"The ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security Service,” said the official, Eric A. Nordstrom." end partial quote.
begin full quote:
House Panel Delves Into Libya Attack That Killed Envoy
By MICHAEL R. GORDON
Published: October 10, 2012
WASHINGTON — The State Department official responsible for security for
American diplomats in Libya testified before a Congressional committee
on Wednesday that the attack last month on the mission in Benghazi would
have overpowered even a reinforced security detail.
Related
-
Before Hearings on Libya Attack, Charges of Playing Politics (October 10, 2012)
-
F.B.I. Agents Scour Ruins of Attacked U.S. Diplomatic Compound in Libya (October 5, 2012)
-
Added Security in Libya Was Rejected, G.O.P. Says (October 3, 2012)
“The ferocity and intensity of the attack was nothing that we had seen
in Libya, or that I had seen in my time in the Diplomatic Security
Service,” said the official, Eric A. Nordstrom.
Mr. Nordstrom presented his testimony at the first hearing held by a
Congressional committee investigating the attacks that led to the deaths
of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
As a regional security officer, Mr. Nordstrom served in Libya from Sept.
21, 2011, to July 26, 2012, six weeks before the attacks. He said the
security plan that was in place at the mission “was regularly tested and
appeared to work as planned despite high turnover” of Diplomatic
Security agents on the ground.
He said he hoped that in reacting to the events in Benghazi “a new security reality” did not result in overreaction.
“It is critical that we balance the risk mitigation with the needs of
our diplomats to do their job, in dangerous and uncertain places. The
answer cannot be to operate from a bunker.”
Another witness, a National Guard officer who was temporarily deployed
in the Tripoli embassy as the site’s security officer, said that he
became increasingly concerned about what he described as “the weak”
security he saw in Benghazi on two visits there last spring and summer.
“The security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle
throughout my time there,” said Lt. Col. Andrew Wood of the Utah
National Guard, who left Libya in August, some six months after he was
deployed to the embassy. “The situation remained uncertain and reports
from some Libyans indicated it was getting worse.”
The two witnesses presented their testimony at a hearing of the House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The committee is
investigating the attacks in Benghazi and will focus on security lapses
or any potential intelligence failures that resulted in the surprise
attacks.
In his opening statement, the committee chairman, Representative Darrell
Issa, Republican of California, said the purpose of the hearing was “to
identify things that clearly went wrong and what the benefit of
hindsight will be” to Americans serving in diplomatic facilities around
the world. Mr. Issa praised Secretary of State Hillary Rodman Clinton
for cooperating with the committee and stressed what he said was the
bipartisan nature of the inquiry.
But the committee’s ranking Democrat, Representative Elijah Cummings of
Maryland, challenged that assertion. In his statement, he said
Republicans had withheld documents and had not made witnesses available
for interviews. He also called on the House to restore what he said was
“hundreds of millions of dollars” it has cut from embassy security
financing in recent years.
With less than a month before Election Day, the hearing has highly
charged political overtones. Republicans have charged that the Obama
administration has played down the significance of the attacks and what
they say are the policies that allowed them. Democrats have responded
that Republicans are trying to politicize the episode.
After declining for weeks to provide details about the assault on Sept.
11, the State Department on Tuesday night arranged with little notice a
conference call in which a spokesman gave new details on what happened.
The account provided by a State Department official, whom the agency
declined to identify, differed from the initial Obama administration
reports in some important respects. Susan E. Rice, the American
ambassador to the United Nations, had said that the attack on the
mission began with an angry protest about an anti-Islamic film that was
“hijacked” by extremists.
- 1
- 2
end quote from:
No comments:
Post a Comment