The only help came from Tripoli and they were kept at the Benghazi airport for over four hours before being allowed to proceed to the Mission. It should be noted that the six man security team from Tripoli included Glen Doherty. Here is the timeline put out by the Pentagon. I wish the questioners had used it to get more specifics from Panetta and Dempsey. It appears that DOD was doing something in response prior to the last attack, but it was mostly in the form of alerts--no movement.
September 11 (Events are listed using the time in Benghazi)
9:42 p.m. -- Armed men begin their assault on the U.S. Consulate.
9:59 p.m. -- A surveillance drone is directed to fly over the U.S. compound, but it is unarmed.
10:32 p.m. -- The Office of the Secretary Defense and the Joint Staff are notified of the attack by the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. "The information is quickly passed to Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey."
11 p.m. -- Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey meet with President Obama at the White House where they discuss the unfolding situation and how to respond. The meeting had been previously scheduled.
11:10 p.m. -- The surveillance drone arrives over the Benghazi facility.
11:30 p.m. -- All surviving U.S. personnel are evacuated from the consulate. U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and State Department computer expert Sean Smith were killed in the initial assault.
September 12
Midnight to 2 a.m. -- Panetta and other senior leaders discuss possible options for further violence if it were to break out. Panetta gives verbal orders for Marine anti-terrorist teams from Rota, Spain, to prepare to deploy to Tripoli and Benghazi. Panetta also orders a special operations force team training in Croatia and an additional special operations force team in the United States to prepare to deploy to a staging base in southern Italy.
1:30 a.m. -- A six-man security team from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrives in Benghazi.
2:39 a.m. to 2:53 a.m. -- The National Military Command Center gives formal authorization for the deployment of the two special operations force teams from Croatia and the United States.
5:15 a.m. -- Attackers launch assault on a second U.S. facility in Benghazi. Two former U.S. Navy SEALs acting as security contractors are killed. They are identified as Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
6:05 a.m. -- A C-17 aircraft in Germany is told to prepare to deploy to Libya to evacuate the consulate personnel.
7:40 a.m. -- The first wave of Americans are evacuated to Tripoli via airplane.
10 a.m. -- A second group, including those killed in the attack, are flown to Tripoli.
2:15 p.m. -- The C-17 departs from Germany for the flight to Tripoli.
7:17 p.m. -- The C-17 leaves Tripoli with the American consulate personnel and the bodies of Stevens, Smith, Woods and Doherty.
7:57 p.m. -- The U.S. special operations force team based in Croatia arrives at a staging base in Italy.
8:56 p.m. -- One of the Marine anti-terrorist teams from Spain arrives in Tripoli.
9:28 p.m. -- The U.S.-based special operations force team arrives at its staging base in Italy.
What I find most shocking is that the military was not sent into Benghazi to secure both compounds on September 12. Panetta admitted during the hearings that they had the capability to do this but the request never came. It took 23 days for us to enter the compounds.
I have no doubt that the primary mission of the facility in Benghazi was intelligence and other activities. I don't buy any of the conspiracy theories that this was a hit on Stevens or that it was planned to use Stevens as a hostage to release the blind sheik. We could have been using it to funnel guns to the revolutionary forces in Syria. But if this facility was deemed so important to our national security interests, we should have provided the security to protect our personnel.
So then why were Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty told to "stand down" or is that not true?
7:40 a.m. -- The first wave of Americans are evacuated to Tripoli via airplane.
10 a.m. -- A second group, including those killed in the attack, are flown to Tripoli.
So where are they, and why has nobody including WND, National Enquirer, FNC, British Press, Al Jazzera etc interviewed any of them?
Do you think the whole thing a cia op? Will the administration use cia as an eventual excuse?
If the purpose of the attack was not to hold Stevens as a hostage or to kill him because he knew too much why were they attacking?
10:32 p.m. — The Office of the Secretary Defense and the Joint Staff are notified of the attack by the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. “The information is quickly passed to Secretary Panetta and General Dempsey.”
11 p.m. — Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey meet with President Obama at the White House where they discuss the unfolding situation and how to respond. The meeting had been previously scheduled.
According to the timeline Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were told of the attack about an hour after it started, as both men were on their way to the White House for an already scheduled meeting with President Barack Obama. Thirty minutes later the president was directing the Pentagon to do all it could to assist, according to senior Pentagon officials.
Background Briefing on Libya
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/10/198791.htm
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL NUMBER ONE: ...At 9:40 p.m., the agent in the TOC and the agents in Building C hear loud noises coming from the front gate. They also hear gunfire and an explosion. The agent in the TOC looks at his cameras – these are cameras that have pictures of the perimeter – and the camera on the main gate reveals a large number of people – a large number of men, armed men, flowing into the compound.
...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. And he remained in the TOC.(Tactical Operations Center)
(more on the TOC )...The Tactical Operations Center, which is just across the way from Building B, has offices and a bedroom. That’s where the security officers had their main setup, that’s where the security cameras are, a lot of the phones – it’s basically their operations center. So I’ll call it the TOC from now on.
A few minutes later – we’re talking about 9 o’clock at night – the Ambassador retires to his room, the others are still at Building C, and the one agent in the TOC. At 9:40 p.m., the agent in the TOC and the agents in Building C hear loud noises coming from the front gate. They also hear gunfire and an explosion. The agent in the TOC looks at his cameras – these are cameras that have pictures of the perimeter – and the camera on the main gate reveals a large number of people – a large number of men, armed men, flowing into the compound. One special agent immediately goes to get the Ambassador in his bedroom and gets Sean, and the three of them enter the safe haven inside the building.
...The other agents who have heard the noise in the – at the front gate run to Building B or the TOC – they run to both, two of them to Building B, one to the TOC – to get their long guns and other kit.
...I should also have mentioned that at the very first moment when the agent in the TOC seized the people flowing through the gate, he immediately hits an alarm, and so there is a loud alarm. He gets on the public address system as well, yelling, “Attack, attack.” Having said that, the agents – the other agents had heard the noise and were already reacting.
...Okay. So we have agents in Building C – or an agent in Building C with the Ambassador and Sean, we have two agents in Building B, and we have two agents in the TOC.
...A third group of attackers tried to break into the TOC. They pound away at the door, they throw themselves at the door, they kick the door, they really treat it pretty rough; they are unable to get in, and they withdraw.