http://www.cbsnews.com/2102-18563_162-57527150.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Congress to probe security flaws for Libya diplomats
By Sharyl Attkisson .Updated 10:43 PM ET
(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 Sept. 11 Muslim extremist terror assault on the U.S. compound at Benghazi. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three of his colleagues were killed in the attack.
Lt. Col. Wood has told CBS News and congressional investigators that his 16-member team and a six-member State Department elite force called a Mobile Security Deployment team left Libya in August, just one month before the Benghazi assault. Wood says that’s despite the fact that US officials in Libya wanted security increased, not decreased.
Wood says he met daily with Stevens and that security was a constant challenge. There were 13 threats or attacks on western diplomats and officials in Libya in the six months leading up to the September 11 attack.
A senior State Department official told CBS News that half of the 13 incidents before September 11 were fairly minor or routine in nature, and that the Benghazi attack was so lethal and overwhelming, that a diplomatic post would not be able to repel it.
Wood, whose team arrived in February, says he and fellow security officials were very worried about the chaos on the ground. He says they tried to communicate the danger to State Department officials in Washington, D.C., but that the officials denied requests to enhance security.
Bronxville: I don't see the direct link at ACD for this article. Can you provide?]
*****************************
The Benghazi Mess (Literally, As Well As Figuratively)
Posted on Saturday, October 06, 2012 5:23:12 PM by bronxville
The Benghazi Mess (Literally, As Well As Figuratively)
American Center for Democracy ^ | October 4th, 2012 | Kenneth D. M. Jensen
Stephen Fidler, writing in the Wall Street Journal, has provided an extensive update on the situation in Benghazi that focuses on the unsecured documents that remain scattered around the consulate. Because the situation is still regarded as too dangerous, the FBI has not been allowed to go in. However, others have, including CNN, and a great deal is already known about what “goodies” are accessible among the U.S. documents. Fidler says, giving an example,
“At least one document found amid the clutter indicates that Americans at the mission were discussing the possibility of an attack in early September, just two days before the assault took place. The document is a memorandum dated Sept. 9 from the U.S. mission’s security office to the 17th February Martyrs Brigade, the Libyan-government-sanctioned militia that was guarding the compound, making plans for a ‘quick reaction force,’ or QRF, that would provide security.
“’In the event of an attack on the U.S. Mission,’ the document states, ‘QRF will request additional support from the 17th February Martyrs Brigade.’”
This is interesting, of course, because the 17th February Martyrs Brigade is related in some way to the Muslim Brotherhood. The MB having security responsibility for our consulate? I ask you!
Fidler also says that
“The itinerary of Stevens’s trip to Benghazi includes a near-full accounting of his planned movements during what was supposed to be a visit that lasted from Sept. 10 until Sept. 15. It includes names and phone numbers of Libyans who were scheduled to meet with him. Some of those Libyans have not made their contact with Stevens public and could be at risk if it were publicly known.
“The meetings include briefings with U.S. officials, a private dinner with influential local leaders, and meetings with militia heads, businesspeople, civil society activists and educators. The highlight of the visit was the opening of the American Space, a center intended to serve as a hub for U.S. culture and education.”