia group that the State Department hired to defend its embattled diplomatic mission in Benghazi had clear al-Qaida sympathies, and had prominently displayed the al-Qaida flag on a Facebook page for months before the deadly attack. That organization, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, was paid by the U.S. government to provide security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. But there is no indication the Martyrs Brigade fulfilled its commitment to defend the mission on Sept. 11, when it came under attack.

The February 17th Martyrs Brigade, a Benghazi-based militia with Islamist elements that the State Department hired as a “quick reaction force” (QRF) to protect the department’s mission in Benghazi, warned the State Department that it would not protect the movements of Amb. Chris Stevens when he visited there last September. That warning was relayed to the regional security officer (RSO) at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli—the top security adviser to the ambassador—in an internal State Department email dated Sept. 9, 2012. That was one day before Stevens departed Tripoli for Benghazi—for what was scheduled to be a five-day visit. …

What actually happened in Benghazi? A Special Operations soldier reported that they know where the person responsible for the attack on the ambassador and annex is known, in Libya, have "fixed " him – got his coordinates. Have been denied permission by Pentagon, State and White House to go and catch him. Variety of whistleblowers: at State (Clinton defenders say "she had to sign every cable, as long as she was in Washington" – but her deputy, Amb Patrick Kennedy, was well informed of all this.) Amb Stevens ran situations and so State knew all. In fact, that evening, Secy...

James Rosen on Special Report tonight said that the State Dept. is not providing ‘a process’ for lawyers, being retained by whistleblowers, to get classified information on Benghazi, as we reported earlier today. But not only are they interfering with the legal representation, Victoria Toensing, one of the attorneys representing the whistleblowers, says that they have clients in both the State Dept. and CIA who are being threatened that if they come forward their careers will be over.

Earlier today, I said that we should cut the father of the two bombing suspects some slack for calling his younger son– now on the run from police — “a true angel.” On the other hand, the apple does not fall far from the tree, apparently:Unfortunately your browser does not support IFrames.Watch More News Videos at ABC |Technology News |Celebrity News The father of suspected Boston Marathon bomber called on his son today to give up peacefully, but warned the U.S. that if his son is killed “all hell will break loose.”Anzor Tsarnaev spoke to ABC News from his home...

Secretary of State John Kerry reminded the House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday that he was “on the other side of the podium” when U.S. interests came under attack in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012, and he said if the State Department is trying to impede the committee’s investigation into embassy security, he’s “not aware” of it. “There’s certainly no position by me to delay anything,” Kerry said, “and I was not aware that—you know, if there’s anything that is appropriate to turn over.” Kerry said he wants to check “historical precedent” regarding investigative and FBI documents relating to the terror...

The U.S. State Department has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a group of Americans who claim U.S. aid money helps fund Palestinian terrorism. The 24 Americans now living in Israel who are the plaintiffs in the case filed the lawsuit in the United States District Court for Washington, DC in November claiming that the State Department had ignored congressional safeguards and transparency requirements which govern financial assistance to the PA. In a statement, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs and director of the Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin (Israel Law Center ) explained: “Rather...

The Muslim Brotherhood denounced the U.S. State Department for expressing concern over legal action taken against an Egyptian satirist accused of insulting Islam and President Mohamed Morsi, stating that denigration of the Muslim religion is a “serious breach of law.” “The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) has strongly criticized remarks made by U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on legal complaints accusing Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef of contempt of religions,” said the Muslim Brotherhood in a statement on its official English website “Ikhwan Web.” … Known as Egypt’s Jon Stewart, Bassem Youssef was accused of insulting Islam and Morsi on...

As I reported yesterday, Christopher Stevens was lured to Benghazi by a foreign operative who hoped to leverage some sort of gain in exchange for proffered bait. I have this from trusted sources who cannot speak on the record because they are connected to U.S. intelligence. Who was the operative, and what did he offer? According to my sources, he was a popular Turkish middleman who was known in Benghazi for being able to broker goods or situations of all types. "He was a power player, very charismatic," said one intelligence source. "He was a procurer of everything. Whatever you...

The U.S. State Department’s policy on dealing with transgendered people will allow Americans who are anatomically male but identify themselves as female to secure U.S. passports that match their gender “identity” rather than their anatomy. The policy also allows records for births abroad to be changed to reflect the “new” gender of an individual. … Sex-change surgery is not required to get a passport with an individual’s preferred gender. …

Over the weekend, however, the Syrian Opposition Council -- the main umbrella group for the broad array of rebel politicians, clerics and soldiers, many of them Islamists with ties to al-Qaeda and other unsavory networks -- announced it was boycotting the session with Kerry in Rome.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said that he has accepted a new disclaimer from President Obama’s defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) disavowing one of his many offensive statements about the state of Israel. Graham told “Fox News Sunday” that he received a new letter from the beleaguered nominee in which Hagel claimed he “did not recall” the odious statement-- allegedly made during a speech at Rutgers University in 2007-- in which he argued that the State Department is controlled by the Israeli Foreign Minister’s office. “Well, if in fact that’s true, that would end the matter,” Graham said, adding, “I...

The State Department will have to stop humanitarian aid to millions of people, cut foreign assistance to Israel, and delay efforts to ramp up diplomatic security abroad after the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi, if sequestration goes into effect next month, according to Secretary of State John Kerry. At the beginning of March, across-the-board cuts to all discretionary spending accounts will go into effect, based on the 2011 Budget Control Act and the failure of the "supercommittee" to agree upon discretionary budget cuts in 2012. Congressional appropriators are planning to reorganize those cuts when the continuing resolution that has been...

Report: Hagel Said State Department Controlled by Israel Contemporaneous account by Hagel supporter of 2007 speech Fox News Channel on Tuesday reported that secretary of defense nominee Chuck Hagel failed to disclose to the United States Senate speeches delivered to controversial groups such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee as well as James Zogby’s Arab American Institute. Meanwhile, a 2007 speech then-Sen. Hagel delivered at Rutgers University in New Jersey as he tested the waters for a presidential run is drawing fresh scrutiny. Hagel said the U.S. Department of State was an adjunct of the Israeli foreign minister’s office, according to...

Kathleen O’Leary, Presiding Judge of the 4th District Court of Appeal reinstated the Appeal Taitz v Obama et al filed by the candidate for the U.S. Senate Attorney Orly Taitz. Appeal at hand involves Senator Diane Feinstein and Barack Obama as a candidate for the U.S. Presidency.

Dictator Hugo Chavez and friend of Sean Penn and Oliver Stone was mandated to take a sworn presidential oath before the National Assembly in Caracas, Venezuela this morning due to the specifics of their Constitution and that he won the Oct. election (unfortunately) for another six-year term starting today. However Hugo "smells of sulphur", it is reported, and is out of the country and deathly ill in Havana, Cuba of apparently malignant cancer, so he is not exercising his duties in addition to being absent from the country in the first place. There are succession plans in place in Venezuelan...

The New York Post reports that Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, has not resigned from the department, as a State Department spokeswoman indicated Dec. 19. Boswell is instead just "switching desks," according to the report. Three other State Department officials, including Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security, were placed on administrative leave after the release of the report. However, according to the Post they are expected to return

Prisons for Haiti: U.S. to Build Two Complexes Near Port au Prince (NEWS BRIEF)By Steve Peacock, U.S. Trade & Aid Monitor (Dec. 20, 2012) The U.S. Department of State is arranging the construction of two prison facilities outside Haiti's capital of Port au Prince. The project, with an estimated top-cost of $10 million, includes a 150-bed prison and 200-bed womens prison in Petit Goave and Cabaret, Haiti, respectively. State tentatively scheduled a "pre-proposal conference and site visit" for prospective prison-industry contractors in Port au Prince for February 5-6, 2013. Source document: Solicitation #SAQMMA13R0067. FOR ADDITIONAL COVERAGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE ISSUES,...

New Delhi: India is unhappy with the US' decision to give immunity to Pakistani spy agency, ISI, in a civil case by families of the Americans who were killed in the 26/11 attacks. In a statement, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) rebuked the US state department, saying, "For India, it remains of vital importance that justice is done and that those who organized and perpetrated this horrible crime be brought to justice, irrespective of the jurisdiction under which they may reside or be operating. It cannot be that any organization, state or non-state, that sponsors terrorism enjoys immunity. "From...

After a classified briefing on the attack on the Benghazi consulate, Rep. Tom Rooney, R-FL, said he “learned a lot” from National Intelligence Director James Clapper. “I learned we do not have the adequate protection at our compound in Libya, in Benghazi, and if that’s the case in other dangerous areas of the world, then we have a lot of work to do at the State Department to make sure our people are safe,” said Rooney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Rooney said they watched the attack unfold...

After weeks of intense criticism over the White House handling of security for the Benghazi consulate before, during, and after the terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, the Senate will begin holding hearings in less than two weeks to get answers on all of these questions. The House has already begun an investigation through the Oversight Committee, but the State Department has refused to fully cooperate with either — at least until now. For the first time, State has agreed to allow Senators to view diplomatic cables and other documents related to the failures surrounding...

A group of 24 Americans living in Israel, some of them victims of terror, on Tuesday filed a civil action lawsuit against the United States government over what they claim is its funding of Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The plaintiffs were being represented by the Tel Aviv-based Shurat HaDin – Israel Law Center, a legal advocacy group that combats terror organizations. The lawsuit, which was filed in Washington, DC, contends that the State Department and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ignored Congressional safeguards and transparency requirements attached to US aid to the Palestinian Authority,...

Dual US-Israeli citizens filed a lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and the State Department claiming that the US administration provided the Palestinian Authority with billions of dollars in aid money which were used to fund terrorist groups such as Hamas instead of supporting humanitarian causes, Yedioth Ahronoth reported. According to the lawsuit, the State Department ignored congressional safeguards and transparency requirements attached to US aid to the Palestinian Authority. The White House, it was claimed, did not comply with the regulations and reporting obligations governing presidential waivers which facilitate emergency funding to the Palestinians. Evidence collected by the plaintiffs indicates that...

Federal suit alleges that the US State Dept violated the Anti-Terrorism Act, and abandoned Congressional safeguards, transparency and reporting requirements Tel Aviv, Nov. 27, 2012: A group of 24 Americans living in Israel, including victims of terrorism, filed a lawsuit today against the US government over its funding of Palestinian terrorism in the West Bank and Gaza. The civil action, filed in the district court of Washington DC, alleges that the US Department of State, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has ignored congressional safeguards and transparency requirements attached to US aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA). In addition, the...

State Dept. Official to Attend OIC Meeting Today on Banning ‘Defamation of Islam’ UPDATE: OIC Scrubs Website, Screenshot Added, Cover-Up Begins byPatrick PooleBio November 18, 2012 - 11:18 pm UPDATE: Well, that didn’t last long. Earlier this morning before I posted this item the OIC press release noted that U.S. Consul General in Jeddah Anne Casper would be attending the OIC’s meeting: The Session will be attended by Prof. Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC Secretary General. It will be chaired by Ambassador Ahmad Taib , Director General of the Branch of the Saudi Foreign Ministry, Makkah Al-Mukarrammah region. It will...

FOX News foreign policy analyst Catherine Herridge told Greta Van Susteren Wednesday, "From what I see the State Department has culpability in the death of the US Ambassador and three Americans." This followed the damning memo that was released today signed by Ambassador Stevens in August and sent to the State Department. The classified cable on August 15 warned the Obama Administration that the Benghazi consulate could not withstand a "coordinated attack."Link to YouTube video of Catherine Herridge interview

International election observers planning to visit Texas polling places have “full immunity” from being arrested in the United States, the State Department said when discussing a letter from the Texas Attorney General. “I’m not going to get into any kind of hypothetical situations or predict where this is going to go other than to say we have every expectation that this will be worked out and to state the fact, which is that under U.S. law they are eligible for immunities,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. Reporters tried to get her to state explicitly that Texas could not arrest...

President Obama said Friday he was "not personally aware" of any request for more security by U.S. diplomats in Libya before the Sept. 11 strike on the consulate.

It was six weeks ago on Tuesday that terrorists attacked the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Now, CBS News has obtained email alerts that were put out by the State Department as the attack unfolded. Four Americans were killed in the attack, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens. These emails contain the earliest description so far of what happened at Benghazi the night of the attack. Read the emails (PDF) Ambassador warned Libya was "volatile and violent" Why no one has been right about Libya CIA saw possible terror ties day after Libya hit: AP At 4:05 p.m. Eastern time, on September...

We all know there MUST be major changes in government due to waste, fraud, etc. Want to get ideas what Romney should implement in the new administration.

The State Department's decision to hire Blue Mountain Group to guard the ill-fated U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, entrusted security tasks to a little-known British company instead of the large firms it usually uses in overseas danger zones. The contract was largely based on expediency, U.S. officials have said, since no one knew how long the temporary mission would remain in the Libyan city. The cradle of last year's uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, Benghazi has been plagued by rising violence in recent months. Security practices at the diplomatic compound, where Blue Mountain guards patrolled with flashlights...

After U.S. intelligence, U.S. security officers in Libya, Reps Mike Kelly (R-PA) and Dan Burton (R-IN), and even the State Dept say the Benghazi attack was terrorism, The New York Times is claiming "there is little doubt what occurred" -- it was the video. Although Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick Kennedy referred to the attack as terrorism less than 24 hours after it took place, and even the White House was forced into admitting this truth publicly a few weeks later, the Times says nope -- it was simply a group of Islamic militants reacting "emotionally" in "retaliation...

In a last desperate attempt to save Barack Obama’s hopes of re-election, Hillary Clinton took a leaf from Charles Dickens’ Sydney Carton, and did the “far, far better thing,” taking responsibility for the failure to provide security for the consulate in Benghazi and for the long series of misstatements, fabrications, and falsehoods describing the carefully-planned terrorist attack calculatedly timed to occur on 9/11 as a spontaneous mob outburst provoked by an obscure video. Hillary Clinton, of course, does not fully resemble Sydney Carton. She is not going to the guillotine. She is only “accepting responsibility,” which in the manner of...

The State Department has said that it never believed the September 11th attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi was the result of a protest over an anti-Islam movie - directly contracting the rest of the Obama administration. By trying to distance her department from the inept and deceptive handling of the Benghazi attack, which left U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American officials dead, Hillary Clinton could help herself politically for a 2016 presidential run. A dramatic new account by the State Department reveals that Stevens was locked inside a 'safe room' choking to death from diesel-heavy smoke...

A confusing array of contradictions concerning the murders of four Americans, one of which was a U.S. ambassador, was made worse by Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks during the debate with Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan Thursday evening. Today the confusion only worsened yet again when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters that her agency was not the source of misinformation concerning the attacks, charging instead that the White House was the source of the false mantra that the murders were spurred by an anti-Muslim film made in the  United States. Clinton told reporters that when Susan Rice,...

But of course she blames it on lower-level advisers. She says "I am responsible" for the security of State's 60,000 workers, but then says she's not responsible at all: "The decision about security aspects are made by security professionals." Source: Wendell Goler on FoxNews, about 40 minutes ago. The quote was printed on screen. I'm responsible, but then again, I'm not; the buck stops with me, but not really, it was this low-level political appointee scapegoat who's going to claim he "shielded" me from these demands for additional security on his own authority. But don't blame the President. See, I've...

Lima, Peru (CNN) -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the buck stops with her when it comes to who is to blame for security ahead of a deadly assault on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. "I take responsibility" for what happened on September 11, Clinton said in an interview with CNN's Elise Labott soon after arriving in Lima, Peru, for a visit. The interview, one of a series given to U.S. television networks Monday night, was the first she has given about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. Clinton insisted President Barack Obama and Vice...

Libyan al Qaeda ringleader Qumu, hired by Hillary Clinton to overthrow America-cooperative Muammar Qaddafi, in the Obama/Clinton version of the bipartisan-prepared Arab Spring, kills the U.S. field staff engaged in weapons tracking and (one would hope) recovery, on the job in Benghazi, on 9-11-2012...

By Scott Wilson and Al Kamen Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, March 25, 2009 The Obama administration appears to be backing away from the phrase "global war on terror," a signature rhetorical legacy of its predecessor. In a memo e-mailed this week to Pentagon staff members, the Defense Department's office of security review noted that "this administration prefers to avoid using the term 'Long War' or 'Global War on Terror' [GWOT.] Please use 'Overseas Contingency Operation.' " The memo said the direction came from the Office of Management and Budget, the executive-branch agency that reviews the public testimony of administration...

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Caller, Klein said sources close to the Clintons tell him that Bill Clinton has assembled an informal legal team to discuss how the Secretary of State should deal with the issue of being blamed for not preventing the Benghazi terrorist attack last month. White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters during a press conference Friday that responsibility for the consulate in Libya fell on the State Department, not the White House. If blame for the security failures falls to Hillary Clinton, Klein said, it’s possible that she would even consider resigning over the...

Trey Gowdy, an outspoken Republican congressman from South Carolina, blasted Obama administration officials during Wednesday's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing on the Libya U.S. Consulate terrorist attack, raising his voice to levels rarely heard on the House floor.

In an often heated congressional hearing Wednesday, lawmakers and witnesses alike pointed to State Department official Charlene Lamb as the person most directly responsible for rejecting multiple requests for increased security at the U.S. diplomatic missions in Libya prior to the Sept. 11 attack. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) excoriated the State Department for rejecting requests from the U.S. Embassy in Libya for an extension of temporary security forces that were withdrawn in the months prior to the attack that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans. In a dramatic moment at the hearing, Issa released unclassified...

(CNSNews.com) - In the months leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, the U.S. Embassy in Libya was seeking to hire two bodyguards with “limited” English language skills at salaries of about $13,000 per year. Job descriptions for these openings that the U.S. Embassy in Libya posted online said the State Department would give preference in filling them to qualified U.S. citizens who were family members of U.S. government employees. The job descriptions explicitly stated that this included the “same-sex domestic partners” of U.S. government employees. In addition to the two bodyguards, the...

Being discussed now on Fox and Friends. Newly released statement from the State Department, headed by Hillary Clinton, of course, says they never believed that the attack on our Embassy in Libya was the result of a film or a spontaneous demonstration. This directly contradicts the word of the Administration last month and statements by Obama, Clinton, Rice, and Carney.

The fatal attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya last month has become a test of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s leadership and a threat to her much-admired legacy as America’s top diplomat just a few months before she plans to step down. Clinton was among the first Obama administration officials to publicly condemn the attack and mourn the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. But as the State Department has weathered Republican-led criticism that it misread warning signs before the Sept. 11 attack, Clinton has been far less visible. Clinton will not appear...

The Obama State Department held a conference call with reporters tonight on the Benghazi terror attack. They did not invite FOX News on the call. Bret Baier told viewers on Special Report that FOX is usually included on such calls. During the call, the Obama State Department said there was no protest at the consulate on 9-11 and that terrorists attacked the compound after 8:30 PM. This contradicts directly what the administration was saying after the deadly 9-11 attacks.

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - CBS News has learned that congressional investigators have issued a subpoena to a former top security official at the US mission in Libya. The official is Lt. Col. Andy Wood, a Utah National Guard Army Green Beret who headed up a Special Forces "Site Security Team" in Libya. Lt. Col. Andy Wood led a 16-member Special Forces site security team responsible for protecting U.S. personnel in Libya. / CBS News/Andy Woods The subpoena compels Lt. Col. Wood to appear at a House Oversight Committee hearing next week that will examine security decisions leading up to the...