Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Reihan Salam
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Slideshow
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our best photos from the last 24 hours. Slideshow
Images of September
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Scottish to vote on independence in 2014: minister
09 Oct 2012
EADS, BAE call off world's biggest arms merger
|
3:51pm EDT
SpaceX rocket glitch puts satellite in wrong orbit
|
09 Oct 2012
Vice presidential debate could be a tale of two Ryans
2:45pm EDT
Romney takes slight lead over Obama in presidential race: Reuters/Ipsos poll
|
3:52pm EDT
Discussed
261
Romney’s strong debate showing puts Europe on edge
157
Obama and Romney battle over economy at debate
155
Weak U.S. labor market looms ahead of elections
Sponsored Links
U.S. security in Benghazi "a struggle": ex-security officer
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
U.S. officer got no reply to requests for more security in Benghazi
Tue, Oct 9 2012
U.S. diplomatic security unit under scrutiny after Libya attack
Tue, Oct 9 2012
U.S. investigators visit Libya compound where ambassador was killed
Thu, Oct 4 2012
Clinton pledges full accounting of deadly Benghazi attack
Wed, Oct 3 2012
Father of bodyguard injured in Libya questions State Dept. response
Wed, Oct 3 2012
Analysis & Opinion
So what is Romney’s foreign policy?
Can Romney put foreign policy in play?
Related Topics
World »
United Nations »
Libya »
Middle East Turmoil »
1 of 2. (From left) Utah National Guard Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, Regional Security Officer at the U.S. Department of State Eric Nordstrom, Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Programs in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security at the U.S. Department of State Charlene Lamb and Under Secretary for Management at the U.S. Department of State Patrick Kennedy are sworn in before testifying on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. about the attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, October 10, 2012. Diplomatic security in Libya was drawn down ahead of last month's fatal attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi and U.S. officials did not have enough protection, Wood told lawmakers on Wednesday.
Credit: Reuters/Jose Luis Magana
By Susan Cornwell and Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON |
Wed Oct 10, 2012 3:48pm EDT
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Diplomatic security for the U.S. mission in Benghazi was "a struggle" and security teams in Libya were drawn down ahead of last month's fatal attack, the former head of a U.S. security team in Libya told lawmakers on Wednesday.
"The security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there," Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee during Congress' first hearing on the assault that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
"The situation remained uncertain and reports from some Libyans indicated it was getting worse. Diplomatic security remained weak. In April there was only one U.S. diplomatic security agent stationed there," he said.
Wood said that when he arrived in Libya in February there were three U.S. diplomatic special security teams in the country, but by August they had been withdrawn.
Republican charges that the United States was caught unprepared for the September 11 attack have put the administration of President Barack Obama, a Democrat, on the defensive ahead of the November 6 presidential election.
Partisan tension quickly spilled out at the hearing, with Republicans accusing the State Department of not being fully cooperative in providing information on security decisions before the attack. Democrats accused the majority Republicans of conducting a one-sided probe that excluded them.
Republicans continued their line of attack that the administration initially issued misleading comments saying the assault was a spontaneous event that sprang from a protest against an anti-Islam video.
Administration officials said those initial comments, including by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, resulted from the best information at that time.
"If any administration official including any career official were on television on Sunday, September 16, they would have said what Ambassador Rice said," Patrick Kennedy, the under secretary of state for management, told the hearing. "The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point."
However, Reuters reported last week that within hours of the attack, the Obama administration received about a dozen intelligence reports suggesting militants connected to al Qaeda were involved.
U.S. intelligence officials were the first to publicly say it was a terrorist attack that struck the compound.
'REASONABLY PREDICTABLE'
In a briefing for reporters on Tuesday, State Department officials backed away from earlier assertions that the anti-Islam film had a role in the violence.
"We know that the tragedy in Benghazi ended as it did," Republican committee Chairman Darrell Issa said. "We now know that, in fact, it was caused by a terrorist attack that was reasonably predictable to eventually happen somewhere in the world, especially on September 11."
He said the safe-haven area of the compound where Stevens was found could not have been expected to offer adequate protection.
"The safe haven within the compound, which some State Department officials seem to think could protect the Benghazi compound's inhabitants, did not work and, in retrospect, could not be expected to work," Issa said.
In more partisan rancor, an argument erupted early in the hearing with Republicans objecting to a photograph displayed by the State Department of what appeared to be an aerial view of the Benghazi compound and the nearby area, saying it might reveal classified information.
A State Department official said the information was for public dissemination, and a Democratic lawmaker said: "You can Google it."
State Department officials testifying at the hearing defended security arrangements in Benghazi and said the compound was struck by what Charlene Lamb, a top official in the department's Diplomatic Security bureau, called "a full-scale assault that was unprecedented in size and intensity."
"We had the correct number of assets in Benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon," Lamb told lawmakers.
Another former U.S. security officer in Libya, Eric Nordstrom, who testified at the hearing had earlier told the committee in a private interview that Lamb, deputy assistant secretary of state for international programs, wanted to keep the number of security personnel in Benghazi "artificially low."
Wood, who served as the Site Security Team commander in Libya from February 12 to August 14, said he came forward to the congressional committee after Stevens and the three other Americans were killed in the assault.
"The killing of a U.S. ambassador is a rare and extraordinary thing and requires our attention as a people," he said. "As a citizen I made the determination that this outweighs all other interests and will risk whatever circumstances may result from my testimony."
(Additional reporting by Andrew Quinn; Editing by Eric Beech)
World
United Nations
Libya
Middle East Turmoil
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.