John “TIG” Tiegen
@TigTiegen
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5h
12 DAYS OF BENGHAZI: DAY 4
I was operating out of the Annex. We were not the State Department, we were not at the U.S. Consulate, and we did not operate under the same security structure.
By August 2012, the State Department mission in Benghazi had security “tripwires.” The tripwires I’m talking about applied to the State Department mission in Benghazi.
State’s own security people were also asking for more U.S. protection. In July, the Libya mission requested additional temporary-duty U.S. security personnel, and Eric Nordstrom was pushing to keep additional security teams in Libya. Instead of the U.S. security presence growing as the threat got worse, it was shrinking.
By August, those conditions were piling up. A State Department cable from August 16 said officials were reviewing the tripwires because of increasing violent incidents, organizations leaving Benghazi, the rise of potentially anti-Western militias, and weak Libyan security support.
The local armed security presence at the U.S. mission was no longer being provided. Requests for a daily police presence had gone unanswered. State officials were also raising concerns about their relationship with the 17 Feb.
That is what people need to understand when they hear the word “tripwire.” It wasn’t just some general warning. These were specific conditions that were supposed to trigger changes in how the State Department operated.
And by then, the State Department mission was already down to mission-critical personnel. There wasn’t much left to reduce.
So they were discussing another option: suspended operations.
That meant restricting outside movement and conducting business from inside the compound.
Think about where things had gotten by August.
Violence was increasing, militias were becoming more aggressive, local security support was breaking down, and other organizations were leaving Benghazi.
And State was already discussing what to do if normal operations could no longer continue. By August, the warning signs were no longer hard to see. They were right in their faces, but Washington didn’t want to see it or hear it.
We were less than a month away from September 11.
#12DaysOfBenghazi #Benghazi #13Hours #NeverForget #HonorTheFallen
