John “TIG” Tiegen
@TigTiegen
12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI:
DAY 2
By June 11, 2012, the British had already been getting warning signs in Libya. On March 18, the British School in Benghazi was robbed at gunpoint. On April 2, a British armored diplomatic vehicle was attacked after driving into a protest. On June 8, two grenades were thrown at a parked British diplomatic vehicle in Sabha.
I had left Benghazi 5 days earlier, on June 6, the same day the U.S. consulate was attacked. When that call came in, I remember thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m flying home today.” If it had turned into a full-on attack, I would’ve missed that flight home.
Then came June 11.
The British Ambassador’s convoy had been using the same route repeatedly, which made their movements predictable. After a meeting that day, the convoy was returning through Benghazi when it was ambushed with an RPG and small-arms fire. Two British security personnel were wounded.
Once again, Bob told the GRS team to stand down.
This time, the Team Leader made the difference. He made the decision to go anyway. The GRS team rolled out, responded to the attack, and our medic treated the wounded British security personnel.
That matters because leadership matters. Same Chief of Base. Same kind of hesitation. Different Team Leader. Different decision.
By that point, the British had already been changing how they operated in Benghazi because of the security situation. After the June 11 ambush, they suspended their Benghazi mission altogether. When they later returned for day missions, their vehicles and weapons were stored at the U.S. consulate.
Think about that. The British had already been targeted multiple times. Their Ambassador was then ambushed. They changed the way they operated and reduced their exposure even further.
The United States stayed.
Did they change their security posture or start listening to the guys on the ground?
Nope.
And we were still 92 days away from September 11.
#12DaysOfBenghazi #Benghazi #13Hours #NeverForget #HonorTheFallen
September 2, 2026
John “TIG” Tiegen
@TigTiegen
12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI: DAY 3
DERNA
Earlier in my time in Libya, I made 2 trips into Derna. We drove through the city, got out, and even walked the markets. At that point, we could still operate there.
That changed.
As the security situation deteriorated, Derna became a place we stopped going ourselves. The terrorist presence had grown to the point that the risk was no longer worth it. That wasn’t just our assessment either. Government testimony later described Derna as an area Americans generally avoided because it was known for harboring al-Qaeda sympathizers.
At the same time, we were getting reports about AQ activity, sightings and locations throughout eastern Libya. There were intelligence personnel whose job was to help locate and track those networks, including through electronic communications and signal collection.
What most people don’t know is that I watched some of those reports get ignored. If Bob found out we were taking personnel out specifically to help locate or track AQ activity, he would shut it down.
I’m not going into names, equipment, specific locations or methods. There is no reason to. The important part is that we were not operating blind. The terrorist presence was there, people on the ground were seeing it, and there were opportunities to learn more about what those networks were doing.
Here is something else most people probably don’t know.
On September 11, 2012, when the attack in Benghazi began, an unarmed Predator was already flying over Derna conducting an intelligence collection mission. Once Benghazi came under attack, that Predator was redirected to us.
Think about that. By September 11, Derna had become dangerous enough that we had stopped going there ourselves, yet the United States was still collecting intelligence over the city. Members of Ansar al-Sharia in Derna were later identified by the State Department as having been involved in the Benghazi attacks.
The threat didn’t suddenly appear on September 11. We had been watching it grow. The question was never whether the warning signs existed.#12DaysOfBenghazi #Benghazi #13Hours #NeverForget #HonorTheFallen
