I: TERRORIST ATTACKS ON U.S. FACILITIES IN BENGHAZI

I: TERRORIST ATTACKS ON U.S. FACILITIES IN BENGHAZI

"If you guys don't get here, we're all going to f----ing die."1 Diplomatic Security Agent in Benghazi during the attacks

"I'm in Benghazi this week, lurking about with my eyes ever-peeled for RPG's hurtling towards my motorcade!"2

Ambassador Christopher Stevens, to the U.K. Ambassador on the morning of September 11, 2012 "We're under attack."3 Ambassador Christopher Stevens, on the evening of September 11, 2012

1 Testimony of GRS 1, Cent. Intel. Agency, Tr. at 33 (Mar. 1, 2016) [hereinafter GRS 1 Testimony] (on file with the Committee). 2 Email from J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, to personal account of Dominic A.G. Asquith, U.K. Ambassador to Libya (Sept. 11, 2012, 5:40 AM) (on file with the Committee, C05390150). 3 Testimony of Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of Mission, Libya, U.S. Dep't of State (page 18) (Apr. 11, 2013) [hereinafter Hicks Apr. 2013 Testimony] (on file with the Committee).

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BACKGROUND: SEPTEMBER 2012 AND THE AMBASSADOR'S TRIP TO BENGHAZI

Stevens' Decision to Travel to Benghazi

J. Christopher Stevens, a highly and widely respected diplomat, was sworn in as the United States Ambassador to Libya on May 14, 2012.4 Thirteen months earlier in 2011, while Libya was still in the throes of a civil war, Stevens courageously arrived in Benghazi, Libya on a Greek cargo ship to serve as the United States' Special Representative to the Transitional National Council [TNC].5

Stevens remained Special Representative to the TNC for more than six months in 2011 and witnessed both the dictatorship of Muammar Qadhafi topple and the reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, which had previously been evacuated at the beginning of the Libyan revolution in February of 2011.6

Stevens left Benghazi in November of 2011, to return to the United States, where he would be nominated and confirmed as Ambassador to Libya the following May.7

Stevens had a deep affection for the Libyan people in general and the people of Benghazi in particular. He also knew Libya as well as anyone in the U.S. Foreign Service. He would soon learn much had changed in Libya from the time he left as Special Representative in November of 2011 until the time he returned as Ambassador in May of 2012.

The Benghazi Mission compound where Stevens lived for several months in 2011 remained open while he was in the U.S. awaiting confirmation as Ambassador. The Benghazi Mission compound was protect-

4 Public Schedule [for the Secretary of State] for May 14, 2012 found at pa/prs/appt/2012/05/14/189814 htm 5 U.S. Representative to TNC Stevens provides an update on Libya, DIPNOTE, Aug. 3, 2011 found at . 6 A Guide to the U.S. History of Recognition, Diplomatic, and Consular Relations, by Country, Since 1776: [State Department/Office of the Historian] found at: . 7 Biography of J. Christopher Stevens, Ambassador, Libya, found at: .

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ed by Diplomatic Security Agents and staffed by a Principal Officer who provided political reporting on the changes occurring in Benghazi as the country attempted to recover after the revolution.

In August of 2012, three months after Stevens returned to Libya as the newly confirmed Ambassador, the Principal Officer in Benghazi was nearing the end of his assignment. There would be a two-week gap between the Principal Officer's departure date and the arrival of the next Principal Officer.8 No one was scheduled to fill this vacancy until September 15, 2012, so Ambassador Stevens chose to send Principal Officer 4, to cover the vacancy during the first week in September.9 Stevens chose himself to cover the second week.10 According to Gregory N. Hicks, who as the Deputy Chief of Mission was second in command at the time, Stevens "very much wanted to get back to Benghazi ... he had not been able to go since his own arrival in Tripoli" in May of 2012.11

The timing of Stevens' visit to Benghazi was important for another reason as well. He was spearheading an effort to make Benghazi a permanent post, Hicks testified:

One of the things he [Stevens] said to me was that, in his exit interview with Secretary Clinton, she expressed the hope that we could make the special mission in Benghazi a permanent constituent post. And Chris said that one of the first things he intended to do after his arrival was develop a proposal to move forward on that project.12

A trip to Benghazi would allow Stevens to personally assess the political and security situation and make a recommendation regarding whether the U.S. should have a permanent presence there. Discussions were already under way in Washington D.C. on how to fund a permanent post. Hicks stated:

8 See Hicks Apr. 2013 Testimony at 9 ("[Principal Officer 3] left at the end of August, and the new Principal Officer was not arriving until -- scheduled to arrive until September 15th or thereabouts."). 9 See id. at 57 ("And so basically Chris announces at the meeting that [Principal Officer 4] is going to go to Benghazi to cover the first week in the gap, first week in September, and that he would cover the second week."). 10 Id. 11 Id. at 9. 12 Id. at 7.

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[W]e are only a month from the end of the fiscal year, so we have to get a [sic] or, we have to help Washington, the executive director's office of the Near East Bureau to put together a package to get it to [the Undersecretary for Management] Pat Kennedy for a decision by September 30th. Otherwise, we lose the money. Because we had surplus money available from Iraq--I can't remember, Iraq contingency fund I think--that had been notified by Pat Kennedy for transfer from Iraq--it wasn't going to get spent in Iraq, and so we were going to spend it in Libya and in Benghazi. But we had to get the justification forward to do that.13

While the end of the fiscal year funding deadline was looming, the Diplomatic Security Agent in charge at the Embassy in Tripoli was, nonetheless, concerned about Stevens' trip to Benghazi. Although his first planned trip to Benghazi in the beginning of August 2012 had to be canceled because of security,14 Stevens was adamant, however, about going in September.15 The Diplomatic Security Agent testified:

Previous to this--to his decisions to going up there, there was-- we would meet weekly to discuss the security situation in Libya.... [T]here was a specific meeting regarding what was happening in Benghazi. In that meeting, we reviewed incidents and probable causes, what's initiating it. And a lot of discussion was that it was the conflict or the incidents up there were, you know, local population against local population and that that they weren't specifically targeting Americans ... up there. I expressed my concerns about the incidents that did involve us. And the basic response was that they ... were anomalies.

***

It was the persons attending the meeting. I believe it was the Ambassador who actually said its anomalies; we can't account

13 Id. at 16-17. 14 See Email from J. Christopher Stevens, U.S. Ambassador to Libya, to Principal Officer 3, Foreign Service Officer, U.S. Dep't of State, (Aug. 2, 2012, 2:45 PM) (on file with the Committee, C05390855). 15 See Testimony of Diplomatic Sec. Agent 23, U.S. Dep't of State, Tr. at 69-70 (Oct. 10, 2013) [hereinafter Diplomatic Sec. Agent 23 Testimony] (on file with the Committee).

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for anomalies. And other members of the group seemed to concur with that. And then this trip was planned because there was a gap in principal officer up there and the opening of the American corner. . . . I knew he was bound and determined to go.

I've been wracking my memory trying to remember the exact conversations I had with him on this. But I know he knew I didn't--the idea of him traveling there. But I knew he was determined to go. So doing everything I can to make it as safe as possible, given my resources and the environment--safety-- compounds--both compounds, all the Americans there.16

Not only was the looming funding deadline an impetus for Stevens' trip, an upcoming trip by Hillary R. Clinton, Secretary of State, in the fall of 2012 was also a motivating factor for him to travel to Benghazi. The hope was to establish a permanent consulate in Benghazi for the Secretary to present to the Libyan government during her trip. Hicks discussed this with the Committee:

Q: Okay. We know that Ambassador Stevens went to Benghazi on September 10th. Was there anything about his trip to Benghazi in September of 2012 that was sort of a precursor for the Secretary's trip?

A: Well, you know, when we have a visit by a major political figure, like the Secretary of State, like the President, you know, we try to make that visit important publicly. And so we generally will create a list of what we call deliverables, items of importance to the bilateral relationship. So we hoped for the Secretary to announce the opening of a permanent consulate in Benghazi during her visit[.]

Q: Was there any reason that--was there anything related to making Benghazi a permanent post that was part of the purpose of Ambassador Stevens going to Benghazi in September?

A: Oh, absolutely. And so again, we had begun the process of developing a political rationale for having a permanent post in

16 Id.

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