Revolt of the Spooks Intelligence officials angered by Obama administration cover up of intelligence on Iranian, al Qaeda surge in Egypt and Libya
Weeks before the presidential election, President Barack Obama’s administration faces mounting opposition from within the ranks of U.S. intelligence agencies over what career officers say is a “cover up” of intelligence information about terrorism in North Africa.
Intelligence held back from senior officials and the public includes numerous classified reports revealing clear Iranian support for jihadists throughout the tumultuous North Africa and Middle East region, as well as notably widespread al Qaeda penetration into Egypt and Libya in the months before the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.
“The Iranian strategy is two-fold: upping the ante for the Obama administration’s economic sanctions against Iran and perceived cyber operations against Iran’s nuclear weapons program by conducting terror attacks on soft U.S. targets and cyber attacks against U.S. financial interests,” said one official, speaking confidentially.
The Iranian effort also seeks to take the international community’s spotlight off Iran’s support for its Syrian ally.
Two House Republicans, Reps. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) and Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah), stated in a letter sent this week to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that officials “with direct knowledge of events in Libya” revealed that the Benghazi attack was part of a string of terror attacks and not a spontaneous uprising against an anti-Muslim video produced in the U.S. The lawmakers have scheduled congressional hearings for Oct. 10.
Susan Phalen, spokeswoman for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.), said the panel is “reviewing all relevant intelligence and the actions of the [intelligence community], as would be expected of the oversight committee.”
But she noted: “At this point in time it does not appear that there was an intelligence failure.”
Rice on Benghazi: Blame the intelligence community
U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice told Republican senators that her televised statements last month on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi were based entirely on information she was given by the intelligence community.
"In my Sept. 16 Sunday show appearances, I was asked to provide the administration's latest understanding of what happened in Benghazi," Rice wrote in a Thursday letter to Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). "In answering, I relied solely and squarely on the information the intelligence community provided to me and other senior U.S. officials, including through the daily intelligence briefings that present the latest reporting and analysis to policy makers. This information represented the intelligence community's best, current assessment as of the date of my television appearances, and I went out of my way to ensure it was consistent with the information that was being given to Congress."
Rice was responding to a Sept. 26 letter from the GOP senators in which they accused Rice of jumping the gun and disseminating false information about the attack. The letter quotes Rice's comments selectively, leaving out the context where she cautioned that the information was based on initial assessments. Rice emphasized in her response that she had caveated her remarks in her TV appearances.
She also pointed to a Sept. 28 statement from Shawn Turner, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, admitting that the intelligence community had changed its view of the attack.
"As the Intelligence Community collects and analyzes more information related to the attack, our understanding of the event continues to evolve," Turner said. "As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized terrorist attack carried out by extremists."
For McCain, Johnson, Ayotte, and Graham, Rice's deflection of blame is not enough to absolve the administration of responsibility for mistakes before and after the attack. They also say they doubt the intelligence community's true views were what Rice and Turner claimed.
"Elements of the intelligence community apparently told the administration within hours of the attack that militants connected with al Qaeda were involved, yet Ambassador Rice claims her comments five days later reflected the 'best' and 'current' assessment of the intelligence community. Either the Obama administration is misleading Congress and the American people, or it is blaming the entire failure on the intelligence community," the senators said in a joint response to Rice's letter today.
"Ambassador Rice claims the administration launched a 'comprehensive' effort to determine what happened in Benghazi, but the administration failed to secure the scene of the terrorist attack for three weeks -- allowing evidence and sensitive information to be compromised and destroyed. From beginning to end, the administration's behavior in the wake of the attack indicates a breathtaking level of incompetence and suggests an intent to deliberately mislead Congress and the American people."
Email Shows State Department Rejecting Request of Security Team at US Embassy in Libya ABC News has obtained an internal State Department email from May 3, 2012, indicating that the State Department denied a request from the security team at the Embassy of Libya to retain a DC-3 airplane in the country to better conduct their duties. Copied on the email was U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed in a terrorist attack on the diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, Sept. 11, 2012, along with three other Americans. That attack has prompted questions about whether the diplomatic personnel in that country were provided with adequate security support. No one has yet to argue that the DC-3 would have definitively made a difference for the four Americans killed that night. The security team in question, after all, left Libya in August. But the question – both for the State Department, which is conducting an internal investigation, and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is holding hearings next week – is whether officials in Washington, D.C., specifically at the State Department, were as aware as they should have been about the deteriorating security situation in Libya, and whether officials were doing everything they could to protect Americans in that country.
Congress to probe security flaws for Libya diplomats
(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. Libya consulate: Was security added or taken away? FBI team examines site of deadly Libya 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.
I'm not a Romney supporter by any stretch...But this has to be the biggest load of sh*t political spin I've ever seen.
The ambassador to the country that Obama helped assisted to overthrow was just murder. Obama used military power to force regime change in Libya without asking for consent from the congress. Obama OWNS that decision. They actually CHEERED at the success of the mission. "We came, we saw, he died" - Hillary Clinton. And NOW, they are trying to spin this and blame Romney for the COMMENTS he made about the attack on the Cairo embassy. Sorry jobxr, this dog isn't going to hunt. This tragedy just put a nail in the Obama re-election coffin. The Obama Administration couldn't have looked anymore incompetent than today.
Hey 'bob and weave' looks like you are trying to twist and shout.
Romney released the statement after the Cairo embassy attack, AFTER the embassy released their condemnation preaching religious tolerance and blaming the violence on a movie. Now, my understanding the U.S. embassies are still part of the federal government. More specifically, the State Department. That's what GOOGLE tells me anyways. Maybe in your democrat wonderland, you would like to convince people that the embassies are not part of the federal government.
Are you trying to say that the Obama Administration's State Department isn't the official statement of the U.S. government? Are you kidding me? Hillary Clinton should resign in disgrace for allowing that condemnation of religious tolerance to be released. Then after the embarrassment, the State Department had the original condemnation removed from the tweet. The Obama Administration is showing pure INCOMPETENCE. Just wait until Romney starts hammering this point home. Obama's gonna have trouble turning this one around without some high level resignations. Obama is actually trying to distance himself from the official statement from his own state department. TOO FUNNY!!!
Jobxr, stop just reading and regurgitating democrat propaganda. You can try all you want. But they are going to hang this tragic blunder around Obama's neck like an albatross. Obama will have to be Houdini to get out of this one.
Huckabee: Obama's Libya cover-up worse than Watergate By MACKENZIE WEINGER | 9/28/12 12:17 PM EDT
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday said the American people “have flat-out been lied to” by President Barack Obama and his administration about the violence in Libya — and this cover-up is worse than Richard Nixon’s scandal because “nobody died in Watergate.”
“Let’s just get blunt. No way to sugar coat this — We’ve been lied to. We have flat-out been lied to. They know they’ve lied,” Huckabee told Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “It’s as if airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center and somebody says, ‘those were just accidents. The planes veered off course.’ Everybody with two eyes and IQ above plant life understands that what happened in Egypt and what happened in Libya was not some spontaneous reaction to a stupid 13-minute video on YouTube. It was a planned, coordinated, orchestrated attack led by terrorists.”...............................>>>>........................>>>>.......................http://www.politico.com/blogs/.....atergate-136929.html
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday tried to douse a political firestorm over the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya, saying she's responsible for the security of American diplomatic outposts. "I take responsibility," Clinton told CNN in an interview while on a visit to Peru. "I'm in charge of the State Department's 60,000-plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision." But she said an investigation now under way will ultimately determine what happened at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, where Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed on September 11. "I take this very personally," Clinton said. "So we're going to get to the bottom of it, and then we're going to do everything we can to work to prevent it from happening again, and then we're going to work to bring whoever did this to us to justice." VP debate left unanswered national security questions Photos: Attack on U.S. Consulate in Libya Clinton: 'I take responsibility' Biden, Ryan debate Benghazi attack Romney: Benghazi was a terrorist attack The attack took place in the eastern Libyan city that was the cradle of that country's 2011 revolution. Obama administration officials initially blamed a mob inflamed by a U.S.-produced movie that mocked Islam and its Prophet Mohammed, but later said the storming of the consulate appears to have been a terrorist attack. With criticism growing, Vice President Joe Biden said during last week's vice presidential debate that the White House did not know of requests to enhance security at Benghazi, contradicting testimony by State Department employees that requests had been made and rejected. After the debate, the White House said the vice president did not know of the requests because they were handled, as is the practice, by the State Department. Fact Check: Benghazi security "In the wake of an attack like this, in the fog of war, there's always going to be confusion," Clinton said. "And I think it is absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone who spoke tried to give the information that they had. As time has gone on, that information has changed. We've gotten more detail, but that's not surprising. That always happens." She added, "What I want to avoid is some kind of political gotcha or blame game." "I know that we're very close to an election," Clinton said. "I want to just take a step back here and say from my own experience, we are at our best as Americans when we pull together. I've done that with Democratic presidents and Republican presidents." Her remarks drew a quick response from three Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee, including ranking member John McCain. Clinton's statement of responsibility was "a laudable gesture, especially when the White House is trying to avoid any responsibility whatsoever," the Arizona senator said in a joint broadside with Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. However, they added, "The security of Americans serving our nation everywhere in the world is ultimately the job of the commander-in-chief. The buck stops there." Stevens, State Department computer expert Sean Smith and security contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods died in the Benghazi assault, which State Department officials now say was the work of dozens of armed men. Clinton also described a desperate scene in the State Department during the hours of the attack, as staff tried to find out what had happened. "This was a many-hour ordeal that we were all involved in, and I was deeply concerned as you would obviously assume, to hear about an attack," she said. Not only was the picture coming out of Libya murky, but also, "Then we couldn't find Ambassador Stevens, and we were trying desperately to figure out what happened to him and to Sean Smith and to the others who were there." Actress sues filmmaker Clinton said her mission now is to make sure such an attack will never happen again, and also to ensure the work of American diplomats won't be stopped even in dangerous areas like Benghazi. "We can't retreat. We have to continue to lead. We have to be engaged," she said. "We can't hang out behind walls." She said Stevens, who came to Benghazi on a cargo ship to start building ties with rebel leaders during last year's revolt, "knew that more than anybody."
This was a huge gaffe and one that's going to bite Obama in the a**.
Don't be shocked if some more information gets 'leaked' to the media concerning Benghazi....People don't like to get chucked under busses
But please...Tell us more of what everyone with a brain already knows
"Approval ratings go up and down for various reasons... An example is the high post 911 support for GWB even though he could be said to be responsible for the event." --- Box A Rox '9/11 Truther'
Melania is a bimbo... she is there to look at, not to listen to. --- Box A Rox and his 'War on Women'
Funny how clinton comes out with egg on her face 'just before the debate'!
the manipulation is just so obvious!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
But please...Tell us more of what everyone with a brain already knows
WOW! How insightful! You figured it all out on October 12th, a full month after the attack. Hmmmmmm....Let me see, let's go back to my prediction on the day after the attack.
Romney released the statement after the Cairo embassy attack, AFTER the embassy released their condemnation preaching religious tolerance and blaming the violence on a movie. Now, my understanding the U.S. embassies are still part of the federal government. More specifically, the State Department. That's what GOOGLE tells me anyways. Maybe in your democrat wonderland, you would like to convince people that the embassies are not part of the federal government.
Are you trying to say that the Obama Administration's State Department isn't the official statement of the U.S. government? Are you kidding me? Hillary Clinton should resign in disgrace for allowing that condemnation of religious tolerance to be released. Then after the embarrassment, the State Department had the original condemnation removed from the tweet. The Obama Administration is showing pure INCOMPETENCE. Just wait until Romney starts hammering this point home. Obama's gonna have trouble turning this one around without some high level resignations. Obama is actually trying to distance himself from the official statement from his own state department. TOO FUNNY!!!
Jobxr, stop just reading and regurgitating democrat propaganda. You can try all you want. But they are going to hang this tragic blunder around Obama's neck like an albatross. Obama will have to be Houdini to get out of this one.
I don't know how you figured it out sooooooo quickly Buck. You are a political GENIUS. I can't even come close to your level of genius.Geez, I called for Hilary Clinton's resignation on September 12th, I should have just waited for your analysis 5 DAYS AGO.
LOL...You are a real gem Buck. Now take your medicine and go sit in the corner with your thumb in your mouth.
Obama gave a response tonight -- that will go down in history as the equivalent of Nixon's "I am not a crook" comment -- when he claimed that he properly identified the Libya incident as a terrorist act in the Rose garden on September 12. The FACT is that he made a very general statement about terrorist acts but did not specifically label the Libya incident as a terrorist that day nor did his administration even grudgingly admit that for at least 14 days.
The Libya issue will be at the top of the media's agenda for at least the next 5 days and then come back up again at the next debate when Foreign Policy is the focus. This can not go well for the Obama campaign -- thus proving the old words of wisdom "what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive." Obama has been misleading us for over 4 years now (on so many other issues) and it has finally caught up with him.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Crowley was right, and Romney was wrong: In his September 12 remarks, the president said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for." Despite this, conservatives are insisting that Obama never said that.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Crowley was right, and Romney was wrong: In his September 12 remarks, the president said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for." Despite this, conservatives are insisting that Obama never said that.
Why didn't he pass that info along to Susan Rice before she went on the Sunday talk shows and blame the attack on protests and a video? Why didn't obama say THIS act of terror will not shake our resolve?
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