| Number | Question | Questioner | Party of Questioner | |
| 1 | So, let me begin by asking you whether you would say that Ambassador Stevens and the three other Ameri-cans died as a result of a terrorist attack. | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 2 | And do we have reason to believe at this point that that terrorist attack was preplanned for September th or did the terrorists who were obviously planning it because it certainly seemed to be a coordinated terrorist attack just seize the moment of the demonstrations or protests against the film to carry out a terrorist attack? | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 3 | Let me come back to what you said — that there was evidence or intelligence that, as you indicated broadly a moment ago, that in eastern Libya, in the Benghazi area, there were a number of militant or violent Islamist extremist groups. Do we have any idea at this point who was responsible among those groups for the attack on the consulate? | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 4 | So that question has not been determined yet — whether it was a militant — a Libyan group or a group associated with al-Qaida influence from abroad. | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 5 | I wanted to go to you now, Director Perkins, and ask you about what is the state — the status of the FBI investigation into the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 6 | I wonder if in this setting you could comment on the state of your concern about that and what steps DHS and the FBI are taking along with other government agencies to proactively address the potentially higher risk of homegrown terrorist acts as a result of the film. | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 7 | Let me ask you, finally, what we as a government can do to counteract the impact of this film. I mean, this — you know, we’re a country of almost million people now. This film — hateful, really — was done by, what, a handful of people? […] So with apologies for the length of the question, and the opportunity I took to get a little bit off my chest, I wonder if you could tell us, or any of the others on the panel, what our government is trying to do now to challenge people in the Muslim world to confront the reality that this was a very — that this is not a repre-sentative — this film is not representative of America or the American government. | Sen. Joe Lieberman | I | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 8 | So given these facts, how would you personally have assessed the general threat environment prior to the attacks on our diplomats in Benghazi and the former Navy SEALs? | Sen. Susan Collins | R | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 9 | Was there any communication between NCTC and the State Department alerting them to the high threat environment in which Benghazi was located and suggesting that that be considered as the State Department evaluated its security? | Sen. Susan Collins | R | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 10 | Were there any indications that there were communications between extremist elements and the guards — the Libyan guards that were assigned to the consulate? | Sen. Susan Collins | R | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 11 | Can you enlighten me at all on why the security — the decisions were made to have virtually no security? | Sen. Susan Collins | R | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 12 | Mr. Perkins, is your FBI team looking at security, as well as trying to better understand how the attack came about and whether or not it was premeditated? | Sen. Susan Collins | R | Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee 9/9/12 |
| 13 | In that statement, basically what you were saying is there wasn’t sufficient resources provided, considering the escalating, the coming together of what could have and turned out to be a catastrophic attack. Would that be a fair paraphrasing of what you said? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 14 | I asked you about Ambassador Stevens, a very skilled career diplomat, and how he dealt with threats related to security. And you told me—I am paraphrasing—that, for example, when there was a perceived threat in his running, he ceased running. Then, when both you and Colonel Wood were able to come up with an acceptable way that he could continue, by varying where he went and so on, he ran again, but only ran again under your authority and your recommendation. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 15 | And I think I asked you, was he [Amb. Stevens] a compliant officer? Did he do what you thought when you recommended it, or did he chafe at any time over what you thought was best for his security? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 16 | Ms. Lamb, yesterday you told us in testimony that you received from Mr. Nordstrom a recommendation but not a request for more security. And you admitted that, in fact, you had previously said that if he submitted a request, you would not support it. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 17 | Now, yesterday you told us, under penalty of perjury, essentially, that it wasn’t a request, it was a recommendation. Does the word ‘‘request’’ mean ‘‘request’’? And are you prepared to say today that they requested these assets above and beyond what they had on September th, rather than that they simply recommended? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 18 | An embassy—a compound owned by us and serving like a consulate was, in fact, breached less than days before, approximately days before the murder of the Ambassador in that facility. Isn’t that true? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 19 | You further explained that, and I quote, ‘‘The Department of State Diplomatic Security Service, and Mission Libya officers conducted themselves professionally and with careful attention to managing people and budgets in a way that reflects the gravity of that task.’’ Did you say that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 20 | And you stated that you felt that the vast majority of your resource requests were, and I quote, ‘‘considered seriously and fastidiously by DS and the Department,’’ end of quote. Did you say that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 21 | In your interview on October st, , you told the committee that you thought that there should be five diplomatic security special agents stationed in Benghazi and that you sent two cables, one in March and one in July, making that request. Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 22 | Now, we have reviewed that July cable, and it states further, ‘‘Post anticipates’’—and I quote, ‘‘Post anticipates supporting operations in Benghazi with at least one permanently assigned RSO from Tripoli; however, would request continued TDY support to fill a minimum of three security positions in Benghazi.’’ So that would be a total of four; is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 23 | I understand that you left Libya before the attacks; is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 24 | Can you verify whether, in fact, there were five special agents in Benghazi on the night of the attack? Were there also any additional armed guards at the compound on that night? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 25 | Now, Agent Lamb, how do you respond to concerns that you failed to respond to requests for additional special agents in Benghazi? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 26 | When the Ambassador traveled to Benghazi before the attack, could the security team in Tripoli have sent additional agents with him if they thought it was necessary? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 27 | Were any of those five DS agents that were there from Tripoli that had come down with the Ambassador? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 28 | So, Mr. Nordstrom, the cable we talked about asked for four agents, not five; is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 29 | So, even so, there were five on the night of the attack; is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 30 | Mr. Kennedy, right after the September th attack, you were up here on Capitol Hill giving a briefing to aides, and you indicated— in fact, you said that this appeared to be a terrorist attack. Do you stand by that? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 31 | I mean, the compound had been attacked once before and breached. And these people had all these weapons—projectiles, grenades, all kinds of weapons. Why would you call this anything but a terrorist attack? And why do you call them attackers? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 32 | There were troops that were there at that compound, and they requested them to be kept there. And they sent a suggestion to you that they be kept there, and then you responded, saying that if that was presented to you, you would not accept that. Was that your sole decision? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 33 | You did not agree with that assessment that they needed those there. […] —did you or did you not say that if that was presented to you, you would not accept it? […] Why is that? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 34 | So I don’t understand why you would say out of hand that you don’t think those troops should be there. | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 35 | Mr. Nordstrom, do you care to comment on this? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 36 | Isn’t it true—we had this in testimony by the other RSO yesterday from Benghazi—that they would have as much as percent turnover per month in these people they were training; that, in fact, you were not getting, if you will, good career people to come in, but, in fact, had very high turnover both in the unarmed and, to a lesser extent, in the armed portion of the training. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 37 | But what I read as the statement, Ambassador Kennedy, could I ask you, from the National Intelligence Director, could I ask you if you have any reason to doubt that Ambassador Rice relied on that information from the National Intelligence Director? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 38 | I have to ask you about the diplomats who were stationed in Cairo who were accused by Governor Mitt Romney of sympathizing with the attackers. I would like to know how these diplomats, these personnel in Cairo reacted to that criticism. | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 39 | What you are saying here today is that one piece of intel, one piece of intel got you guys, yourself and Ambassador Rice, to make a wrong statement or days later and still be making it? Because Sunday is a long time after Tuesday. So you are saying that you got it wrong and it stayed wrong, you didn’t know any better, between the th and the th; is that right? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 40 | Ambassador—Ambassador, you are a great witness historically. I asked you, did you have any contrary knowledge over those days? That is all I want. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 41 | The chairman talked about the days. Can you give us—can you try to explain that to us, that, you know, during that period of days or whatever it was, not being able to—not having the information, contrary to what Ms. Rice may have said? And I understand that was based on intelligence, but can you explain how that could happen to the public? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 42 | In other words, were you all still gathering information? Was the State Department in the process of trying to get it right? I mean, what was going on there? Do you know? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 43 | Is it unusual for you all to rely on the intelligence community for that kind of information? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 44 | Lieutenant Colonel Wood, how many months were you in Libya? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 45 | Mr. Nordstrom, how many months were you in Libya? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 46 | Ms. Lamb, how many times have you visited Libya in the—how many times have you visited Libya, period? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 47 | None over the last , months? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 48 | None since the -plus incidents, security incidents, in Libya you have visited? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 49 | Mr. Kennedy, how many times have you been to Libya? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 50 | In your testimony, Mr. Kennedy, you say, ‘‘The Department of State regularly assesses risk in allocation of resources for security, a process which involves considered judgments of experienced professionals on the ground and in Washington using the best information available.’’ So that process, I want to know how the decision was made. Are you involved in that process, Ambassador Kennedy? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 51 | Where does that process go to? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 52 | Are people in the White House directly involved in that process? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 53 | Are people in the White House directly involved in that process? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 54 | Would you classify what took place here as a disagreement, based on what Mr. Nordstrom and Mr. Wood have testified to and what Ms. Lamb has said? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 55 | This didn’t reach the disagreement level? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 56 | So this didn’t reach a level where you needed to weigh in or someone higher needed to weigh in? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 57 | Anyone at the National Security Council, did anyone weigh in there? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 58 | First of all, since that interview with Chairman Issa and Chairman Chaffetz, staff has indicated they have tried to contact you six different times via telephone and you have not responded. Is there a reason you did not respond to those telephone calls? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 59 | No, it is correct you didn’t respond. Is there a reason? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 60 | And who specifically advised you to do that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 61 | And did they say where that came from? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 62 | Did Ms. Lamb specifically advise you not to talk? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 63 | Did Ambassador Kennedy tell you to do that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 64 | Did Secretary of State Clinton tell you to do that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 65 | So who was the person who told you not to talk with our staff after you gave us this interview where you gave us this information? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 66 | Did those same individuals help you prepare today’s testimony? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 67 | Did they tell you they wanted to look it over before you came in front of this committee and gave it today? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 68 | And did they write it for you? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 69 | So is it customary to not listen as—well, I would characterize it as listen as intently as I think you should to the guys in the field and what they wanted to have happen when they requested the plus the backup? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 70 | So the process I was earlier referencing when asking Ambassador Kennedy, tell me who you felt was involved in that process? Who were the individuals in Washington? You were the folks on the ground, at post. Who were the folks in Washington in that process? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 71 | Experienced professionals on the ground in Washington. Who were the other experienced professionals in Washington that helped make that decision? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 72 | Mr. Nordstrom, who else? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 73 | Someone in Washington was telling you guys you couldn’t get what you wanted. So was it just Ms. Lamb, or were there other people involved in this process? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 74 | Anyone that needs to answer that question, but the gentleman’s time has expired. Ms. Lamb? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 75 | Wait, but that is not what you said earlier. You said you weren’t involved, and now you are telling me you are. Which one is it? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 76 | Now, Mr. Kennedy, I would like to ask you, is al Qaeda more or less established in Libya since our involvement? | Rep. Dennis Kucinich | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 77 | How many shoulder-to-air missiles are capable of shooting—that are capable of shooting down civilian passenger airlines are still missing in Libya? | Rep. Dennis Kucinich | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 78 | Does anyone else here know how many shoulder-to-air missiles that can shoot down civilian airliners are still loose in Libya? Does anyone know? | Rep. Dennis Kucinich | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 79 | Is al Qaeda more or less established in Libya since our involvement? | Rep. Dennis Kucinich | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 80 | Mr. Nordstrom, as we spoke before and I think is clear in the record, you were asking for more personnel and that was either rejected or denied or just simply ignored, correct? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 81 | And when you weren’t able to just even keep what you had, what happened to your pay and the other security officers’ on the ground? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 82 | So, to clarify, you were asking for more assets, more resources, more personnel; that was denied. But the State Department went back and reclassified it as more dangerous. The danger pay, therefore, increased. They didn’t tell you that we didn’t have resources, hey, that Congress just cut your budget. They gave you an increase because the danger was rising, correct? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 83 | Did the buildings in Benghazi meet the so-called Inman standards? After the bombings in Beirut, we went back as a government and formalized some minimum standards. Did they or did they not meet those minimum standards? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 84 | Colonel Wood, did you participate in any way, shape, or form in requests for additional personnel in Libya? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 85 | And what was the consequence of those requests? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 86 | Mr. Nordstrom, did you ever specifically ask Charlene Lamb—rather, did she ever specifically direct you not to ask for additional DOD SST extension? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 87 | Ambassador Kennedy and Ms. Lamb, what would a few hundred million dollars, like was cut from the President’s request and Secretary Clinton’s request for embassy security, what would that mean to you in terms of providing that level of protection that every son and daughter of America deserves when they accept that post to go into a dangerous area, especially some of the spots that we have got right now in the Middle East, what would that few hundred million dollars do to your ability to provide an adequate level of protection on their behalf? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 88 | Do we have a task force that is looking at providing the setback we need to provide that level of protection and to relocate some of these embassies? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 89 | In your written testimony at page , first paragraph, you mention that in addition to the security team you had there, there was, I think you described it as a rapid response force that was located in the annex. How many folks are in that rapid, do you know? How many are in that rapid response task force or team that would help? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 90 | Ms. Lamb, can you clarify for me, where were you working September th? Were you in the Washington area or in the main facility there? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 91 | So once they hit the button in Benghazi you are alerted. It said you could have. Did you follow what was happening in real-time at that point? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 92 | Then, after a very long night for them, they are evacuated out into Tripoli. Where they in communication with you then once they got to Tripoli? This would have been the next morning at that point. | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 93 | So you had no other communication with them after they got to Tripoli. You weren’t aware of that or—— | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 94 | These frantic phone calls and all these things that are happening back and forth, they get to Tripoli and you are not aware any more of what actually had just happened? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 95 | Did someone come to you and ask you from State: Was this a protest? Because I would assume you knew pretty quickly this was not some protest that went out of bounds because there was no protest even there that day. So it is not like there is a big group of people and people jumped out and started shooting. There was no gathering at all that day. | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 96 | Was it clear to you there wasn’t a protest going on outside? It is not that large of a compound you can’t see out the front gates and know if there is a protest. | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 97 | I find that hard to believe, based on your report that you are tracking what is occurring and that individuals, when they get to Tripoli the next morning are reporting back what happened, that someone didn’t say: Here’s what occurred. And the word ‘‘protest’’ never came out of it. And days later no one knows? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 98 | Now there are lots of other issues I want to talk about, but I am kind of amazed at this whole dialogue today that it seems like no one knew and there is this best case scenario that is coming out. And I am struggling with just the basic facts on this. Now this is irrelevant to the overall of what we are going to do in the future and what happened in the past. But I can’t seem to put all these pieces together when I am getting such conflicting stories of people that are listening to it firsthand what is happening on the ground. Ambassador Kennedy, do you want to respond to that? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 99 | Were any of the reports saying there was a protest? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 100 | I asked you for the -minute tape that exists that would allow us to see the video feed that was available. You said it wasn’t available; another part of government had it, even though you had a copy of it. Have you been able to make that available? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 101 | With your recommendations that they do turn it over? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 102 | Chairman ISSA: […] Ms. Lamb told us that there was somebody monitoring the TOC. Quite frankly, we were talk that they slept there and there were not people to constantly be panning those cameras. So I have like to see when they began panning them, example. And there is multiple evidence that we haven’t gotten. We are not going to get it here today. I just wanted to make sure that the State Department would be clear that they have no objections to us having it. Mr. CUMMINGS. Is that right, Mr. Kennedy? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 103 | Lieutenant Wood, is it true in your time in Libya that things were going that great, and would you describe the conditions in Libya from your personal point of view? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 104 | In fact, prior to this attack on our embassy, didn’t the Red Cross and the British consulate move out of Libya? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 105 | My understanding is several Americans successfully got out alive. The three armed individuals who represented Libyan nationals survived. From your experience, from your combat experience, from your training, both of you, what is the marginal difference between everybody getting out and half or so getting out? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 106 | My question is: What would it take? Would one more armed agent have made a difference that everyone would have gotten out? Would two more, three more? I understand we will never know for sure, but what is the difference between chaos and control in a fire fight? Colonel Wood? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 107 | Mr. Nordstrom, you would agree; that if it became necessary. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 108 | I just want to go back to something that you wrote in your statement, Mr. Nordstrom, in reference to the question that the chairman just asked you. And I quote you. I am reading from page You said, ‘‘Having an extra foot of wall or extra half dozen guards or agents would not have enabled us to respond to that kind of assault.’’ Did you write that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 109 | Colonel Wood, you testified that you had concerns and you approached—you are with the Utah National Guard, is that correct? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 110 | And you approached your Congressperson with these concerns. I assume that is our colleague, Mr. Chaffetz? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 111 | I thank you. And about what time did you approach your Congressperson with these concerns? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 112 | So fairly recently? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 113 | Are you aware of the fact that the Democratic side of this aisle made several attempts, including an email to you last weekend, to try to contact you and to have some opportunity to explore with you the nature of those concerns you shared with Mr. Chaffetz, and possibly to understand what you might be testifying to today—a common, by the way, practice? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 114 | So that is why you did not respond to the emails from Democratic staff members? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 115 | You weren’t, in any way, to pick up on Mr. Jordan’s questioning of, or others on the panel, you weren’t in any way encouraged or discouraged from talking to the Democratic side of the aisle in preparation for this hearing? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 116 | Ambassador Kennedy, is there an ongoing investigation into what occurred in Benghazi? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 117 | And when do we expect those investigations to be completed and a report provided? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 118 | So we are having this hearing as those investigations have not completed their work or provided their findings? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 119 | Would you agree, Mr. Nordstrom, that certainly the Libya I experienced briefly—I was in Libya about the same amount of time I believe our colleague Mr. Chaffetz was, and I don’t know, did he go to Benghazi? I don’t think he went to Benghazi. Did you, Mr. Chaffetz? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 120 | I was there in May. And it seemed a very volatile situation in terms of too many people with too many weapons, lots of militia, trying to keep control over who was a good guy and who was a bad guy. No matter how many security personnel we might have had in the field, that was a problem at that time, and I gather is still. Would that be an accurate assessment, Mr. Nordstrom. | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 121 | And so inherently unstable as we are trying to transition from Qadhafi to something we hope is more democratic—a lot more democratic and more stable. Fair? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 122 | Ambassador Kennedy described it not so much as a dispute as we are going back and forth about needs assessment. And it was your recommendation that the site security team be extended a third time, is that correct? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 123 | And, Mr. Ambassador, your view was, or your colleagues’ view was actually we are trying to graduate from that. And we think we have got the assets to do that. Therefore, for whatever reason, that request was not honored because it was felt that it wasn’t needed or what? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 124 | Can you explain to me how it was that on September you told congressional aides that you believed there was a terrorist attack? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 125 | So how can you say here today that—the following day, you had an idea that it was a terrorist attack, in your opinion—I understand you claimed you are not a security expert— but in your opinion, it was a terrorist attack, how can you claim today that you would have made the same statements that Ambassador Rice would have made on TV? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 126 | The statements are clear. Let me just ask you, you said today that there were multiple reports. And you didn’t want to specify what those multiple reports were about what happened on September Can you tell us at least when those multiple reports came out? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 127 | Did they come out a day after the incident, days after the incident? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 128 | You knew you were coming here to testify before Congress. And you are coming here to tell us that there were multiple reports. You cannot tell us when those reports came out? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 129 | Can you answer that question? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 130 | Can you tell me if there was at least one report before September that contradicted what that Intelligence Community was telling you and Ambassador Rice? Can you answer that question? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 131 | Given the information that you saw on TV and your knowledge of the situation in Libya, did you come to a conclusion as to whether this was a terrorist act or whether it was based on some film that was on the Internet? Lieutenant Colonel Wood. | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 132 | Colonel WOOD. It was instantly recognizable to me as a terrorist attack. Mr. LABRADOR. Instantly recognizable. Colonel WOOD. Yes, sir. Mr. LABRADOR. And why is that? | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 133 | I just have a quick question for Lieutenant Colonel Wood and Mr. Nordstrom. Given the information that you saw on TV and your knowledge of the situation in Libya, did you come to a conclusion as to whether this was a terrorist act or whether it was based on some film that was on the Internet? […] Mr. Nordstrom, same question. | Rep. Raul Labrador | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 134 | Ambassador Kennedy, Benghazi was the cradle of the revolution. Could you explain to us the importance of the diplomatic mission in Libya and the special post in Benghazi? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 135 | Mr. Nordstrom, on the other side of this, can you describe some of the challenges faced by security offices in analyzing security risks while allowing the diplomatic mission to interact with the local leaders and individuals in the population and still be effective? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 136 | Ambassador, could you tell us how security risks at a post are evaluated and when are requests for increased staff or resources justified? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 137 | Colonel Wood and Mr. Nordstrom, you said that al Qaeda is growing and it is even exceeding our goals in Libya right now. Is that correct? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 138 | Mr. Nordstrom, you saw Ansar al-Sharia, which is another terrorist group loosely affiliated with al Qaeda, is very active there, too, and was involved? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 139 | But it is a terrorist organization as well? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 140 | What is your assessment? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 141 | But the troops that were supposed to be replaced, or were going to be requested to be replaced, you said no. And then you said they were going to be in Tripoli. | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 142 | But the fact of the matter is they not only worked in Tripoli, but when needed, they went down to Benghazi. Is that not right? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 143 | But not with U.S. military? | Rep. Dan Burton | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 144 | Colonel Wood, would you just respond? You looked like you were chomping at the bit when Ms. Lamb talked about specialized skills. She made an assessment. Would you agree with that? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 145 | When you look back on this attack and you look at what was requested versus what would be necessary to either fully extricate everyone or to fully repel an attack such as this, do you think there is any amount of sort of reasonable numbers that could have been present on the ground there at the time that would have prevented this attack and this tragedy? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 146 | What is our position on trying to equip our outposts with the kind of armor and staffing that would be necessary to repel an attack of this size? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 147 | Is that possible? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 148 | And does this attack reframe your position and our country’s position in terms of the resources that we give our outposts? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 149 | What have we learned, and what has potentially changed? If we can’t repel this kind of lethal attack, are there changes that you can share with us—some of them may be classified—as to how we protect our installations abroad? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 150 | So they will make recommendations? | Rep. Chris Murphy | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 151 | Colonel Wood, was there the capacity to be able to provide the kind of security that you thought was necessary while things continued to get worse? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 152 | From your professional opinion, were there sufficient numbers sufficiently trained to be able to provide the kind of security that should have been necessary in the circumstances? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 153 | Ms. Lamb, why your response that this needs to be something in which these professionals need to be replaced by locals who, by a professional opinion, aren’t sufficiently trained to do the work? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 154 | Did you take any time to listen to the reports that were coming up during the period of time that the events were getting worse? Not the same model. But was there specific attention paid to the events in country? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 155 | Mr. Ambassador Kennedy, reports have been made, public reports, in which it has been stated that the imprisoned Omar AbdelRahman Brigades—this was on CNN—is believed to have possibly been one of the groups that is suspected of carrying out these terrorist attacks. CNN has reported that. Are you aware of any determinations at this point in time in which there has been any discussions within the State Department for the potential transfer or release of the blind sheik from American security? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 156 | So you are aware of no discussions whatsoever that involve the State Department for any kind of a transfer or release of the blind sheik from incarceration or otherwise? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 157 | Are you prepared on behalf of the State Department to make an unequivocal statement that there will not be a release of Abdel-Rahman | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 158 | Mr. Nordstrom, you were trying to answer the previous question. You want to respond on that. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 159 | And Mr. Nordstrom, we placed in front of you something that a different whistleblower gave us. Is that the document you are referring to on May th? Or March th, I am sorry. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 160 | Ambassador Kennedy, I would now request that that earlier document that has been testified to be taken out of your in camera review and delivered to us. Would you do that? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 161 | When I am down here in Washington, D.C., amid all these brains and all the intelligence, and you get back home and you talk to people, if I were to say to you, Lieutenant Colonel Wood, what does / mean to you? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 162 | No, just any—just / Like I would say December th. What does December th? /—— | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 163 | So if you can all connect the dots right here, why in the heck did it take so long for all these highly briefed and intelligent people to try and figure out that it actually wasn’t a minute YouTube video; it actually was a / event, a terrorist attack? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 164 | Well, it comes down to this, what caused this? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 165 | And when we have a weakened position around the world, and when we leave our embassies and our consulates and our people as unprotected as we do, and then we say, you know what, this is terrible because this is days before an election, why are we bringing it up now? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 166 | And I ask the same question. Where the heck were we before / , this /? Why weren’t we questioning it then? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 167 | Mr. Nordstrom, earlier in your testimony you were discussing your recollection of a conversation that you had had with two agents in the room regarding the denial of the extension of the SST. Now, and it was your understanding that you were not to request an extension at that point. Is that correct? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 168 | And who was on the other end of the line that told you that? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 169 | Was Ms. Lamb on the phone call with you? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 170 | So she did tell you that? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 171 | Now, she, just the other day in an interview with the committee, indicated that on your July cable to Washington requesting security personnel, you didn’t formally request an SST extension. In fact, you just made a recommendation. Can you explain if there is a difference between a recommendation and a request? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 172 | Had you done it before with the idea that it was a request? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 173 | And as a result of that phone conference where you were denied, did you seek any further effort to follow up or make a re-request? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 174 | Now, Mrs. Lamb, you testified in an interview with this committee that you trusted your RSOs in the field, such as Mr. Nordstrom. Now, how do you square that statement with you telling Mr. Nordstrom that you would not support an extension of the SST? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 175 | Now, Lieutenant Colonel Wood, I understand that you were the senior officer of the SST team. Is that correct? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 176 | And do you have any reason to believe that if you had to go up your chain of command at AFRICOM for a request from the State Department that they extend the tour of duty of an SST that your chain of command would not grant that? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 177 | And had they been there, they would have made a difference, would they not? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 178 | I guess my question is, is it that the Libyan intelligence is so superior to the American intelligence that they knew within hours that it was a terrorist attack, and within days, we are still saying it was a result of a video? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 179 | So the intelligence between the Libyans and the Americans just wasn’t the same. Apparently, they were more superior. Now, if they were more superior in their intelligence, and you testified just earlier that you were still gathering information, that is why you didn’t say it was officially a terrorist attack, then why in the world did you say it was anything at all when you put Jay Carney out there and Ambassador Rice to say that this is a result of an inflammatory reaction to a controversial film? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 180 | Sir, it begs the question. What happened was it was a result of political pressure trumping professional protocol, was it not? | Rep. Dennis Ross | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 181 | And I will start with Mrs. Lamb and Ambassador Kennedy. Are there other embassies similarly situated, other State Department outposts that are asking for more help because of volatile situations that are not getting it? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 182 | So there is not a budget problem; it is not you all don’t have the money to do this? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 183 | Would you have considered—at the time, did you consider Libya to be a volatile situation? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 184 | So how long does this have to get tied up in bureaucratic red tape? To me, it is like saying we are on fire, let’s figure out how many firemen to send. Let’s just send some. | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 185 | I want to go to Mr. Nordstrom, because he was there on the field. You guys, I was talking to you guys about what was happening in D.C. Do you think it was on fire, and you needed more people and you communicated that urgently up the chain of command? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 186 | I think the question to be asked is, again, as was asserted after my July th cable, that the plan was to source our security needs from the Department of State rather than from the Department of Defense. I think the question is, were those resources ever provided? And I think the answer is no. | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 187 | I realize you guys don’t, Lieutenant Colonel Wood and Mr. Nordstrom, you all don’t have the level of information that Ms. Lamb and Ambassador Kennedy have. But having been in the biz, so to speak, do you think there are other embassies out there and other State Department facilities similarly situated to what we had in Libya that are at risk today? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 188 | As a former military person, historically, it is been the Marines that have protected our embassy and for a variety of political situations. And I need point no further than Iraq, with the huge amount of money we are spending to protect our embassy with contractors, when for political reasons or whatever we are not putting Marines in. Do you think that is a good idea that we are doing that, we are not relying on the Marines? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 189 | It has been suggested that budget cuts were responsible for a lack of security in Benghazi. I would like to ask, Ms. Lamb, you made this decision personally; was there any budget consideration and lack of budget which led you not to increase the number of people in the security force there? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 190 | Okay. So it wasn’t a lack of money, as we have heard by some people trying to suggest that. Was it a lack of intelligence? Was this a failure of intelligence? Or was it a lack of competence? Or is this just something that will happen? No matter how we try or how competent we are, we are going to lose lives like this. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 191 | Six days afterwards, we know the American people were given false information about who was responsible. You were here today, and you are unable to give us a view of how that came about. And the fact is, as far as this Member of Congress is concerned, you were engaged in stonewalling or a coverup or whatever it is. Lets me ask you it flat out. Did anyone tell you not to answer this question? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 192 | So you have taken it upon yourself not to answer what is a simple scenario. When did you first know about this? Or as they said during the Nixon years, when did you know? What did you know? And when did you know about it? But you are not able to give us that answer. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 193 | And yes or no is fairly easy on some of them, like Mr. Burton asked you, was it your sole discretion to deny the extra manpower. Yes or no? Your sole discretion. Was it your sole discretion to deny the request from Mr. Nordstrom? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 194 | Who above you had to approve that? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 195 | And who are they? […] Names, please? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 196 | I recognize there are certain dates that law enforcement across our great Nation prepare for because we believe they are significant to certain groups, one of which is September th. And it is significant to which group, Ms. Lamb? Which group would make that significant? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 197 | Which terrorist group finds September th significant? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 198 | But mostly al Qaeda, would you not agree? Yes or no. If you don’t agree, then say you don’t agree. | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 199 | Can you ask me—answer me did you believe, you, on September th and the morning after, did you believe that it was a video and not a terrorist attack? Yes or—— | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 200 | So, on September th, Ms. Nuland from your agency said that we have an open FBI investigation on the death of these four Americans. We are not going to be in a position to talk at all about the U.S. Government may or may not be learning about how any of this happened, not who they were, not how they happened, not what happened to Ambassador Stevens, not any of it until, Justice Department is ready to talk about the investigation. So you did talk about it yesterday. So did the Department of Justice say that they are ready to talk about it and you, therefore, can go ahead and give up that information? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 201 | Did Department of Justice say, okay, our investigation is at a point you can now release this information? Yes or no? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 202 | Mr. Ambassador, yesterday also? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 203 | But your spokesperson said you would not—who they are, who they were, not how they happened, not what happened to the ambassador, not any of it until Justice Department is ready to talk. Is the Justice Department ready to talk on this? | Rep. Sandy Adams | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 204 | And it really boils down to there was a statement that hasn’t been covered any further, Ambassador Kennedy, that the DC–, an aircraft that was available, was taken away because, quote, commercial airline capacity was created. Correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 205 | So why are there five fixed-wing aircraft, at least one of them very big, quite a few of them big, and helicopters in Iraq, even though they have commercial aircraft? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 206 | Additionally, and I am not trying to unreasonably use a prop, but I was given it, and I used it in an earlier hearing, everyone that goes to Iraq gets one of these, or at least an opportunity. This is from a brigadesize force of diplomatic security personnel. Thank you. I guess it looks better this way. Do you recognize—have any of you even it in Iraq, Ambassador? Ms. Lamb? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 207 | It has been told to us in testimony that between and diplomatic security personnel have been working Iraq over the last year. Is that roughly right? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 208 | So Iraq, a place that the war is supposed to be over, it is safe, has like , contract personnel, , of our government employees direct and indirect, and DSS, but you couldn’t spare six more for Libya. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 209 | Mr. Nordstrom, you are saying you don’t agree on the number. That is probably the most important thing to get here straight. The number available on September th is not consistent with what you thought was the need when you were last in country. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 210 | I listened to the description that you gave of what happened. And somebody asked the question a moment ago, basically, why you made the decisions that you did make. And I got to ask you, I am assuming that you were always concerned about the safety of the folks that were there. Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 211 | And you, I assume you used your best judgment trying to make those decisions? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 212 | Are you satisfied with your decisions? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 213 | So I guess I just want, it seems to me that the $, question is what would it have took to give the guys on the ground who have been there for months where you haven’t been, what would it have took to get the additional security personnel? Would it take , incidences? Would it take a government that had been in power months, not months? What would it have took to do what the professionals in the field felt needed to be done to protect American assets and the lives of these four individuals? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 214 | Were the more serious ones [incidents] in Benghazi? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 215 | The British ambassador, there was an assassination attempt, our embassy was bombed twice. I guess one of those, what does it take to, again, this is not Congress telling you, these are the professionals in the field who say we need more security personnel in Libya. Okay, maybe all over, this is for Libya, the whole country and you guys say no. And you allude to in your testimony this process of considered judgments of experienced professionals in Washington. Well, I want to know what those considered judgments of experienced professionals, incidences in the country, violence attacks on our embassy, on Ambassadors, what does it take? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 216 | Are these guys professionals? These guys do their job right? Would you agree with that? These guys said they needed more help. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 217 | The word of Mr. Nordstrom and Lieutenant Colonel Wood wasn’t good enough? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 218 | Mr. Nordstrom, do you think they were ever going to give you what you wanted? What do you think would warrant actually them saying you know what, these guys know what they are talking about, we are going to meet their request. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 219 | Colonel Wood and Mr. Nordstrom, were you pulling your hair out? Were you just flat flabbergasted that, what can we do? What can we say? What can we put in writing? What can we say on the phone? What else can we do? Was that your sense and attitude when you got the answers from Washington that you did? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 10/10/12 |
| 220 | What are your recommendations for improving both the security assessment process within Diplomatic Security and overall embassy security? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 221 | What systematic issues do you believe need to be readdressed? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 222 | How do you believe the State Department should reevaluate the risk assessment process for other vulnerable U.S. sites overseas as a result of the Benghazi attack? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 223 | What are the critical components of any reassessment regarding the attacks against Benghazi as well as our posts in Egypt and Yemen on / and on the ensuing days and weeks? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 224 | What are your thoughts and — or, what can be done to ensure greater cooperation and coordination between U.S. agencies including embedding other agencies in high-risk diplomatic posts with an expertise in security such as an FBI presence beyond the regular officer? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 225 | What are your thoughts on altering individual missions within the embassy structure such as changing the Marine Corps detachment’s mission within high-risk posts? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 226 | Should we continue to maintain so-called temporary facilities like the Benghazi consulate, and if so, how should we protect them? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 227 | What steps can we take to be better prepared for the type of large-scale assault that took place at Benghazi? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 228 | And are we devoting enough resources to help ensure the security of our overseas facilities? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 229 | . The American public needs to know why our U.S. ambassador had minimal security protection in a location identified as dangerous, as a result of no fewer than eight attacks on the U.S. compound and other Western facilities in the Benghazi area between April and August of this year. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 230 | They also need to know why — given the circumstances I just described — our ambassador was under the primary protection of a militia with questionable associations. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 231 | They need to know why media representatives could go into the Benghazi consulate days after the September th incident and recover sensitive materials, including Ambassador Stevens’ journal that our government obviously failed to secure and recover first. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 232 | They need to know how our embassies in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries were so vulnerable to attacks by mobs which not only defaced our facilities but also raised terrorist flags on what is essentially American sovereign territory. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 233 | So it was not a budget consideration that caused this horrible situation where our people were murdered. What was it then? What did happen? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 234 | I have several questions about what took place during the six hours — the six hours — that our personnel were under attack. Why wasn’t more done to protect American lives during that time? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 235 | Why did the administration refuse to send an immediate response after the consulate requested it during the six-hour attack? | Rep. Addison “Joe” Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 236 | Why did the administration place blame on a video rather than reveal to the world that it was an organized terrorist attack? | Rep. Addison “Joe” Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 237 | [read previous two questions] And more importantly, why has the administration failed to provide answers to these valid questions after two months of inquiry? | Rep. Addison “Joe” Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 238 | But I think we need to have a real honest explanation of what happened. First off, could this have been prevented? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 239 | And secondly, how can we ensure that those that are in harm’s way will never have this happen to them again? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 240 | The timeline would suggest there is serious lapses in both the communication and in judgment in our response time. I don’t know if these procedures were followed, I don’t know why it took minutes before the Secretary of Defense even knew about this. And why were these delays made and what was the cost of them, and what can we do to fix this in the future? | Rep. Bob Turner | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 241 | We want to get to the bottom of this. We don’t want anything to be covered up. But I think that we have to do that from a point of view of American unity, not to try to score political points here and there — not to try to point fingers at the president of the administration, but to say what went wrong and how can we fix it so that it doesn’t go wrong in the future? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 242 | If Ambassador Rice had nothing to do with the Benghazi cover-up, then why did the administration use her as a mouthpiece to mislead the American people on five Sunday talk shows? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 243 | You said in your — in your written testimony that while Diplomatic Security officials had taken steps to enhance performance management, they had not yet conducted the review that GAO recommended in How would a strategic review help the State Department with its Diplomatic Security mission to be ready for attacks after Benghazi? | Rep. Ros-Lehitnen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 244 | How do you believe that the State Department should reevaluate the risk assessment process for other vulnerable U.S. sites overseas as a result of the Benghazi attack? | Rep. Ros-Lehitnen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 245 | What are the critical components of any reassessment regarding attacks against Benghazi and all of those trouble spots on / and ensuing days and weeks? | Rep. Ros-Lehitnen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 246 | Mr. Courts, you said in , percent of the Diplomatic Security positions in our different posts were unfilled. Did I understand you correctly? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 247 | . Just to make sure we understand: An unfilled position is a position for which there is appropriations. It’s not — it’s not a request; it’s not a plan. The item has been funded to the level that would fund all the positions, including the unfilled ones…Authorized and funded? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 248 | In addition to the filling of permanent positions, we have — we have massively increased our reliance on contractor — contract personnel. Our — the argument is it can save costs by not having to pay pensions, et cetera. Given the ongoing and long-term nature of these threats against our diplomats, is this practice sustainable? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 249 | How is State properly overseeing these contracts? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 250 | To your way of thinking, is there something — in the effort to save that money, are we losing some of our protection by relying on contractors? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 251 | how do we address these shortages? [staffing shortages] | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 252 | How should diplomatic security prioritize staffing requirements? | Rep. Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 253 | [Assistant Sec. Lamb said there were the correct number of assets in Benghazi on /] I assume that part of those assets had to have been the local militia, the February Brigade, the local armed militia which reportedly received monetary compensation and training from U.S. officials and were part of the protection force. My question first is how adequate are these militias? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 254 | [on capability of the militias] Has GAO looked at that? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 255 | how often do we use militias, as opposed to, you know, a central force or armed forces from a country? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 256 | unfortunately, except for Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, best value is not used. Award contracts are to the technically acceptable firm offering lowest evaluated price — low bids, in essence. And I’m wondering if that type of process has led to including those protection assets that are inferior. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 257 | [re security standards set by Overseas Security Policy Board and in Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of ] I’d like to know if, in looking at that, whether or not our consulate in Benghazi fell short of the security standards that were prescribed by that act, as well as by the Overseas Security Policy Board. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 258 | Could you look into that as well, whether or not the Benghazi consulate met that standard? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 259 | Mr. Courts, are you aware of any evidence of an intentional effort to misled the American people about what happened in those terrible hours in Benghazi? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 260 | Focusing on the future security measures, what types of lessons do you think will emerge from this current attack? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 261 | Will those who mean us harm learn lessons as to how to attack us? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 262 | And as a result of I realize what is an incomplete review of what happened in Benghazi, what else should we be doing either with the physical facilities, the decision on where to have our diplomats, or the number of security personnel to have, or the types of weapons that they should have with them on a regular basis? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 263 | I’d ask your comment but it’s really more a decision for this committee to determine the extent to which we put our ambassadors and other Foreign Service personnel at risk, and evaluate what the benefits are of having somebody today in Yemen; what are the difficulties of not having somebody in Damascus; and when is it worth having somebody in Benghazi? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 264 | Now, Mr. Courts, you’re not just some bumpkin off the street who wound up here today. If you increase two people who are security people, making an assumption that all security people cost the same amount of money — we do pay them in money, right? | Rep. Gary Ackerman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 265 | If you increase from two to five, as a former math teacher, it suggests to me that that’s a -percent increase from two to five. Is that accurate? | Rep. Gary Ackerman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 266 | So if we went from two to five, if that was the right number, it would cost percent more than this committee was willing to provide. Is that accurate? | Rep. Gary Ackerman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 267 | Could you tell me which of my colleagues on this committee was as bodacious in their insistence that we provide more money for American security in the State Department budget? | Rep. Gary Ackerman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 268 | The level of security at — in Libya that has been determined — have you determined that it was — there was a deficiency because of cost and that the decisions made to provide a level of security had anything to do with budget considerations? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 269 | Are you contradicting Ms. Lamb’s testimony, in other words? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 270 | Did you — has there been any evidence that you have seen that people in this administration have been instructed not to use the words “radical Islamic terrorist”? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 271 | How can the Obama administration and members of this committee justify giving more money to Iraq for its security and world — than we are giving for our own protection of our own diplomats? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 272 | As we — is there any indication that during your investigation, or what you’ve been trying to uncover — is there anything that would suggest that this was not a well-organized, murderous hit on American diplomatic personnel rather than just a crowd that got out of control? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 273 | If it was a crowd that got out of control, was the security enough to handle that alternative? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 274 | I’m curious: How many — how many embassies do we have worldwide total and the total number of consulates that we currently have right now? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 275 | I have always been curious how our government goes about, when it — for example, making a decision we’re going to build an embassy here and there, a consulate. One example that comes to mind — correct me if I’m wrong — didn’t we build a — or more than $ million embassy in Iraq? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 276 | What was the total cost of that embassy that we built in Iraq? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 277 | [on new embassy in Iraq] And don’t we currently have about , Foreign Service officers servicing that embassy right now? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 278 | [Amount of services officers in Iraq] could that have been possibly the reason why that some of our foreign service officers or the resources or personnel that we had had to be drawn from other consulates and embassies? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 279 | Has there ever been any GAO study or review procedure on how our government goes about in measuring the kind of embassies that we build in any given country — based on population or is it resources? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 280 | How do we end up — I can see maybe having an embassy like that in China or in India. But with Iraq — only what, million people or less — and servicing , foreign service officers. Can you share with us where are we with this? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 281 | MR. COURTS: Congressman, GAO has not done any work to address the why the size — the reason the size of the Iraq mission. DEL. FALEOMAVAEGA: Is it because that no members have ever requested that such a review process be taken? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 282 | You had also indicated that there was foreign language deficiencies, and some percent of our diplomatic security officers don’t speak the foreign language of that host country. How critical is that factor? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 283 | If there’s a deficiency of foreign language competency of our diplomatic security officers, what about the foreign officers themselves? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 284 | Don’t we have a very comprehensive program teaching our foreign service officers how to speak that foreign language? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 285 | [Deficiency in foreing language skills for diplomatic security officers/foreign service workers] So you suggest Congress needs to do something about it? | Del. Eni Faleomaveaga | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 286 | the concern for me — and I am glad you are here Mr. Courts — one of my concerns if the emphasis that we put on security because when I read your report, you say that security is treated as a support function at the department. In your work, you found that these security issues are getting, what, high level attention or lower level attention? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 287 | Well, I certainly agree with you. But the question is whether that gets top level attention from the secretary, from top management, or are those issues second and third tier issues? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 288 | there was this normalization of relations underway with Libya and we had assumed that we would go forward with a certain approach that was at odds with our allies. Usually, as I recall, as I talk to foreign ambassadors, they say: we learn from the United States. And one of the things that we do is we make certain that we have security to defend our interests there. And we do not rely on the locals; we make certain in an environment like this that we have security. It just seems as though in this theater it was so much out of character with the modus operandi, with what we have told our allies in the past about how you — how you guarantee security. We’re the ones that helped teach it. And I just wanted to ask you about that. | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 289 | I was in Libya in May. Were you there, Mr. Courts? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 290 | Well, I found — and nothing has changed — is the country is not settled. There isn’t a domestic peacekeeping force. There isn’t some kind of host country group we can rely on to provide security. Surely you know that’s true. | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 291 | You mentioned, I think, in your testimony, Mr. Courts, that there were incidents of attacks or attempted attacks on U.S. embassies or consulates in some period of time. Is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 292 | I don’t know, in the history of the foreign service we’ve had tragedies, have we not? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 293 | Are they always avoidable? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 294 | Some of them might have been; some of them might not have been. Is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 295 | why do you send out to tell the American people what happened about Benghazi a person who has nothing to do with Benghazi? | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 296 | for weeks the administration stuck to this story about a video causing the attack on Benghazi, that it was not a terrorist attack, that it was just a spontaneous response to this video, that it arose from street protests, yet in real time the State Department and others saw that there was no protests going on, that the streets were quiet, and that it was clearly a terrorist attack carried out over a fairly extended period of time. Your GAO report didn’t cover that either, I assume. | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 297 | Now, it appears to many Americans that this administration failed to adequately protect U.S. personnel, including a U.S. ambassador and three other very important American citizens, resulting essentially in their deaths in Benghazi, then misled the American people about what happened. I assume the report really didn’t go into that here either. | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 298 | Let me address a little more specifically then, in other high-risk countries the State Department uses armed contract forces provided by private security companies to protect our diplomats. It’s my understanding that such security personnel were not deployed in Libya, and that’s apparently because of objections by Libyan authorities. Could you address that issue? | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 299 | It’s my understanding that the security personnel oftentimes in local countries may not be up to the same standards that American companies, with our much more experienced and oftentimes better equipped, et cetera, personnel are able to bring about in an area. Your report didn’t cover that. | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 300 | Are you able to address some of the differences between the security that was in place in Tripoli, where I was at — I was not in Benghazi but in Tripoli — at the embassy there in comparison to the consulate, or the “temporary mission,” as Mr. Ackerman referred to it, in Benghazi? | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 301 | Relative to the local security forces rather than American companies or other companies of a similar nature that are protecting our embassies around the world, are you aware of what other embassies we may have locals rather than American companies protecting? | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 302 | Are you able to comment on any comparisons between the locals versus our folks? | Rep. Steven Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 303 | who makes the determination of the level of protection for each of our facilities? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 304 | [re level of protection for facilities] so it wouldn’t be directed by Congress. It’d be the priorities of the Department of State, is that correct? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 305 | based on that, something that is of concern — again, I’m confident, bipartisan — that there were unclassified cables indicating that there was increasing danger in Benghazi. Was it addressed? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 306 | Do you know, even though it concluded prior to the attack, was there any increase of security provided, based on Ambassador Stevens’ concerns? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 307 | is proper protection being made? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 308 | It really does concern me that Senator Lindsey Graham has pointed out that there’d been separate letters sent to the Department of Defense, CIA, to the president, asking specific questions that are of great concern to the American people, and in particular a great appreciation of our diplomatic personnel….Why would there be a delay of receiving a response from a group of U.S. senators who are vitally concerned? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 309 | do you think that there should be a more prompt response so that the American people do understand the dangers that are being faced by our diplomatic personnel? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 310 | When I read through your report, it really goes back to the report, where you — I don’t know that you were part of the department at that time, but I know you guys are the watchdogs for the American taxpayer dollar. You were suggesting then that the Department of State to do a review. | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 311 | [re State Department review] Has it ever been done? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 312 | MR. COURTS: It has not been done — we don’t consider that they’ve fully implemented our recommendation, no. REP. KELLY: What reason do they — did they implement any of it? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 313 | I don’t know — and I heard Mr. Nordstrom. I was there to hear his testimony. He talked about what they tried to do to increase the protection at the consulate there or the outpost — whatever you want to term it; this thing gets bounced around too much. I think the question that begs to be answered is why did we leave our ambassador? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 314 | So my question is: So if that’s the case — if it wasn’t about money and it wasn’t about budgetary cuts — why would we continue to put our ambassador at risk in an area that we took our security support team — special ops people — it wasn’t about the money — and we replaced them with $-an-hour Libyan nationals, who were unarmed, by the way. So an area that’s so, so vulnerable, so violent — everybody that goes there says it’s a Wild West show, and we’re saying that, yeah, well, you know what? We thought we should dumb down our security. | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 315 | I mean, if were the taxpayer dollars spent the right way, did we get a return on our investment? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 316 | [re budget control act of and defense sequestration’s effect on diplomatic security] is it fair to say a reduction of that magnitude would not enhance security for our diplomats? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 317 | First and foremost, we know that when the event occurred, somebody made up a tale that it was YouTube video and that it was a spontaneous attack. Now, how did they determine that and how did it get so widespread that this administration continues the tale all the way till the th of January (sic; September). | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 318 | But the other part that bothers me with this miscommunication is, if this happened, why didn’t we know something was going to happen ahead of time? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 319 | Why didn’t our intelligence community see it? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 320 | I know they listen to chatter. Was there no chatter or was it accidentally missed? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 321 | I think the second thing that bothers me in all of this is the security, or the lack of security, and could this have been prevented? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 322 | As of today, what would you assess the risk of this type of attack happening again somewhere against one of our ambassadors or embassies? What would be your risk assessment? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 323 | MR. COURTS: Congressman, I’m not privy to the risk-assessment information that the State Department has at its disposal, so I can’t answer that question. REP. POE: So you don’t know? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 324 | Do you — do you feel like the State Department has done an adequate job of securing our embassies? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 325 | MR. COURTS: I can’t speak to Benghazi, because I don’t know what the arrangements were there. I would say that when we looked in at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, we found that there were a number of areas where the capabilities that they had in place were not where they should have been. REP. POE: You’re talking about embassies throughout the world? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 326 | And so have you assessed that assessment since ? In other words, have you determined whether there was follow-up by the State Department to fix all those problems that you found in ? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 327 | What does that mean, “fully implemented?” Have they done percent, percent? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 328 | So if I understand you correctly, you came up with a valuation, a risk assessment of some kind, , for the State Department to help secure our embassies and our personnel overseas. That was given to the State Department. Here we are, three years later, and, based on what you know of the original risk assessment, there are still things that haven’t been done that you recommended. Is that a fair statement? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 329 | Do you know what those items are that they have not fully implemented? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 330 | And is it still your recommendation that those items that haven’t been done, whatever they are, should be done? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 331 | The other question I have for you, in a hypothetical situation, if you — based on what you have now learned about the embassies and protection of embassies, if you had received a request for aid or help in the same situation — an ambassador’s in trouble outside the embassy or consulate compound — would you send help, or would you not send help? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 332 | Is it your understanding, though, that calls for help were ignored? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 333 | The other side keeps talking about $ million increase request from the president. Do you know how many days it’s been since the United States has had a budget? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 334 | Do you know how many votes that budget got in the United States House of Representatives? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 335 | When it was brought up in the Democrat-controlled Senate, how many votes did it get over there? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 336 | These are questions that the American people have about what happened in Benghazi, why there weren’t — I get the questions — why there weren’t Marines there | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 337 | Why do we allow the embassies and the consulates to be protected by elements of foreign governments? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 338 | What is true sovereign territory of a sovereign nation in another country? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 339 | Why didn’t we do enough with assets in the region to protect and rescue those four Americans that bravely lost their lives in Benghazi? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 340 | Under the Vienna Convention, diplomatic facilities are supposed to be protected by the host nations. In the case of Libya, the U.S. facilities in Benghazi were under the protection of the th February Brigade, a local armed militia, which reportedly received monetary compensation and training from U.S. officials. Is that common? Is it common? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 341 | How common is it for a U.S. diplomatic post to be under the protection of local armed militias rather than the central government forces? How common is that? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 342 | What is the normal structure of the agreements that we have in these countries? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 343 | So they were guarding our U.S. embassy or consulate, but they were also guarding — on September th, , there were militia members probably guarding the British embassy in Benghazi. | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 344 | Can you address the questions that she references? What kinds of technology, systems and training and deployment do we need in this new century that keeps our diplomatic personnel safe as they seek to advance U.S. interests abroad? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 345 | Mr. Young says unless you can rely — his first point was you got to have a local military protection operation there. He didn’t say if you don’t, don’t go there. But the way he said it made me think that was the implication. If you can’t rely on it you shouldn’t even open up a post there. What’s your reaction to what he said and is that what you meant, Mr. Young? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 346 | [re Above] And given all the compelling arguments for reestablishing outposts in Syria at that time, how do you deal with that, Ambassador Neumann? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 347 | [Re Ambassador Robert Ford pulling out of Syria] did he make that decision or did Washington make that decision? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 348 | Let me just quickly ask in my remaining time, do you know enough now to know whether it was a mistake to put a temporary consulate of compounds in Benghazi or in hindsight, which is always great, or do we still not know enough to know whether that was the right call? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 349 | My question to all three of you is once we get a clear idea of why this situation happened and the miscommunication that apparently occurred during and after we will have a better chance to understand future opportunities to mitigate the risk. Am I correct on that? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 350 | Is there any plan — I mean, I realize in Iraq we have the most enormous embassy in the world. But assuming we’re dealing with what could possibly be done in consulates and temporary diplomatic facilities in secondary seats in relatively small countries — the secondary cities in small countries, is there anything we can do that would allow us to deal with dozens of well-armed planned, you know, coordinated attack while not getting any help from the host government for many hours? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 11/15/12 |
| 351 | Do you plan in the next budget to request the funding levels that are necessary for protecting all of our facilities? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 352 | are you going to submit to us a plan and the money request that you believe you need — absolutely paying attention to fiscal constraints; we don’t — we’re not asking for bells and whistles — but will that be what you truly believe you need? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 353 | the troubling thing here is that there were repeated requests to implement security upgrades in Tripoli and Benghazi. And as we look at this report, we know what happened. And I would like to know, do you intend to put it to process — sorry, to put into place a process that would allow for a second review of these requests by another body within the State Department? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 354 | Was it appropriate to rely so heavily on Libyan militias to guard American personnel? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 355 | How was that decision made, and how do we avoid these types of failures? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 356 | Are there standard policies and procedures for the hiring of contract guards? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 357 | Was Libya an anomaly, or are there other facilities around the world where we’re relying on the same type of forces? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 358 | Would you write — would you write to us and let us know if there’s any other facilities that are relying on militia? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 359 | Secretary Clinton just sent up a notification to Congress asking for $ billion. Why did she never ask for any notification or change of resources to make sure Benghazi was secured? Why did that not happen? | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 360 | You were aware of the security risk there. We’ve read the cables. You were fully aware. And either you send people there with security or you don’t send them there. I don’t understand why you didn’t send a notification (up ?). With the cables coming in, with concerns about security, why didn’t you do just what you did with this ARB seeking additional funds? | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 361 | The fact is that you had site security team personnel on the ground. They were at no cost to the State Department. Totally funded by the Defense Department, no money issue. They’d been there for a long, long time; they’d been extended multiple times at no cost to you other than the lodging for them to be there. Defense Department totally pays for them. Tripoli asked that they be extended, and you didn’t do it. This has nothing to do with money. Why did you not do that? | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 362 | they say — the Accountability Review Board says — among various departments bureaus and personnel in the field, there appeared to be a very real confusion over who ultimately was responsible and empowered to make decisions based on both policy and security considerations. Can you tell me, Ambassador Nides, how we’re going to change that? Sounds like there were silos, sounds like there was a lack of understanding, a clear definition of responsibility. How are we going to meet that challenge and change — in terms of that recommendation? | Sen. Robert Menendez | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 363 | are we going to have more of a horizontal effort here within the department instead of silos, and a sharing, both information and knowledge, but with a clear delineation of who makes the ultimately responsibility? | Sen. Robert Menendez | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 364 | Now, one of the other elements of the report is on intelligence, and in essence an intelligence failure, in that we have relied upon specific threats as a basis of reacting and preparing, versus a careful consideration to a deteriorating threat situation in general as a basis for improving security posture. Can you talk about how the department seeks to pursue that new reality? | Sen. Robert Menendez | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 365 | I would like you to expand more on how we are going to institutionalize careful attention so that we do not allow a situation such as Benghazi to occur in the future. You can’t eliminate all threats. We know that. But we also understand there was not adequate security at the Benghazi facility based upon the deteriorating circumstances. How do we institutionalize that careful attention to make sure that in those types of dangerous assignments, that we have adequate security? | Sen. Ben Cardin | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 366 | Ambassador Stevens knew Libya perhaps better than any other American. His judgment will never be second guessed. But it’s important that in dangerous posts, that there be more than just the head of mission — who is responsible for the security, no question about it, but that he has the best advice on a broader basis as we go into these types of circumstances. How do we institutionalize that? | Sen. Ben Cardin | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 367 | Is there anything that we need to be aware of as you implement these recommendations as it relates to bureaucratic streamlining that may require congressional attention or problems with host countries as we put more or want to put more Marines in state — in the country? | Sen. Ben Cardin | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 368 | I know that Secretary Clinton visited Libya in October of Did the security situation, the deteriorating security situation come up during her visit there, whether it was a country team or in her interactions with the Libyans? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 369 | MR. BURNS: […] I also visited Libya. SEN. RUBIO: In July, correct? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 370 | SEN. RUBIO: But on your visit in July or any other — September as well — did you go in July — MR. BURNS: September — I was — in July, yes. SEN. RUBIO: (Inaudible) — did that issue in specific come up? Did the — did the folks on the ground there say to you, we’re really worried about what’s happening here with security; we’ve made a number of requests? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 371 | Now, Secretary Clinton met with the prime minister of Libya in March. Do you know if the security situation came up in that meeting? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 372 | But in that particular meeting, you weren’t — you don’t know if that — you’re pretty sure that the issue came up, you just don’t know the full context? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 373 | Well, you met with the deputy prime minister in June of this year. Did it come up in that meeting? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 374 | All right, who in the department reviewed or was briefed on the cables that were sent from the post in June and August of regarding the security situation? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 375 | And to what level did that — those cables get reviewed? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 376 | were any senior officials beyond the assistant secretary level made aware of the repeated requests from the post for extended or additional security? In particular, there were requests made in March and July of Do you know, beyond the assistant secretary level, those requests were ever forwarded in a memo or in some other written document? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 377 | Do you know if anyone beyond the assistant secretary level, going up to the secretary’s level — were they made aware of the more than security incidents that had occurred in Benghazi in the months leading up to the attack? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 378 | And finally, after all these different trips to Libya, yourself, the secretary, others and — other senior officials in the State Department, were there any memos produced after those visits to the tune of basically saying, we’ve been to Libya, and by the way, there are two things; the station is concerned about security in general, and the Libyans are concerned about their ability to provide security as we’re relying on them? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 379 | Do you know if any memos were produced in that or any high-level meetings about that topic took place, above the assistant secretary level? Were there any meetings convened, memos produced on that issue? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 380 | So my last question is beyond the assistant secretary level, there was a general specific — and specific awareness of a rapidly deteriorating security situation in Libya, of the repeated requests from the team on the ground for security and of the inability of the Libyans to — […] Above the assistant secretary level, that awareness existed, correct? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 381 | host country cooperation and partnership. I know there’s great variance, or it varies by country and by situation, but if either of you, Deputy Secretary Burns or Deputy Secretary Nides, can speak to the question of the host — the challenge of having host country partnership. | Sen. Bob Casey | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 382 | Mr. Nides, if you can just quickly one more time walk through the timeline of implementation of some of the recommendations. | Sen. Bob Casey | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 383 | Now in light of all these findings — these are facts that no one has argued with — do you — either one of you want to say that you agree with the statement that I read first in the report saying that there are no warnings? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 384 | Secretary Nides, I’ll assume that you’d pretty much agree with the statement he made. Now there isn’t time to go into it, but for the record, if you would please respond, I would appreciate it very much at a later date. | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 385 | were the comments of Ambassador Rice completely inaccurate regarding her assertion on five TV shows five days after the event with the video responsible for the deaths of the — Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 386 | although intelligence community knew from day one that al-Qaida terrorists were responsible a deadly Benghazi consulate attack, someone cut reference to al-Qaida and terrorism from the overview they released on September the th, instead of those talking points they added. Now somebody in the White House — because this report went to the Situation Room — someone in the White House changed the talking points from General Petraeus and the CIA before they were given to Ambassador Rice. I assume that they were changed and that she was not aware of it or she was aware. That’s not too pertinent. Someone changed it. Do either one of you guys know? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 387 | Do you care? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 388 | I wonder if you can talk about the metrics that are being used as we think about how we determine what is a high-threat, high-risk location and how we are then responding to those metrics. | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 389 | MR. NIDES: We were — we tasked the teams between the Defense Department, the State Department, with a variety of questions to ask. The principal question to ask was, what was the ability for the host government to protect us, not just their willingness, because of all of the countries in which we examined, every one of them without question wanted to protect us. And so what we — SEN. SHAHEEN: Right. And I appreciate — I — that you gave us that information in your testimony. But I wonder if you could be a little more specific. When we ask that question, what then is the follow up to that? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 390 | And apropos Senator Corker and Senator Casey’s questions about implementation of the report, have we attached a timeline to all of the various recommendations for when those are going to get done? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 391 | And is that something that can be made available to this committee? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 392 | Also, can you talk about the coordination between the State Department and the Department of Defense? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 393 | What process is inhibiting faster results in terms of security in our embassies? | Sen. Johnny Isakson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 394 | So it is competitive bid requirement, is that right? | Sen. Johnny Isakson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 395 | Have you identified the terrorists responsible for the deaths of these four brave Americans and the additional injuries and the destruction of the U.S. facilities? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 396 | what is the State Department going to do to get beyond this what goes to what floor, to make sure that this doesn’t happen again? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 12/20/12 |
| 397 | Given the extensive series of emergency action committee reports and diplomatic security spot reports that indicated that the security situation in eastern Libya was going from bad to worse, why was the State Department unprepared for an assault there, especially on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in United States history? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 398 | If security was not a priority, just what was the priority of the State Department in Libya and in Benghazi in particular? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 399 | Why, for example, has State ignored the long-standing recommendation of the Government Accountability Office that the department perform a strategic review that will enable it to adequately plan and carry out the necessary security mission for our diplomats abroad? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 400 | what assurances can you provide to Congress that the State Department’s budget request will prioritize U.S. national security and the security of the diplomatic — of our diplomatic personnel, especially at high- risk posts over such programs like the Diplomatic Culinary Partnership or over the close to the $ billion that is allocated for global climate change programs? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 401 | And secondly, who specifically changed Susan Rice’s public talking points by eliminating references to al-Qaida, and why? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 402 | If there was a national security concern, what was it? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 403 | When did the inaccurate spontaneous protest narrative originate? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 404 | Where did it originate? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 405 | why was that story deemed more fit for publication than the accurate terrorism evidence? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 406 | if Ambassador Rice had little direct knowledge of the facts on the ground in Benghazi, why was she selected by the administration to be the spokesperson on this subject? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 407 | On the — on the specific questions regarding Susan Rice, do you have anything further to add about the talking points and the references? Because in emails, as the attacks were under way, the diplomatic security operations command center was calling it a terrorist attack, as it was under way. So it’s not like the picture was clearer several days later while the attack was taking place — in emails. | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 408 | in the lead-up to the attacks, were President Obama, Vice President Biden or Secretary Clinton aware of the repeated requests for upgrades? | Rep. Chris Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 409 | Secondly, why weren’t President Obama and Vice President Biden and Secretary Clinton interviewed by the Pickering ARB? | Rep. Chris Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 410 | How can one examine all the circumstances without interviewing the very top leadership? | Rep. Chris Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 411 | And finally, in Admiral Crowe released the list of over individuals interviewed. As the Benghazi ARB list of interviewees — (off mic). | Rep. Chris Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 412 | Ambassador Burns, just for illustration here, even if we had twice the size of the diplomatic security detail, can you be certain that our ambassador would have survived? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 413 | Did — Ambassador Burns, did the Libyan government allow us — our security detail traveling from Tripoli to Benghazi to take weapons with them or did they have to rely on the limited weapons that were available to them in Benghazi? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 414 | has the Libyan government restricted the number of security personnel that we can have on — at our diplomatic mission? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 415 | If we’re spending a billion dollars on global warming in this budget, wouldn’t it be more — better — wouldn’t it be better for all of us and more faithful to those people who are serving us to allocate those funds for security, if we think there’s a security problem, rather than for global warming, which is not necessarily the purview of the State Department. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 416 | So there must be policies, then, that we need to look at to see, if it wasn’t the — this didn’t result from budget considerations, why did we end up having this? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 417 | Now, about afterwards and how we’re going to come to grips with this, it was a terrorist thing, as they acknowledge now. Are we tracking down — as the secretary of state pledged, are we tracking down these terrorists, finding out who they are? Is that happening now? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 418 | And what groups are — have we found were guilty of this? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 419 | Did our intelligence investigators, our intelligence operatives in that area manage to go to the local hospitals and to question those people who were coming to the hospitals with bullet wounds that night? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 420 | Well, what about the next day? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 421 | So let me ask you this: How would the billion (dollars) requested in the increased security proposal address the ARB’s concerns? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 422 | Will the additional resources fill staffing shortages due to demands in the front-line State? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 423 | And how will the proposal be sustained after FY ? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 424 | [Re Administration sanctioned arms shipments from Qatar to Libya] And so I was going to ask you, Secretary Burns — the Accountability Review Board had a narrow focus here. They didn’t address some of the larger questions about policy, especially the policy in terms of arms that flooded that area on the part of the Qataris. Wouldn’t you agree that empowering Qatar in this regard was a poor policy choice? | Rep. Ed Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 425 | I would like to know what was the status, though, before Benghazi in Tripoli. Did we have any additional security in Tripoli? Was there a difference between the kind of security we had? I know one was our — just a consulate; the other was the embassy, et cetera. What was their different requests, et cetera? Could you — could you tell me that first? | Rep. Gregory Meeks | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 426 | if sequestration takes place, there’s across-the-board reductions. Has there any thought — (inaudible) — what does that mean to security at our embassies and for our ambassadors? | Rep. Gregory Meeks | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 427 | Now, in your report — (inaudible) — I think Benghazi was — as you said, was a — (inaudible) — it had a nonstatus. Do we deal now — can — with — in any comprehensive manner with any other missions that we have that has a nonstatus, as opposed to something that has a status? Could it be treated differently? | Rep. Gregory Meeks | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 428 | We clearly had a problem in Libya and it’s probably fair to say that the department’s shortcomings in addressing diplomatic security issues are not isolated to Libya. The Government Accountability Office has called on the department on a number of occasions, I believe, to conduct a strategic review on security of mission and resources. And in light of the Benghazi tragedy, could you discuss, relative to the resources that are going to necessary in this issue, is there a timeline on when we’re actually going to get this? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 429 | And in the other embassies around the world that are in security-challenged areas, are these types of things in all likelihood present and need attention in other areas as well? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 430 | Because of this very changing nature and these increased demands that we’re seeing, is there any additional country-specific criteria the State Department is considering to determine these additional security needs at our posts? | Rep. Russ Carnahan | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 431 | And secondly, what steps should be taken with host countries to honor commitments to the Vienna Convention, to ensure that it is not an impediment to our security and to guarantee better the safety and security of our diplomats? | Rep. Russ Carnahan | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 432 | As we are into the Accountability Review Board evaluation, the Pickering report, there is an indication — directly the quote was, in the weeks and months leading up to the attacks, the response from the post, Embassy Tripoli, in Washington to a deteriorating security situation was inadequate. And from each of you, what was the response? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 433 | And what steps have been taken? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 434 | And indeed, could this tragedy have been averted? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 435 | specifically, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Buck McKeon, has asked a question, and that is, to anyone’s knowledge, has the Department of State or any federal agency requested additional U.S. military forces to augment security of U.S. personnel in Libya prior to the attack? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 436 | I’d like to ask each of you if, in fact, we as a nation, Democrats and Republicans, should be seeking to change the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations to more closely and more directly take on a policy that assists our people in these very, very difficult places. Or would that adversely affect the purpose for our diplomatic present in those places, and including and especially those toughest places? | Rep. Brian Higgins | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 437 | My first question is, do we know what terrorist group or groups, here days later, are responsible for the attack on the ambassador and the compound? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 438 | With the folks now in Libya that are in charge of our diplomatic mission there, have we told them, be on these alert for this group or that group, or watch out for these guys? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 439 | Any warnings, watch lists, whatever you want to call it, about any specific Libyan terrorist groups that we should be more careful in dealing with or watching them? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 440 | What kind of notice has been sent out from Washington to Libya? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 441 | There have been reports — and I don’t know if they’re accurate or inaccurate; that’s why I’m asking y’all — that there may be a situation where the United States gave tacit approval, a wink and a nod, or looked the other way while guns were smuggled from Qatar — Qatar — I guess I — (inaudible) — correct pronunciation now — Qatar to Libya, used by Libyan rebels. Is that — what about that? Is that true, not true, or we don’t know? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 442 | I guess my real question is — we need to find out — we need to know –Americans need to know if those weapons that were used in the attack on our folks in Libya were weapons that the United States some way was involved in getting to Libya. | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 443 | We also need to know if those since Omar (sic; Moammar) Gadhafi met his maker, that weapons have gone to Libya to be repackaged, if you will, by the militia and sent to Syria. Has the United States been involved with that, have knowledge of that, or is that just not an accurate statement? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 444 | And I wanted to ask a couple of questions specifically, wondering how you manage planning for diplomatic security when we’re rather unpredictable if when — if and when we get a budget done and then what the level of funding is | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 445 | I wanted to know — if you could comment if there are any new technologies or alternative protective measures that would be very useful in terms of how we protect diplomats and, to what extent if we had any new technologies that you think would be useful, would it have made a difference in Benghazi. | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 446 | Well, you know, I mean, one of the benefits of being on this committee is, is that we do have the opportunity to travel. And frankly, they help provide our protection as well. And so just wondering how you manage with that…Will you shift funds from one to the other or what? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 447 | Is attrition in the diplomatic security service a problem? And if so, what are you doing to address that? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 448 | where do the temporary employees come from? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 449 | [RE reference to YouTube video] I’d like to know why, when this came out just hours after the initial attack, we called it something else. | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 450 | , we used the February th group to protect us, correct? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 451 | yet we knew that they were unreliable in other instances and yet we still allowed them to be our protection and yet when things happened they ran, and is it because they are cowards, they are ill prepared, are the ill trained or is something more nefarious going on? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 452 | Are we looking at those kinds of things to make sure that when we are having security on the ground from a foreign country secure us that they are not connected to our enemy? | Rep. Jean Schmidt | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 453 | I’d like to know whether or not we — whether or not the department has the resources it needs, or are there additional things we should be doing to be sure that in the interim, as this sort of longer process of implementing these recommendations is under way — would you tell us a little bit about what you found in that review, if it’s been completed, about the remaining high-risk posts? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 454 | I’m particularly interested to know, have you done an assessment of the capabilities and commitments of our host nations, which I know are responsible for some of the security? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 455 | . Let me ask, were either one of you in a decision-making role, either part of the decision-making process to having received a request for increased security at our compound in Benghazi or denying that security or denying the support when it was asked for in those tragic last moments? | Rep. Bill Johnson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 456 | Were either of you a decision maker? | Rep. Bill Johnson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 457 | The American people are looking for accountability. Who made these decisions that got four Americans killed? | Rep. Bill Johnson | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 458 | Now, were you both at the meeting in which senior officials of the State Department clearly conspired to make sure the word terrorism was blotted out from the American lexicon, at least through the election? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 459 | No? Well, certainly you were at the meeting where Ambassador Bremer was directly told he had to stop talking about terrorism. Were you at that meeting? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 460 | Mr. Ambassador, a non-denial denial. Were you at such a meeting or not? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 461 | Oh, well, then one of you must have been at a meeting in which Secretary Clinton, the president and our ambassador to the United Nations, Ms. Rice — Ambassador Rice, conspired to get Susan Rice on the Sunday television shows and lie about the tragedy of Benghazi. Were you at that meeting? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 462 | To your knowledge, was there such a meeting? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 463 | A tragedy occurred in Benghazi. Benghazi is inherently unstable. Would that be a fair statement, Ambassador Burns? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 464 | Have you read the report chaired by Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 465 | And did that report conclude that Susan Rice, or Secretary Clinton, or Charlene Lamb for that matter, were responsible for the tragedy in Benghazi? Was that the conclusion of this report? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 466 | Did the report conclude that there was a deliberate or even less than deliberate effort to cover up that fact at any time, at the time of the events or subsequently? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 467 | Is it — is it fair perhaps to conclude that in retrospect, mistakes were made within the State Department about the allocation of resources and about the nature and extent of security that needed to be provided to Benghazi? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 468 | Did Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen conclude inter alia that the — that the focus on lack of resources imbues all decisions by the State Department, including this one, that decision — at the decision level, managers are very aware of the fact they have scarce resources, and they’re constantly figuring out whether they can afford something or not afford something, including security, which can sometimes lead to bad judgments? Is that a fair statement? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 469 | And was that not in fact also part of the conclusion by Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 470 | Can you — and on top of that, another million (dollars) — this is from The New York Times — to acquire art acquisitions for embassy around the world through a program called Art in Embassies. Now, I — (inaudible) — the art — I appreciate the arts just as much as anyone else does. But who looks at these numbers? Is there any individual or entity that looks at these numbers, and they’re saying, well, we need personnel; we need equipment; and also we need to buy art for the embassies. | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 471 | We can we do to prioritize and take advantage of the dollars that are there and at this point not wasting, in my opinion — (inaudible) — some may have a good reason — on things like this? Would you please care to respond to that? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 472 | Ambassador, do you have any comment? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 473 | Did Secretary Clinton know about the request for additional security? Did she know that requests had been denied or that some of our folks on the ground thought that the post was inadequately secured? | Rep. Howard Berman | D | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 474 | He labeled it a terrorist attack the day after, and then they subsequently — after that, subsequently labeled it other things about a video. But what was the U.S. military’s force posture in the region at the time of the attacks and the resulting ability of the U.S. armed forces to respond in the event of an attack like that? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 475 | Was there a military liaison or attache at the embassy in Tripoli? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 476 | So he could have coordinated any — or should have been the one to coordinate any response from a military standpoint, working with the Department of State? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 477 | Were there any international agreements or overfly rules that prevented immediate U.S. military action from taking place? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 478 | Well, I’m going to assume that there were military assets in place that could have responded rapidly. Were there overflight rules in place or anything that would — prevented the United States military from taking action? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 479 | Was the Joint Chiefs of Staff advising President Obama on how best to utilize the military resources to rescue the American ambassador? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 480 | How long did this attack last? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 481 | How long was it until we found out that our ambassador was dead? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 482 | Why weren’t there United States Marines in a country that we knew was a threat to this country and to our assets there? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 483 | Our seeming failures to engage and support the democratic forces have marginalized our intelligence efforts and our own effectiveness in positively influencing political and strategic outcomes. As a matter of state policy, are we indeed somewhat disengaged? | Rep. Robert Turner | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 484 | Are we doing what we can to promote and support democracy in the Moslem world? | Rep. Robert Turner | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 485 | Are we establishing the right relationships and communications channels that might have obviated this problem in Benghazi? | Rep. Robert Turner | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 486 | Ambassador Burns, when you talk about — and I keep hearing about resources. Only percent of the budget. That doesn’t sound like very much money. So what is — what is our budget? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 487 | what I’m trying to understand, what I can’t get my mind wrapped around, is everybody says this was a very unstable and highly volatile area. Then why, for God’s sake, would we take out the best- trained people we have? Why? Why did we move the SST team? Was it because of money? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 488 | You know what everybody says about the area? It’s a “Wild West” show. Nobody’s in charge. We’re in a host country that can’t supply us with the — with the assets that we need. What in the world were we thinking? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 489 | Why would we pull out people and make our ambassador more vulnerable? What were we doing? And who made the decision? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 490 | Neither one of you? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 491 | OK, are you aware of a GAO request in to do a review because they thought it was woefully — the strategic review of our — of our embassies that were not taken, and it was a strategic problem — a security problem. Anyone aware of that? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 492 | Now, I want to ask you, in addition to the four dead Americans, how many people were wounded that night? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 493 | MR. BURNS: I think there were — there were three Americans who were wounded, and one of the wounded is still in Walter Reed Hospital — (inaudible) — REP. KELLY: Just one of them? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 494 | Any idea of how bad they were injured? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 495 | So whenever we found out that this attack took place, how long did it take us to get there, to fly, to get there to help those people out that we knew were wounded? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 496 | How long did it take to get there, and where did the plane leave from, and where did it land? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 497 | Where did the flight originate? Do you know? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 498 | How did it — so it was sitting in Tripoli? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 499 | So where did the chartered airplane take off from to get — | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 500 | How long did it sit on the tarmac? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 501 | What time did we get them — by the way — to — so we flew them from Benghazi; where did we fly them back to? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 502 | The plane — you said it flew from Tripoli to Benghazi…picked up our dead and our wounded…and where did it fly to then? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 503 | And then where did they eventually get their medical? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 504 | Where did the plane land finally? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 505 | Germany — and when did we evacuate our people in Tripoli? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 506 | before that, why, why would we pull our — the best-trained people we have out of an area that is called — it was — it was a dangerous spot, it was a — it was a high risk, it was a high threat | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 507 | You know who we replaced the SST team with? Libyan nationals at $ an hour, unarmed? And that’s the way we respond to high-risk areas? That’s how we respond to areas that are volatile? That’s how we respond to areas that are the most — that are in the — in the worst spots possible? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 508 | You know, the same time that we were doing this, do you know what we were doing in Vienna? | Rep. Mike Kelly | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 509 | Our officials quickly knew that we were dealing with a premeditated terrorist attack, but the video narrative persisted — persisted. Can you explain why? | Rep. Jeff Fortenberry | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 510 | I guess the question becomes then, what was communicated to the White House and the State Department during the Benghazi attack? | Rep. Jeff Fortenberry | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 511 | [RE letters to President for full explaination of video narrative vs. terrorist attack] Can you explain the delay in response? | Rep. Jeff Fortenberry | R | House Foreign Affairs 12/20/12 |
| 512 | Can you give us your insights on the decision-making process regarding the location of the mission? | Sen. Bob Menendez | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 513 | what actions were you and your staff taking the night of September th and into September the th? | Sen. Bob Menendez | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 514 | These officials were screaming out for more security. And I’m just wondering if you might mention one reform that would be helpful so that you would have known of the needs there of security that went undone. | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 515 | SEC. CLINTON: […] That’s obviously one of the findings that Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen made; that, you know, these requests don’t ordinarily come to the secretary of state. SEN. CORKER: But if we could, I know — I respect you tremendously, but we have a short amount of time — they did come in to folks. | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 516 | We did have SFT (sp) people on the ground at no cost to the State Department. They were asked to be extended by the ambassador. Someone at the State Department turned that down. They were at no charge, officers. So I Just wonder what has happened inside to make sure that never happens again. | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 517 | It’s my sense — my last question — it’s my sense that as a nation we were woefully unprepared for what happened in Northern Africa in general. I think you share that view, and I just wonder — I know you made some opening comments regarding us leading in that area, but it seems to me that Benghazi symbolizes just the woeful unpreparedness that our nation had as it relates to issues in North Africa. And I hope you’ll address that as you move ahead. | Sen. Bob Corker | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 518 | Have you already engaged with DOD to provide additional Marines at U.S. facilities to fulfill the ARB’s recommendation that State and DOD work together to provide more capabilities and capacities at higher-risk posts? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 519 | And before you answer that, could you maybe address the issue in Mali right now? When you look at Mali, you see a government that is weak. They don’t have the best security. Are we working on that post? | Sen. Barbara Boxer | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 520 | Moving to the issues at hand, this morning the national media is reporting that some of the — or a number of the attackers in Algeria are people who participated in the attack in Benghazi. Can you confirm that for us this morning? | Sen. Jim Risch | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 521 | One — only on person has been arrested regarding the attack on Benghazi and was then released. Can you tell us whether he was one of the people that participated in the Algerian attack? | Sen. Jim Risch | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 522 | You just testified in your prepared remarks that — you said, quote, “The very next morning” — which would have been Wednesday morning — I to the American people that, quote, “heavily armed militants assaulted our compound and vowed to bring them to justice.” I’m assuming that you had rock-solid evidence to make such a bold statement at that time. | Sen. Jim Risch | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 523 | Did you select Ambassador Rice to deliver the message to the American people? | Sen. Jim Risch | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 524 | I gather you still stand by the statement you made less than hours — that heavily armed militants assaulted our compound and that you vowed to bring them to justice. You still stand by that. | Sen. Jim Risch | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 525 | First of all, did — were you ever asked to participate in any sort of internal or interagency meeting with — before this attack with regard to the deteriorating security situation in Libya? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 526 | For example, that — the October meeting, at that meeting did this issue come up with regards to the inability of the Libyan government to protect our diplomatic institutions? Did that issue come up at all in that conversation? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 527 | So just to be clear — in October and again in March of , I believe that was here with the prime minister. In neither one of these meetings was there a specific conversation between you and them with regards to concerns that we had that — not just the deteriorating security situation, but the inability of them as a host country to meet their obligations to provide security in — | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 528 | There was a conversation. | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 529 | Before the attack in Benghazi, what had we done specifically to help them build their security capacity? | Sen. Marco Rubio | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 530 | Twenty-nine recommendations by the board which now has found its way into — or I should say, which now is a set of specific action items. And you said in your testimony, quote, “fully percent are on track to be completed by the end of March with a number completed already.” I guess I’d ask you one question about that and then one follow- up. What, if any, impediments to imple-mentation do you perceive right now? | Sen. Bob Casey | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 531 | And are there impediments to meeting those deadlines that this committee and the Congress can help you with by way of meeting that deadline and implementation? | Sen. Bob Casey | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 532 | Did you — were you fully aware in real time — and again, I realize how big your job is and, you know, everything is erupting in the Middle East this time — were you fully aware of these incidents that were reported in the ARB in real time? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 533 | Did you see personally the cable on — I believe it was August th — specifically asking for basically reinforcements for the security detail that was going to be evacuating or leaving in August? Did you see that personally? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 534 | When was the first time you spoke to, or have you ever spoken to the returnees, the evacuees? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 535 | Did you personally speak to those folks? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 536 | How many people were evacuated from Libya? […] Approximately. | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 537 | Did anybody in the State Department talk to those folks very shortly afterwards? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 538 | I mean, this attack started at : p.m., Benghazi time, and it was an assault — and I appreciate the fact that you called it an assault. But, I mean, I’m going back to then Ambassador Rice five days later going on Sunday shows and what I would say purposefully misleading the American public. […] Why wasn’t that known? And again, I appreciate the fact of the transparency of this — of this hearing, but why weren’t we transparent at that point in time? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 539 | But Madam Secretary, do you disagree with me that a simple phone call to those evacuees to determine what happened wouldn’t have — wouldn’t have ascertained immediately that there was no protest? | Sen. Ron Johnson | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 540 | SEN. SHAHEEN: […] I want to first go back to what I thought I — you said about still looking for the funding to be transferred, the — billion (dollars)? SEC. CLINTON: Four. SEN. SHAHEEN: Four billion (dollars) from the OCO account to address the security threats not just in Libya but around the world. | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 541 | And do I understand that we still have not had that money transferred and so that means that the million (dollars) for Marine security guards, the million (dollars) for diplomatic security, the million (dollars) for security installation — that is all on hold and so we can’t move forward until that has been approved by the House? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 542 | I want to go back to something that Secretary Nides said at the hearing on December th, because I asked him about the cooperation between the Department of Defense and State and what the situation was on the ground before the Benghazi attack in terms of the placement of our military in the region. He talked about the unprecedented cooperation between State and Defense in response to Benghazi. But I wonder if you could talk about how we ensure that this is a standard way of doing business and that we’re acting in cooperation when we’re looking at the threats facing us, particularly as we look at what’s happening in Northern Africa and across the Middle East. | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 543 | With regard to the appearance of Dr. Rice on the morning shows, you mentioned that you did not select her. Were you consulted in that decision? | Sen. Jeff Flake | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 544 | after she testified, it was clear that what she testified to was at variance with a lot of communications from the State Department and a lot of the — a lot of the information that had been gathered and things that had been said by yourself and others at the State Department. Can you just enlighten us a bit as to discussions that went on at the State Department after that testimony? Was there — I mean, these are professionals that you oversee who do a lot of hard work to give analysis and this kind of assessment. What she said was clearly at variance with a lot of the research and analysis that had gone on about the nature of these attacks. Can you just enlighten us as to discussion — what discussions were had at the State Department after this testimony? | Sen. Jeff Flake | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 545 | How can we be assured here that the new protocols that are in place, with these new recommendations being implemented, will be followed or adhered to, because they clearly weren’t before? | Sen. Jeff Flake | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 546 | Why is it that the administration still refuses to provide the full text of emails regarding the deletion of references to al-Qaida and terrorism in the talking points? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 547 | How can we keep our commitment to be a leader in the world in the area of diplomacy and statecraft, to avoid the necessity of war, if we don’t give the most basic resources to your department, which commands, as I understand it, about / percent of the federal budget? | Sen. Dick Durbin | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 548 | And I would ask you today if you believe that we had a significant, substantial and strong security presence in Libya at that time because we want that for all of our ambassadors. | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 549 | were the people that perpetrated the recent attacks in Algeria — were they part of this […]? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 550 | (were the people that perpetrated the recent attacks in Algeria — were they part of this,) or were they maybe perhaps emboldened because no one has yet paid a penalty for the attack on our facility in Benghazi […]? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 551 | You know, thinking about future attacks and trying to prevent those — on September th, the president vowed to, quote, bring to justice the killers who attacked our people in Benghazi. […] how can we make sure that people are actually brought to justice there? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 552 | The president also said al-Qaida has been decimated. And in light of the recent terrorisms — terrorist activities that we continue to see in North Africa, around the world, would you characterize that as al-Qaida has been decimated? | Sen. John Barrasso | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 553 | But my question here revolves around these high-risk posts. I think the term you’ve used is having of them. Is this how many there are, how many high-risk posts we have around the world? | Sen. Tom Udall | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 554 | Can you give us a little bit of a range, I mean, very high and — | Sen. Tom Udall | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 555 | Does it make sense that in some of these high-risk areas that we consolidate those particular areas with more secure areas and then be able to be in a situation where our personnel would be safer? | Sen. Tom Udall | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 556 | Now, my question is, is the U.S. involved with any procuring of weapons, transfer of weapons, buying, selling, anyhow transferring weapons to Turkey out of Libya? | Sen. Rand Paul | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 557 | the annex that was close by, were they involved with procuring, buying, selling, obtaining weapons, and were any of these weapons being transferred to other countries, any countries, Turkey included? | Sen. Rand Paul | R | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 558 | As we move forward, and especially for new members of this committee, who are probably going to be spending a lot more time on Africa and North Africa than this committee has ever spent before, what are the expectations that we should set for the American public as to what we can control, what we can know, and potentially, what changes on the diplomatic side we need to make in order to have a more solid footprint and relationship with neighbors there who may be willing to help us when it comes to intelligence and intervention with this very complicated landscape of jihadist groups. | Sen. Chris Murphy | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 559 | In December the undersecretary for management approved a one-year continuation of the U.S. special mission in Benghazi, which was never a consulate and never formally notified to the Libyan government. Why wasn’t this special mission notified to the Libyan government? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 560 | (Why wasn’t this special mission notified to the Libyan government?) Is that a common practice? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 561 | Did the lack of the notification have any connection with the weak Libyan governmental response on the th? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 562 | And are there any changes, in connection with the ARB recommendations, to the idea of special missions that are not notified formally to their host governments? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 563 | How common is it for us to rely on local nongovernmental security, as was the case with the Blue Mountain and February brigades in Benghazi? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Foreign Relations 1/23/13 |
| 564 | Senior officials fully appreciated the grave threats in Benghazi. They knew that al-Qaida was there. They knew that our security was insufficient. But instead of adding security, in this case, they took it away. They withdrew mobile security detachment teams. They sent packing a special team that the Defense Department provided and provided at no cost. So if senior officials knew that our diplomats weren’t safe and weren’t adequately staffed, then why did they continue to withdraw security? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 565 | Last month, though, Deputy Secretary Burns testified that memos regarding the deteriorating security situation did make their way to the seventh floor, to top management. So what senior official was he referring to when he talks about top management there? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 566 | Who in the senior management was responsible for responding to those requests that were coming from the field? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 567 | now, based on the reading — literal reading of those memos, here you had the request, so that’s my question. OK, they didn’t — they didn’t come to the conclusion that we should increase security, but what about the question of having with — security actually withdrawn August th in terms of the security site team provided by the Department of Defense? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 568 | So I’d like to ask you, Madam Secretary, do you think that Congress has provided adequate resources for diplomatic security in recent years? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 569 | Can you talk about security priorities you have not been able to complete due to an inadequate budget? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 570 | Can you talk about security priorities you have not been able to complete due to an inadequate budget? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 571 | And I want to also add, what would happen, even worse, to the security of our diplomats and our diplomatic facilities if there was a sequester or, worse, a government shutdown? Has the State Department begun planning for the dangers of Congress not agreeing on a budget? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 572 | First, why were you not interviewed for the review board — by the review board investigators in the — how can this review be considered thorough when the person at the top, the secretary of state, was not part of the investigation? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 573 | the State Department was clearly allowing the false narrative that department officials were being held accountable for what went wrong in Benghazi, for ignoring the threats, and it was — it was perceived as fact. Look at these headlines. The New York Times: “Four Are Out at State Department After Scathing Report on Benghazi Attacks.” It’s not true. “Heads Roll at the State Department.” Not true. Yet State did nothing to correct the record. Here we are, days after the terrorist attacks. Why did you not take steps publicly to correct this false narrative even up to — including today? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 574 | Do you find it acceptable that State officials responsible for this lack of leadership and mismanagement, for ignoring security requests during the Benghazi attack and before remain employed within the State Department? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 575 | Given that State was aware of the dangerously declining security situation in Benghazi, as pointed out by our chairman, the assassination attempt on the British ambassador, other attacks on Western interests, why did State not immediately revamp our security protocols prior to the September th attack? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 576 | Did State fail to act pre-emptively because it ignored the threat, or did it fail to act because it was unable to recognize this growing pattern of violence? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 577 | So what actions have you taken to ensure that when another embassy, another consulate sound the alarm on security threats, as it happened in Benghazi, that those requests are not yet again ignored? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 578 | Now, what do we think — or what do you think is a higher priority and a better use of taxpayers’ money, national security or global climate change? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 579 | I would like to ask if you could elaborate just a little further what you meant by this, that Ambassador Stevens went to Benghazi in the first — knowing these are dangers, knowing these are dangers (whether he went still ?). Could you please comment on that? | Del. Eni Faleomavega | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 580 | One, you defined taking responsibility for Benghazi in your testimony a few moments ago in terms, and only in terms, of during and after the terrorist attacks. What about before the attack on September , — () — what — () — what did you personally, and your staff — when did you become aware of Ambassador Stevens’s and his team’s request for security upgrades? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 581 | What exactly did you do in response? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 582 | Did he ask you personally at any time? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 583 | were you personally, in any way, at fault? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 584 | When did you become aware of Ambassador Stevens’s request, and how did you respond to it? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 585 | And did he ever personally ask you to be involved? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 586 | One aspect of protecting our diplomats in the future is bringing to justice the criminals who did this this time. We did a lot for the people of Libya. We did a lot for those who are now ruling Libya. How would you appraise their efforts to cooperate with us in the investigation? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 587 | And does this Libyan government have the will and the capacity to arrest suspects involved? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 588 | So could you tell us, after the attack and now that we’re trying to bring these culprits to justice, what do you think of the Libyan government? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 589 | Madam Secretary, you told the Senate this morning that you learned of the attack around p.m. on that day and you were involved widely in the coordinated response, which included the Department of Defense, the White House, but did not speak to the president until later that evening. When did you talk to the president? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 590 | what about when you saw the president? When did — when did you see the president and — (inaudible) | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 591 | Secretary Lamb, the lady we’re talking about, did — testified that she had actually witnessed this in real time, the attack — in real time on a monitor. At any time did you see the initial attack on a monitor? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 592 | There’s no — but was there audio? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 593 | As you were dealing with the crisis as it went on, did you think or act on the basis that this was a film protest gone out of control, and when you briefed the president, did you tell him that, or did you tell him — which Admiral Mullen suggests you knew by then — that this was a well-planned and executed terrorist attack? Which was the president told? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 594 | Over and over and over again it was repeated that we had enraged the Islamic terrorists, which, by the way — what’s that — when you say that we enraged the Islamic terrorists, that means we’re at fault, they’re not at fault, and then to look and see that the only people that I know who are in jail right now is the filmmaker, isn’t this a little disconcerting? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 595 | I want to ask you a question that’s somewhat, I guess, what Mr. Sherman was asking, but because what — just to get your thoughts on what we might do as members of Congress and how we might move forward with the nations of the Arab Spring so that maybe that is a way that we can prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 596 | Why was the department hierarchy so obstinate, and why would the department deny a personal plea from Ambassador Stevens, given his expertise on Libyan affairs? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 597 | Why did the department’s senior leadership not take into consideration the approaching September th anniversary, particularly in light of direct requests from our mission in Libya? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 598 | So when we increase funding in our area, we have to consider cuts in others. At least that the way it should work. The State Department currently — are they conducting any internal reviews, for example, to determine what offsets in current program funding might be considered? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 599 | And as we’ve ended our military operations in Iraq, as we wind down in Afghanistan, what kind of — I’d like to ask what kind of strain will the presence of less military personnel in the region put on diplomatic security? | Rep. Ted Deutch | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 600 | When you talk about the need to prioritize, because of shortfalls, more Marine security guards, talked about construction budgets and upgrades, what does that mean? What are the decisions that have to be made, and how do they actually impact our diplomatic personnel? | Rep. Ted Deutch | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 601 | SEC CLINTON: We’re also looking to see how we can better cooperate on the security aid that we give to other countries. It’s got to be a combination of both military assets and expertise, but also development, rule of law, democracy building. It can’t be one or the other; they have to be married together. REP. DEUTCH: And if you could, in the few seconds that we have left, Madam Secretary, could you just — could you speak more broadly about the important role that that will play? In this budget debate that’s going to take place, why is it so important for us to continue to fund this? | Rep. Ted Deutch | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 602 | As we begin, it’s been reported that since you managed the response to the Benghazi attack, why weren’t you the person to appear on the Sunday shows immediately following the attack? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 603 | Ambassador Susan Rice said that you declined. Was that correct? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 604 | First and foremost, what was going on at the ops center of the State Department in Washington while our consulate was under attack for seven hours? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 605 | Why the delay in labeling the attack as terrorism when it was immediately known that it was? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 606 | Why weren’t Marine guards posted in Benghazi in the first place? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 607 | You made reference in your testimony about best-value contracts. And you mentioned, I believe, several nations where best-value contracts are not used. And in thinking about Africa and the instability in a number of nations in northern Africa, central Africa, Mali, you know, what we’re dealing with now, I want to know whether or not those nations are subject to those type of contracts and whether or not exemptions or waivers should be made. What should we do? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 608 | Should we look to extend that to Mali, to the DRC, to Somalia? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 609 | Among the various Islamic extremist groups operating in Africa today — AQIM, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, to name a few — in your view, which pose the greatest threats — direct threat to the United States? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 610 | And then given the limited capacity and our — in some cases, the limited political will of the countries in which these groups operate, are U.S. military, intelligence and security assistance resources devoted to these threats adequately or appropriately balanced, and what recommendations would you have for us? | Rep. Karen Bass | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 611 | Were you aware of this cable, this eight — this August th cable? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 612 | Can I ask a — when were you aware of this cable? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 613 | Who within your office — who within your office did see this cable? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 614 | Within the National Security Council? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 615 | Was this cable a surprise to you? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 616 | Why was he in Benghazi on September the th? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 617 | Now, one of the parts of the ARB report that’s of great concern to me dealt with what they described as a culture of austerity in the State Department. And Madam Secretary, can you take a few moments and expand on the ARB’s finding on that subject and how it affects the State Department’s ability to carry out crucial tasks — not just security, but all crucial tasks? | Rep. William Keating | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 618 | just quickly, too, you know, with the crisis in Mali and the insurgency there and the spreading jihadist threat in Northern Africa and Maghreb and the Arabian Peninsula, you know, in that area, they’re relatively technologically advanced, and there’s threats that go along those lines that I’m concerned about in terms of cultural austerity there as well — cyberthreats and other security upgrades that are going to be vitally necessary — and I hope those kind of things are not lost as we review this situation. Can you just comment on what we need in that regard going forward and how much of a threat this many pose to us? | Rep. William Keating | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 619 | As of today, several months later, after the attack in Benghazi, has to your knowledge any person been put currently in custody anywhere by any government for the responsibility or as a suspect involved in the Benghazi attack? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 620 | Before Gadhafi was taken out, my understanding is the nation of Qatar shipped in shipments, , tons of weapons, machine guns, RPGs into the region to help different groups overthrow Omar (sic) Gadhafi. Did the United States give a wink and a nod to this? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 621 | I want to ask you, Madam Secretary — I know one of the things you did was to — and actually, in anticipation of some of the recommendations, you created, for the first time ever, a diplomatic security deputy assistant secretary. And I think, with respect to the ARB report, the importance of examining the State Department’s organization and management as it relates to security planning — my expectation is that that would be one of the responsibilities of this new position. And I’m wondering if you could just tell us a little bit about the role of this new secretary within the bureau, what responsibilities the position will have, and will this individual, in particular, have the authority to reallocate resources in order to fill potential resource gaps if that’s one of the challenges we face? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 622 | I know you’ve put the four individuals identified as culpable by the Accountability Review Board on administrative leave. What do you anticipate will be the final resolution of their status with the department? | Rep. Matt Salmon | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 623 | So, given the fact that your testimony is that you never saw any of these multiple requests, and nobody above assistant secretary level saw these requests, doesn’t that give you some concerns about the flow of information within the department and maybe some of your underlings’ ability to prioritize and get to your attention serious issues? | Rep. Matt Salmon | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 624 | The report does identify specifically people who were found to have engaged in the department in systematic failures and deficiencies. I want to be clear about this: You were not one of those people. Isn’t that correct? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 625 | Now, it was identified earlier that a report dating from the s had said that the secretary should take a personal and active role in security. Have you done that during your four years at the State Department? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 626 | Regarding the security professionals, is there anybody now in existence in the department who is responsible for reviewing the itineraries of ambassadors in advance in order to determine whether there is an undue threat to their safety? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 627 | Well, with regard to Ambassador Stevens, certainly it was brave of him to go to Benghazi on the date that he did. I have to ask you honestly, though, was there anything in his itinerary on the th or the th that actually specifically required his personal presence? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 628 | Do you have any concept of the number of American troops it might have taken to actually create a totally secure environment for him in Benghazi on September th and th? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 629 | In August , prior to the Benghazi attack, the Library of Congress published a report on behalf of a division of DOD, called “Al Qaeda in Libya: A Profile.” This report outlined al-Qaida’s growing presence in Libya, particularly in east Libya, where Benghazi is located. Something that was especially alarming to me in this DOD report was the mention that Ansar al-Sharia and other al-Qaida groups in Libya have adopted the black flag, which symbolizes commitment to violent jihad promoted by al-Qaida senior leaders…My question, Madam Secretary, is were you aware of this DOD report prior to the terrorist attack in Benghazi? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 630 | Do you — did anyone in your department below you, were they aware of this report and these photos prior to? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 631 | And don’t you think they should have brought this to your attention? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 632 | But my point is, this flag kept coming up, and you did not think that that was important enough to increase security, when after how many embassies where this flag was shown in demonstrations? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 633 | Are these three people that are on leave, are they still being paid? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 634 | What’s the hold up? | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 635 | what’s the hold up, from a management perspective, in saying you three let me down, this should have been brought to my attention; I no longer need your services. | Rep. Thomas Marino | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 636 | And one of the things that did trouble me as I read this was the reliance that we have on local security. That’s the part that didn’t make sense to me. I come from San Diego. We have the Marine Corps there. We have the Navy. We have incredibly good security and service people. Why don’t we rely more on them? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 637 | Madam Secretary, if you were really, in your words, clear-eyed about the levels of threat to our consulate in Benghazi or our special mission in Benghazi, then you should have known about Chris Stevens’ memo, I believe of August, that said our consulate could not be defended from a coordinated attack. Questions Americans have is, did he expect an attack? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 638 | If you were clear-eyed, then why didn’t your department — why did your department reject the request, I believe on June, for additional security agents, the site security team that would have been funded by DOD, not a DO State expenditure? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 639 | If you were clear-eyed, shouldn’t you have known that there was no real Libyan government to turn to for security assistance? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 640 | If you were clear-eyed, were you clear-eyed about the al-Qaida’s displeasure with who we seemed to be supporting during the summer elections, the moderate that was elected? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 641 | If you were clear-eyed, shouldn’t you have known that al-Qaida roamed freely, in and around Benghazi? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 642 | If you were clear-eyed, were you clear-eyed when the Brits left Benghazi because they had the attack? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 643 | Why did four Americans die? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 644 | What was so important that Ambassador Stevens — if he knew there was a security threat in Benghazi — he went there on September th and th and gave his life for our country — what was so important for him to go to eastern Libya, knowing all these threats, knowing the memos are clear? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 645 | You said you take responsibility. What does responsibility mean, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 646 | At what point in time can our administration and can our government fire someone whose gross negligence left four Americans dead in Benghazi? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 647 | What does the word responsibility mean to you, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 648 | You mentioned transparency. You haven’t provided the call logs of messages, instant messages during the attack between the post and the operation center. In (an air ?) of transparency will you release these communications between Benghazi, Tripoli and Washington? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 649 | As we move forward, how will the State Department evaluate the benefits to U.S. interests from having an official presence in a given location versus the security risk faced by that diplomatic mission? | Rep. Bradley Schneider | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 650 | How do you expect the department will weigh the physical and technical personnel and political costs, as opposed to the gains of operating in front-line states? | Rep. Bradley Schneider | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 651 | what changes do you think these demands will require vis-a-vis people and other resources at the State Department? | Rep. Bradley Schneider | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 652 | As we look forward, the steps taken — how do we ensure — we’ll be in new places. We’re going to face new challenges. How do we make sure that we’re able to provide the resources to these high-threat, high-risk posts? | Rep. Bradley Schneider | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 653 | In that intervening seven hours, military assets, to what we know, what we can talk about, were not put in place. Aviano Air Base is , miles from Benghazi. Aviano Air Base is an F- base. Airplanes could have been put in the air after being fueled even if they didn’t have missiles on them, and there can be nonviolent things that F-s can do to disperse crowds that I know of well. So that’s a concern. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 654 | When we come to talk about the issue of the drone and the surveillance overhead, if there was, in fact, a drone overhead, I would assume that there would be a link in which you could watch what is going on live, or else maybe somebody under you was able to see what was going on live, or else that link was down. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 655 | another question I have — when it comes to — I watched your testimony in the Senate, and you said, you know, part of the reason we had a little bit of a delay in understanding what was going on — we did not have immediate access to the security cameras and the security footage. But yet at the same time, you had mortars being reported as being fired on security personnel. If I would hear that mortars are being fired, I would immediately assume, regardless of whether I could see what’s going on overhead, regardless of if I could see the security footage, that this is more than a spontaneous demonstration. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 656 | The other question I have too — I’m laying a few out for you — the FEST team, the foreign response team — was that your decision not to deploy that right away? Was that an issue of logistics? Where does that come from? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 657 | And if we have no assets on alert that can respond in a seven-hour lull in two different attacks in the most hot spot — one of the most hot spots in the — in the world on /, on the anniversary, is the lead-from-behind strategy failing? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 658 | I was wondering if you might be willing to share some important lessons learned from the time that you’ve spent in this post and enlighten us as to what Congress can do to help respond and even get in front of these threats as we move forward. | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 659 | assuming that you’re going to say what you’ve said a couple of times about increased engagement at the ground level, how do we do that in areas that are unstable, where we need to depend on local governments or local security forces that, quite frankly, we’ve seen don’t have the ability to provide the type of security that our diplomats are going to demand? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 660 | Now, Secretary Clinton, is Ambassador Rice’s statement that Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to the Cairo protest factually accurate? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 661 | Well, Secretary Clinton, is Ambassador Rice’s statement that Benghazi was a copycat of the Cairo demonstrations factually accurate? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 662 | Secretary Clinton, is Ambassador Rice’s statement that Benghazi was, quote, “prompted, of course, by an anti-Muslim video,” end quote, put on the Internet in the United States factually accurate? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 663 | Secretary Clinton, what evidence was there that was so compelling that it caused the White House, through Ambassador Susan Rice, to make these representations about spontaneous protest, anti-Muslim videos and the like, despite evidence and statements of Libya’s own president to the contrary? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 664 | What — you know, if she’s going to make these statements in an affirmative act on her part, where was the compelling evidence and what was it? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 665 | I appreciate your response so far, but if you’re not familiar with any compelling evidence that would support the statements made by Ambassador Rice, who would know? | Rep. Morris Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 666 | Secretary, how many cables did you say arrive every year to the State Department, million? | Rep. Ami Bera | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 667 | Can you tell me how long it takes you to read million cables? | Rep. Ami Bera | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 668 | You said on September st that we will not rest till we have tracked down and brought to justice the terrorists who murdered the four Americans at Benghazi. | Rep. Tom Cotton | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 669 | Earlier today you said, I certainly hope the FBI is able to investigate, identify and hold those responsible. Does the difference in those two statements reflect any concern on your part of the progress of that investigation? | Rep. Tom Cotton | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 670 | What is the United States government’s position on the role of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb in the attacks in Benghazi? | Rep. Tom Cotton | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 671 | Is — do you find it distressing that Tunisian government has released that gentleman in light of the hundred of millions of dollars of aid we’ve given them up over the last years? | Rep. Tom Cotton | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 672 | My question is very similar to the one of Congressman Schneider’s, and that was, how do you make that analysis between risk and presence? What are some of the obstacles in making that? | Rep. Alan Lowenthal | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 673 | How do we move forward with that, and how does the Congress understand some of those — that kind of balance? | Rep. Alan Lowenthal | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 674 | I want to talk to you about the Marine security guards. And this is from somebody who spent a long time in the Marine Corps, but not in the cognizance — part of DOD, not under the State Department. And you had some things in here about additional Marine secure — excuse me — Marine security guard detachments…the question is about whether it’s prudent to task-organize those assets that are organic to you and perhaps put them in those areas that have the high threat level. And if you could answer that, I’d appreciate that. | Rep. Paul Cook | R | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 675 | I’m curious, in the past weeks we’ve seen the French respond decisively to the situation in Mali. The African Union has fought well in Somalia. Do you see this as an advancement of multilateralism in combating Islamic extremism in the Middle East, in Africa? | Rep. Grace Meng | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 676 | And what more can we ask from allies in that area? | Rep. Grace Meng | D | House Foreign Affairs 1/23/13 |
| 677 | General Ham, your special ops force unit was established on the 1st of October of last year. The committee has learned that this force doesn’t have the necessary enablers to operate in certain environments. Obviously, if this is correct, this is extremely concerning, as it would appear that we are not postured for the next crisis in the region, like the attack in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 of last year. What is the projected timeline to get your special ops forces outfitted with the appropriate enablers? | Rep. McKeon | R | House Armed Services 3/15/13 |
| 678 | Your forces in extremis, given the tyranny of distance and geography that Stavridis mentioned earlier with respect to Africa, is it rational for you to have the kind of enablers and others available to respond to the next Benghazi-like event in Africa. | Rep. Conaway | R | House Armed Services 3/15/13 |
| 679 | When in the Benghazi issue and the excitement about trying to respond there, there was clear lines of authorities and clearly operational issues that didn’t—or were there—that got in the way of the response? | Rep. Conaway | R | House Armed Services 3/15/13 |
| 680 | One of those things that is important is, you know, the interoperability and the training and the mission readiness for a decision that is made to go and intervene in places that are important for stability around the world, like Libya, for example, or other places. So my question to you, Admiral, is how are the Europeans feeling? Where are they with respect to their defense spending given that they are watching us lower our defense and most of them have not met the 2 percent threshold over the last few years? | Rep. Sanchez | D | House Armed Services 3/15/13 |
| 681 | This committee and several others have been examining the events of Benghazi. We understand that the State Department has implemented many of the reforms recommended by the Accountability Review Board in order to better protect the Department’s employees. That is good, since the Board found ‘‘systemic failures in leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels’’ under the Secretary’s predecessor. But the committee remains concerned about the Review Board’s process. We have outstanding requests for information from your department, Mr. Secretary, that must be answered. These include why the four State Department employees the Board singled out for poor performance are still on the payroll. Seven months after Benghazi, the terrorists are still alive and free. | Rep. Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 682 | This committee has been frustrated in obtaining documents and other information from the Department concerning the Benghazi terrorist attacks. Of course, our investigation predates your tenure, so I am hopeful we will be able to resolve this as you get your team in place so that we can move forward on this important issue. | Rep. Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 683 | I have to just disagree for a minute. Instead of handing over copies of the documents and records that we have requested, as has always been customary practice in the past, the Department has insisted that the committee staff sift through thousands of pages of materials in a room in which they are monitored by the Department. And they can’t remove any or make electronic copies of those documents. Mr. Secretary, these are unclassified documents that relate to the critical issue of Embassy security. And the Department is literally spending thousands of taxpayers’ dollars a week to slow the progress of the committee’s review. So this has resulted in a great deal of wasted time and money. I think it runs contrary to the administration’s promise of increased transparency. And I hope you will reconsider the Department’s position on this issue. | Rep. Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 684 | I do not believe that Secretary of State Hillary was honestly cooperative with this committee about Benghazi. And you take a look, we have made request after request about, for example, just to get the list of the names of the people who were evacuated from Benghazi. And we haven’t even gotten that, much less some of the other important questions. | Rep. Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 685 | Now, I know the State Department has flooded us with paper for some of the more insignificant things. Mr. Secretary, we think that there was a cover-up of some kind of wrongdoing that led this administration to lie to the American people about the nature of the attack immediately after the attack, and for a week after that attack. We need to have these questions answered. We need to talk to the people who were on the scene. Can you give us a commitment now that for this administration, you will be coming up with the request, the honest request of this investigative committee as to who was evacuated and how to talk to them so we can get a straight answer and an understanding of what happened in Benghazi? | Rep. Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 686 | My question has to do with Benghazi. Earlier this year, Secretary Clinton testified. And I asked her about a classified State Department cable marked ‘‘secret’’ from Ambassador Stevens to the State Department on August the 16th. And in that cable, he essentially warns the Benghazi consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack. And that is a quote. The Regional Security Officer believed that our consulate could not be protected at an emergency meeting, which is a very extraordinary thing, less than a month before the attack on September 11. A contingency plan was supposedly drafted to move the consulate operations to a CIA annex about a mile away. And this cable came on the heels of three significant events: One, April 6, 2012, a crude IED was thrown over the wall of the U.S. facility in Benghazi; on May 22, the Red Cross building was hit by two RPG mortars by the Brigades of the Blind Sheik; on June 6, the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi was targeted by an IED attack that blew a hole in the perimeter wall at the Benghazi consulate. Again, the Brigades of the Blind Sheik take credit and responsibility for this. In written questions after the hearing, I asked the Secretary, who in the State Department saw this cable and what specific actions were taken in response? I was disappointed, quite frankly, with her response. And I hope that you can do better. | Rep. McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 687 | Mr. Secretary, can you tell me which individual or individuals saw this cable and what specific actions were taken? | Rep. McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 688 | Well, I appreciate that. But can I have your assurance that you will let this committee know which individuals actually received that cable—— | Rep. McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 689 | And what response was taken? | Rep. McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 690 | Mr. Secretary, going back to your earlier comments as you referenced the Benghazi review, can you provide us a copy of that internal review once it is completed? | Rep. Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 691 | Reports indicate that the Libyan Government really won’t do anything because, reportedly, some of the groups, the militia groups that support the Libyan Government may be involved in the attack. Would you comment on that, if you can? | Rep. Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 692 | Also, you have urged us to review the video from the attack of that night. We have requested that video, but the Department has not provided it. When I mean ‘‘we,’’ the committee. Secretary KERRY. We don’t have it. I think it’s a—I saw it in a classified briefing. I believe it may be the agency or something. Mr. SALMON. Would it be possible for you to take measures to ensure that we do get it? | Rep. Salmon | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 693 | Secretary Kerry, as we now know, the Libyan President told the truth, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations did not. My question to you is, can you give assurances to the American people that you will conduct an investigation that will find out why Ambassador Rice made so many false statements to America about what happened in Benghazi and that you will share your findings with the American people? | Rep. Brooks | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 694 | Number one, your predecessor said that those four employees in the State Department that didn’t, I guess, pay attention to the requests for help, firing them was not an option, it didn’t rise to the level of a fireable offense. A, I want to know if you have got a policy going forward to define what a fireable offense is. Because if that is not, then I don’t know what is. | Rep. Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 695 | B, have you got a policy going forward to where they get—people who are getting those requests for more security can pay close attention to it at some level so that we don’t lose more Americans? | Rep. Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 696 | Secretary Clinton was here to testify about what happened in Benghazi. And one of her recommendations was that we allow the State Department, when contracting for security in high-threat regions, to use a best-value contracting rather than the lowest bid. And Mr. Radel here filed a bill that many of us, I think, joined on to accomplish that. And I am wondering whether you support that. | Rep. Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 697 | As you know, the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations forms the basis for diplomatic security that is responsible for security personnel. But it is specific to protection of classified information, and it is the host community who is responsible for the security of diplomatic personnel. I am just wondering if you think it is time that the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations be changed to put a greater emphasis on security being the responsibility not of the host nation but of the nation who has representation in that country. | Rep. Higgins | D | House Foreign Affairs4/17/13 |
| 698 | Was there any indication that a terrorist attack was probable against Americans? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 699 | What was the response of other governments with embassies in Libya to the threat of the terrorist group? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 700 | And what is the American response? And has it been any different since the days of the attack? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 701 | At this late date with all the intelligence that the United States has at its disposal, do we know the persons that committed these murders? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 702 | If we do know who they are, why aren’t they in custody? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 703 | I’ve heard from journalists who have traveled to Benghazi that the identities of at least some of the attackers are known as is their whereabouts. One of them openly drank coffee every morning in the same cafe after the attack. So why has no one been brought to justice, not even at this date? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 704 | Are we afraid to arrest those who take out — who commit terrorist acts against the United States? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 705 | [RE // attack in Algeria] Why did the United States not take direct action to protect American interests and American citizens? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 706 | [RE // attack in Algeria] I’ve been told that American forces were within a few miles of the facility, ready to assist in the rescue, but were told to stand down. Is this true? And if so, why? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 707 | Why did we allow the safety of our citizens to depend on the acts of another country? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 708 | [RE // attack in Algeria] And why haven’t we responded or held anyone accountable for these murders that took place in January? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 709 | the terrorist perpetrators who were behind the Benghazi attack are still at large. What is being done to capture them? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 710 | Did we know before the attack in Benghazi, did we know before the attack in Algeria that it was going to occur? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 711 | After the attacks are over with, do we know who committed the attack in Benghazi and Algeria? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 712 | If we do know, where are those people that committed those attacks? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 713 | Excuse me, Dr. Byman, can you cut to the chase? Did we know about the attack in Algeria before it occurred? I’m talking about the United States. | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 714 | And the second question is, do we know who committed it? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 715 | And if so, have those people been apprehended? That’s the three questions regarding both places, since the time is limited. | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 716 | So had anybody in either attack been apprehended, to your knowledge? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 717 | You made a comment, Dr. Byman, that kind of irritated me, in that you said that the terrorists in North Africa look at the United States’ policy since both of these actions, Algeria and then first Benghazi, as a retreat from the area and that the United States, if I got your comments correctly, has cowardice regarding this issue. So that irritates me. Do you want to explain that word “cowardice” and what you mean by that? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 718 | [RE // attack in Algeria] My last question to all of you, do you any of you know of — whether it’s true or not that regarding Algeria that the United States had forces in the general area before the attack and right after the attack? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 719 | [RE // attack in Algeria] And lastly, Mr. Lovelady, do you have any other thing you — that your brother Victor told you that you, that you haven’t already to us, before he was killed in the plant in Algeria? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 720 | Is Libya — we turned over tens of billions of dollars of Gadhafi’s reserves to the Libyan government. Is that money being used to establish security on the ground, is it being hoarded, or is it being stolen? Anybody have a one-word answer? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 721 | Mr. Zelin, yesterday, the British Defense Ministry announced that it would train up to , Libyan troops, which is part of a broader package of defense and security assistance developed with the U.S. with France and Italy. In your testimony, you state that the U.S. should work with regional and western European allies. Will this help stabilize the deteriorating situation in Libya? Should the U.S. do more to help the Libyan government. | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 722 | Do you think — if the — so you’re saying that you don’t believe that the Algerian government saw this coming. So in essence, does that sort of vindicate our own State Department in not only Algerian but in Benghazi, that maybe they couldn’t have seen it coming, or do you think the State Department should have seen the attack in Benghazi coming? | Rep. Randy Weber Sr. | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 723 | So when there was a request for more security then that should’ve been heeded very seriously. | Rep. Randy Weber Sr. | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 724 | So given all of that, and given limitations of our intelligence and intelligence-sharing, you cited Algeria as an example, should the United States withdraw or retreat? Should we close embassies and consulates throughout the region? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 725 | So we knowingly want to stay engaged and we want to minimize risk and try to understand it, but we can’t eliminate it. Is that what you’re saying? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 726 | And therefore, sometimes we understand that diplomacy can be dangerous when you go into areas of instability or insecurity. | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 727 | With respect to the Benghazi terrorist attack, why has there been, in your judgment, so much trouble bringing the perpetrators of that to justice? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 728 | what about U.S. actions? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 729 | Why have our actions not borne any fruit thus far, given that four Americans were killed. And you know, it’s not as if these were just Americans who just kind of happened to be traveling. I mean, this was an ambassador, this was U.S. territory, in some ways. And yet, here we are. I mean, we’re coming up, it’s almost a year later and nothing. | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 730 | The fact that we haven’t brought anybody to justice, is that something that is going to likely deter future terrorist attacks? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 731 | It seems to me that they figure that they’ve gotten away with it. It’s likely to embolden more people to want to attack U.S. interests abroad. Does anyone disagree with that? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 732 | I’d like to ask the witnesses, do you know, is there any evidence of the Muslim Brotherhood, that you know of, the Muslim Brotherhood’s — Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s involvement in the attack that resulted in the death of our ambassador in Benghazi? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 733 | There is — so is there — do you folks — are you aware of a terrorist organization called Ansar al-Sharia — maybe Sharia? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 734 | And do you — so this is a known terrorist organization. The Sharia — is it Sharia? Ansar al-Sharia, is that how you pronounce it? So this is a known terrorist organization? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 735 | OK. Does — were any of the members of that cell, to your knowledge, been arrested for the attack that took our ambassador’s life in Benghazi? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 736 | Mr. Shoebat reports that six members of Ansar al-Sharia that they were arrested in Libya and presents a document that indicates that they, you know, that they were involved and that they are Egyptians, of course, and not Libyans. Have any of you heard anything about that at all? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 737 | So Mr. Shoebat, who suggests — who claims to have been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and may well have been a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, I just haven’t verified it yet — suggests that the — this terrorist organization has direct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Is that something you know about? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 738 | And one last question, Mr. Gartenstein-Ross. You alluded to the fact the United States may have a policy regarding the people who committed the Benghazi attack. What is the policy of the U.S. for the future to take those people out or to capture those people and bring them back? What is the policy if you know what it is? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 7/10/13 |
| 739 | Are you comfortable with this process that has no State Department official being held accountable in any meaningful way? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 740 | I’d like to focus on the Benghazi Accountability Review Board. And I think the administration likes to characterize that as an independent board. But was that ARB board really independent? Because the secretary of state selected four of the five members. | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 741 | The chairman of the board, Ambassador Pickering, has told congressional staff that you asked him for recommendations as to who else might serve with him on the board. Is that correct? You asked Ambassador Pickering for his recommendations as to who else might serve on the ARB board? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 742 | There’s also been reports that you played a role in selecting and assigning those department employees who staffed the board and assisted with its investigation. Did you, in fact, supervise the assignment of State employees to assist? | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 743 | I wanted your observation — support or opposition — to the measure that we are proposing in order to change the way in which ARB boards are conducted in the future. | Rep. Edward Royce | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 744 | is the State Department doing a better job, in your opinion, at protecting the men and women serving around the world in dangerous locations than it was a year ago? And explain why. What you have you learned? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 745 | Obviously, there were things — there were — things were problematic. What have we learned from our Benghazi experience that could not be repeated today because we’ve made changes? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 746 | The Pickering-Mullen panel called for the establishment of multibureau support cells when opening or reopening a post, and legislation which I introduced was included in the authorization bill passed by our committee last month reflects this procedure. Can you tell us a little bit about this? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 747 | one of those recommendations is that the diplomatic security bureau be elevated and a new undersecretary for diplomatic security be created. A similar change was approved by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright following the East Africa bombings in the late s. However, changes were not made. What do you think about this recommendation? And if a new undersecretary is not created, should the assistant secretary for diplomatic security report directly to the secretary? | Rep. Eliot Engel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 748 | Secretary Panetta has said that there was little communication with the White House and President Obama during the night of the attack. In this time of great need, was the president missing in action? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 749 | Greg Hicks, the former deputy chief of missions in Libya, testified that the administration gave a stand-down order to prevent a rescue team from going into Benghazi to help. Who gave that stand- down order? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 750 | Can you describe the coordination between the White House, Secretary Clinton and Secretary Panetta to give our personnel immediate support and assistance? Did anyone even lift a finger? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 751 | What assurances can you give us that another high-threat post, as we speak, is not currently, urgently asking for additional security, additional support and that they are being ignored as well? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 752 | What protocols are now in place to prevent this from happening again? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 753 | The ARB recommended that State establish a panel of outside, independent experts with experience in high-risk, high-threat areas to identify best practices and evaluate U.S. security platforms. What are those recommendations? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 754 | So I ask you, sir: What about the stand-down order; what was the coordination between the White House and secretaries Clinton and Panetta; and what about the implementation of the recommendations — all ? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 755 | Can you answer who gave the stand-down order? Do you have any information | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 756 | hat about the coordination between the Department of State, the White House and Secretary Panetta? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 757 | And who decided that there was no reason to help or they had no capabilities or they had no resources to help? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 758 | How long was this — did this fire fight take place, this terrorist attack? How many hours? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 759 | Was eight hours? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 760 | So seven hours plus…And so during that time? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 761 | [RE transporting military support personnel to Benghazi in time] So it would have been impossible, you’re saying? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 762 | In seven-plus hours there was nothing that we could do? So that’s the message that we’re sending to our embassies? When you’re in trouble, seven-plus hours, we’re in the s. We can’t get to you? | Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 763 | And as the department continues to implement recommendations of the ARB — I was talking — a number of diplomats seem to be worried about, well, you know, some of the new security protocols that may inhibit or limit their ability to engage with the local community, reach out to key contacts and establish much-needed relationships to do their jobs well. How can we balance the need for more security precautions and the ability of diplomats to reach the local community and do their jobs? | Rep. Gregory Meeks | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 764 | And has the department changed or implemented any new procedures in working with these host governments, because they have some responsibility for security, also — especially, how do we mitigate the risk of working in a country where there’s ongoing conflict or instability? | Rep. Gregory Meeks | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 765 | Were you or Secretary Clinton aware of the compelling need for more diplomatic security? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 766 | I asked the secretary of state a very straightforward question, and she said she — the information did not come to her attention about the security needs. Is that true? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 767 | And did you know about any of the requests — through any means, whether it be cables, conversations — about Ambassador Stevens’ requests for — and others at the embassy for more security help? Were you unaware of it? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 768 | But who knew about these requests? That’s my only question. Not what they asked for — who knew about it? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 769 | So there was no request that went unanswered, you’re saying. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 770 | Now, did the secretary of state know about any of that? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 771 | So let me just ask you — why wasn’t the senior staff and why wasn’t the secretary of state interviewed by the ARB? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 772 | So did you convey any emails or any information you might have had to the ARB, in any way? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 773 | So you were interviewed formally? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 774 | And why wouldn’t they include that? You’re listed on the list as interviewees? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 775 | Let me ask you, if I could, the deployment of foreign emergency support teams — who made that decision not to deploy? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 776 | Was there a request made, and who made the decision not to deploy? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 777 | So was a request made, and did you approve it or deny it? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 778 | Let me ask — so Mr. Ambassador, why was the CIA’s security team repeatedly ordered to stand down after the attack began | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 779 | and who made that decision? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 780 | So why weren’t assets that were in close proximity to the attack deployed to try to assist our beleaguered and now murdered ambassador? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 781 | Let me ask you a question — how many Benghazi survivors were forced to sign nondisclosure agreements? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 782 | Were people — are you aware of nondisclosure agreements, and how many are there? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 783 | Could you tell us where the Benghazi survivors are, since access to them has been very, very difficult. | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 784 | four people get censured; they apparently keep receiving a full pay for a vacation. You know, it appears — you know, there was that same scene in the fictional “Clear and Present Danger,” where the president tells — in the John (sic/Tom) Clancy novel — it’s the old Potomac two-step; people at a lower level take the hit while other people who were in the know or should have been in the know walk, and are never even interviewed. How do you respond to that? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 785 | So they got paid the whole entire time of their resignation? Where did they work? What did they do? Did they go home? Did they come to the department every day? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 786 | Now, did they initiate a review? | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 787 | They themselves, did they initiate a review? Since we’ve been unfairly pointing — you know — | Rep. Christopher Smith | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 788 | Let me just ask, Mr. Kennedy, have I got my facts right? In FY , this Congress cut $ million from the request for diplomatic security construction and maintenance? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 789 | The following fiscal year, this same Congress cut another million (dollars) from the request; is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 790 | And then, in FY , it cut million (dollars); is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 791 | And we kind of came to our senses only after the tragedy of Benghazi and restored some of those fundings and gave the State Department more flexibility in the end; is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 792 | What is the status of the Benghazi follow-up that you can share with us? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 793 | How about accountability for the terrorists who perpetrated this heinous crime and engineered the death of our four brave fellow Americans? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 794 | What about Libyan security? Part of the problem on that terrible day was, frankly, Libyan security — the responsibility of the host government kind of dissolved. What’s the status of that? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 795 | And the status of our mission in Benghazi? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 796 | Is that because of the security status? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 797 | With respect to the ARB, in your opinion, this was a rigorous and hard-hitting report; is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 798 | Did the — is there anything with respect to the recommendations and findings that the State Department is not following up on and not trying to implement? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 799 | About funding, with all due respect to my friend from Virginia, Assistant Secretary Lamb, who was responsible for making the decisions as to security level in Benghazi, testified here — and I know, because it was my question specifically — did budget considerations play any role in the decision as to what level security would be at in Benghazi? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 800 | I’m going to go through some questions for you. You know, was there an autopsy conducted on Ambassador Stevens’ body? Yes or no? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 801 | Was that autopsy — when there are homicides committed against American citizens, are those autopsies then permitted to be made public to, for example, congressional investigations? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 802 | Right now, if there is an autopsy, is that being kept from congressional investigators? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 803 | When you talk about military units not being dispatched, that there was no stand-down order and they were — but they weren’t sent because there wasn’t enough time — let me put you on the — let me put myself on the record on this point. And that is, no one knew how long this attack was going to exist and go on. We didn’t know — how long would this attack last? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 804 | You keep saying our military team was not ordered to stand down. Were there other American government employees, perhaps of the CIA, in Benghazi at that time who could have gone to our ambassador’s assistance? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 805 | Were they ordered to stand down? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 806 | And apparently those two Navy SEALs that got there were ordered not to go. Is that correct? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 807 | So there was no stand-down order even to CIA personnel who were there. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 808 | OK, now, who made the choice to create this fictitious narrative that it was a demonstration that got out of hand and not a terrorist attack? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 809 | Who created that narrative? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 810 | And as those recommendations are being implemented and those tasks are being completed, are there any things that we can, Congress can do, to facilitate the implementation of those recommendations? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 811 | Or are you — are there any obstacles presently in the way that we should respond to to be sure that the work you are doing, the department is doing to implement those, can continue appropriately? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 812 | So this notion that resourcing is important in keeping our diplomatic corps safe is something that was identified in the report. Correct? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 813 | the department is obviously operating in very high-risk, high-threat locations all over the world with — including places with a lack of clearly defined and capable security support from host nations and all of the problems that arise from that. And this raises security risks for our diplomatic corps and development experts, but also imposes particular strains on our existing resources. And should we as a Congress begin to think differently, working with the executive, about ways that we plan and appropriately manage these requirements sort of in the changing landscape of the really high-risk, high-threat locations that we now serve all around the world? | Rep. David Cicilline | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 814 | Now, no one will argue who was directly to blame for the attacks that resulted in the deaths of those four Americans. But as the ARB and numerous congressional hearings revealed, there are other people who need to be held accountable for the fact that the terrorist attacks succeeded. But by the language of this letter, does the — does the State Department really want us to believe that the department’s bureaucracy could have done nothing more to protect our diplomats? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 815 | Do you believe Secretary Clinton has been held truly accountable for failures under her watch? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 816 | But that’s not what I asked. I asked you if you thought that Secretary Clinton has been truly held accountable, yes or no? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 817 | Where’s the accountability, though? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 818 | Now, let me get this straight — and I know this has been covered before, but I think it’s very important: The only disciplinary action meted out to the four who failed in the performance of their duties was being put on administrative leave for awhile, then reassigned to other positions within the State Department. Now, their benefits as federal employees continued during that time. Of course, they are going to be subject to “Obamacare,” so arguably, that benefit is worse. And they haven’t missed a paycheck. Is that about right? | Rep. Steve Chabot | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 819 | Who decided that Ambassador Stevens go to Benghazi on September th, ? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 820 | Now, was Secretary Clinton responsible in any way for reviewing and approving the in-country movements of U.S. ambassadors — either Ambassador Stevens or anyone else? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 821 | Now, did the ambassador, when he went to Benghazi, have a normal security detail in accordance with the State Department procedures and rules at that time? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 822 | Benghazi was a diplomatic post, not an embassy, right? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 823 | Is it even possible to provide the same kind of security at a temporary mission facility as we try to provide at our embassies? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 824 | Was there any money that was appropriated for the purposes of approving that post that was unspent at that time? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 825 | Now, with regard to the attack itself, approximately how long was it between the time that the attack began and the time of the ambassador’s unfortunate death? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 826 | Now, was there any kind of military force — substantial U.S. military force — close enough to even engage the attackers within that -minute period? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 827 | Was there any force — even if there’d been more time — that could’ve rescued the ambassador, given the actual situation on the ground as it was? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 828 | Did the White House ever ignore any reports regarding this attack? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 829 | Did Secretary Clinton ever ignore any reports regarding this attack? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 830 | If you had been the president of the United States on that night, would you have done anything different? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 831 | Regarding the Accountability Review Board report, did the Accountability Review Board find Secretary Clinton in any way liable for any kind of misconduct? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 832 | Did the board find the president liable for any kind of misconduct? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 833 | Was it, in fact, within their powers to have done so if they felt that that were the case? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 834 | Ambassador, are you familiar with the term “second guessing”? Have you heard that term before? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 835 | What about the term “/ hindsight”? Have you heard that term before? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 836 | And how about the term “Monday morning quarterbacking”? Have you heard that term before? | Rep. Alan Grayson | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 837 | At a Senate hearing previously, you acknowledged that you denied an extension of a -person security support team, SST; is that correct? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 838 | Given this testimony, what justification do you have for the denial of the extension of the security support team given the commander and regional security officer’s belief that the team was a necessity? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 839 | Additionally, I am very appreciative that Chairman Ed Royce has introduced an Accountability Review Board Reform Act of , H.R. It’s for effectiveness for future accountability review boards. What is the State Department view of Chairman Royce’s bill? | Rep. Joe Wilson | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 840 | My first question is this — and you’ve answered it largely. We did have four lives that were lost, four American heroes. And you said that we were doing everything that we could to catch the perpetrators because the perpetrators here really are the terrorists. What can you tell us today that’s unclassified that we’re doing to try to catch them because that’s, I think, where the American people are? What are we doing to catch these murderers? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 841 | [RE Ambassador Pickering] There’s been a lot of criticism of the ARB. Could you criticize or not criticize him or this ARB report? Because I find it somewhat interesting, since he was — I don’t know if he was a Republican or Democrat — but he seemed to be appointed mostly by Republicans. | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 842 | But do you think that Ambassador Pickering, then, is — was not up to the task here? Is there some reason why you would criticize him and say that they picked the wrong person, this person is not capable of doing a proper ARB? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 843 | Is he deceitful? Is he underhanded? Is he sly? Is he any of these other things? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 844 | Let’s go to Admiral Mullen. And Admiral Mullen, do you think he was someone that was competent to serve on this board? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 845 | Do you think he’s underhanded, deceitful, sly, in any way trying to cover up here? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 846 | Why do you say that? | Rep. Juan Vargas | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 847 | Finally, August th, a classified cable after an emergency meeting with the ambassador — an extraordinary, not ordinary event — another request for additional security, saying the embassy could not withstand a coordinated attack. This final cry was not answered. Did you receive that cable — the August th cable, sir? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 848 | Did you move on in the affirmative, or did you decline that request? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 849 | Was additional security provided on that day — weeks before the September th attack. | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 850 | Do you know if Secretary Clinton saw this cable? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 851 | Let me ask you, (sir ?), about a security waiver on September th. Security at the consulate was deemed high on the State Department’s threat list, but yet it didn’t meet the minimum security standards as required by the Congress under the Secure Embassies (sic; Embassy) Construction and Counterterrorism Act. Somebody at the State Department waived these standards, known as the Inman standards, for our presence in Benghazi. Do you know who waived those standards? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 852 | I’ve talked to sources on the ground that fateful day; when the Marines were deployed from Rota Spain into Tripoli and were asked to deplane and change into civilian clothing, and that that mission was delayed by several hours — first of all, why wasn’t this plane with Marines that could respond possibly in a timely manner sent to Benghazi? Why wasn’t that done? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 853 | And then secondly, since it was sent to Tripoli, why was it delayed by hours so that they could deplane and change into civilian clothing? | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 854 | So if the plane had gone from — straight from Rota to Benghazi, in the eight hour span of the attack, you’re saying to me that they could not have responded in a timely manner. | Rep. Michael McCaul | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 855 | Mr. Ambassador, I was wondering if you might be able to enlighten me — I believe the ARB process was — began in after legislation was passed, is that right? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 856 | And sir, do you know how many ARBs have been convened since then? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 857 | And sir, if we’re going with that figure, how many of those were under Republican presidents? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 858 | The figure sound OK? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 859 | And sir, do you have any idea during the course of this time of any major reform efforts that were done — initiated by Congress — of the ARB process? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 860 | So — now, sir, if I can, turning to the witnesses — there’s been a number of questions today about which witnesses were and weren’t called to — did you have any influence over which witnesses were called to testify over the ARB process? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 861 | Did Secretary Clinton have any influence over who was called to testify, for that process? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 862 | Did the administration attempt to influence that process in any way? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 863 | Now, moving forward, you had mentioned — and it’s been referenced several times today — different recommendations that the ARB found and recommended to the State Department to try to implement. And you’ve broken that down to, I believe it was different actions steps. Which — given that the focus I believe should be, going forward, what can be done to protect our diplomats, as we are asking them to represent the United States in continuing — or in continually volatile areas of the world, what are the highlights — where are — should we be focused, if it’s — where should Congress be focused, excuse me, if it financially — well, where should those resources be directed? If it’s through policy, what are those policies? | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 864 | Mr. Ambassador, is there a way — I see in your testimony that you indicated that such an embassy could take up to four years to site, plan, construct and finish. Is there ways that we can speed that process up? Is that delayed because of bureaucracy? Is it delayed — trying to spend four years to build an embassy seems like a long time. | Rep. Joe Kennedy | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 865 | Well, after a year, we can’t find these people but yet a CNN reporter can go to Benghazi at a hotel, at a coffee shop and have coffee with the suspected ringleader of this who’s been indicted by our government? Maybe the FBI ought to just ask the CNN reporter: How did you get a hold of this guy? You know, why don’t we bring him back? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 866 | Do you believe Ansar al-Sharia was responsible for the attack on the Benghazi mission? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 867 | [Ansar al-Sharia] do you think they were involved? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 868 | [Ansar al-Sharia] You’re the guy that should know. Do you think they were involved or not? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 869 | Do you think Ansar al-Sharia should be named as a foreign terrorist organization? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 870 | You haven’t thought about that. | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 871 | Well, it would seem like you’d want to know what group was involved, and it doesn’t make any difference to you. But you do believe it was terrorists that were involved in this murder? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 872 | And you — you’ll get back with me on whether you think the Ansar al-Sharia should be a — | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 873 | You are aware, of course, on September the th, our time, they claimed responsibility for this the next day, the next morning? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 874 | Did not — did the ARB not — did they conclude that no individual had breached their duty? Was that a finding? | Rep. Lois Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 875 | And I don’t want anyone to forget — and I think we all understand that the responsibility — the sole responsibility, as ARB said, for this attack was on terrorists; is that correct? | Rep. Lois Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 876 | I think you told Mr. Grayson that Mr. Stevens could move freely about in Benghazi in order to do — he was moving freely about in order to do his job. | Rep. Lois Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 877 | And of course an attack could have taken place out in the field. | Rep. Lois Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 878 | my final question to you is just what have we learned from this that helps us assess when the conditions are just too dangerous for a diplomat to remain? | Rep. Lois Frankel | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 879 | One question, Mr. Ambassador — has any State Department employees ever been asked to sign nondisclosure agreements after the Benghazi attack? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 880 | So you don’t know whether they have or they haven’t. | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 881 | So that’s a — that’s a foreign concept to you — nondisclosure agreements with the State Department? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 882 | [RE Non-disclosure agreements] No classified or non-classified? | Rep. Ted Poe | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 883 | What was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi on September? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 884 | Did he have dinner or a meeting with the Turkish officials? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 885 | What was the substance of those meetings? Was it funneling arms from the Libyan rebels to the Syrian fighters through Turkey? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 886 | A great impact on regional security has been the proliferation of shoulder-fired missiles or MANPADS — man-portable air defense systems — leaking out of Libya since weapons depots were heavily looted during Libya fighting. Out of Libya’s , MANPADS inventory, how many are accounted for today? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 887 | How many have been recovered under that mission going on in Benghazi? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 888 | And how many were stored in Benghazi that ultimately fell into the hands of the Libyan rebels and possibly al-Qaida? Can you answer that question? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 889 | The question that I have is who knew what and when. You’re familiar with the term (NOE ?), sir? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 890 | For the committee, that is a secure telephone conference call system between major Washington national security watch centers. It’s used for rapid evaluation of a breaking crisis. Was there a (NOE ?) initiated by the State Department on or prior to September ‘? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 891 | Is it true that you required a daily report of the personnel in country and that you personally approved every official American who went to Tripoli or Benghazi, either on official business or assignment or a TDY? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 892 | But did you require a daily report on all the personnel in country? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 893 | So my question is, do you require that for every country or was this an obsession with Libya at that point in time? | Rep. Jeff Duncan | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 894 | Has the Libyan government authorized us to take kinetic action against terrorists in Benghazi if we believe that they are responsible for the death of Ambassador Stevens? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 895 | [RE above question] Can you give me a yes or a no? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 896 | I think we’re — as I understand it, Ambassador Stevens was not just the authorized ambassador. He was probably, in the State Department, the person most knowledgeable about Libya. Is that generally correct? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 897 | Was there any pressure on Ambassador Stevens to go to Benghazi, or to go to Benghazi knowing the number of security personnel that he would be taking with him? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 898 | And then we’re told nobody paid a price for the decision to take that risk. I think Ambassador Stevens paid a price for his heroism. And it’s very hard for me to say that there was anybody outside Libya who made the decision or should have been making the decision as to whether Ambassador Stevens went to Benghazi that day. Do you have a comment on that? | Rep. Brad Sherman | D | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 899 | Are you familiar with Aviano Air Base, sir? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 900 | Now, the question on the SST — you made the decision to terminate the SST, I believe, and that was as of August Now, you testified today, I believe, that there was a replacement to the SST. Correct? So that was not a loss of capacity. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 901 | And they were based out of Tripoli. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 902 | Ultimately responded to Benghazi. So was there movement during the attacks from the replacement team to Benghazi? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 903 | And how did they get there? Did they charter an aircraft? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 904 | Didn’t we have a DC- that they could have hopped on? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 905 | [RE DC- no longer in Tripoli] Why not? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 906 | But our prior SST would have utilized that DC- Correct? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 907 | Who would have? Who’s flying that? Not who’s flying it, but what are we using it for? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 908 | So we had to — but we had to charter an aircraft to get that replacement team into Benghazi. How long did that take? Do you know? | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 909 | OK, it took “x” amount of time. But they were able to respond in time, and — or they were able to respond, definitely not probably in time. | Rep. Adam Kinzinger | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 910 | [RE ” am phone call” commercial] You remember that, Mr. Ambassador? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 911 | Who didn’t answer that call that night? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 912 | Who didn’t keep Mary Stevens — that’s Chris Stevens’ mother — mother’s son safe? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 913 | Are you convinced that we’ve gotten to the bottom of who’s accountable? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 914 | Are you prepared — would you like the task of going to Mary Stevens and explaining to her that four people getting reassigned is paying a price? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 915 | Who didn’t send Marine security guards into Benghazi? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 916 | [RE DoD had personnel only for Marine Security detatchments and there are posts] Do you think that that’s an acceptable explanation to Ms. Mary Stevens? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 917 | On page nine, you also said, regarding the ARB recommendations — and I’m quoting you — “The department has created a deputy assistant secretary for high-threat posts,” end quote. And then you intimate who undoubtedly will send Marines. Well, if you’ve created — if the ARB has asked for a new post, whose responsibility was that before Benghazi happened? If we’ve created a post just to do that, whose responsibility was that? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 918 | So in the report you agreed with the fact that there are those who were held — you say they were held accountable — I call it a reassignment. I don’t recall your question — was anybody denied pay or benefits, of those four? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 919 | You said that the ARB report — and I know they said this; and I’m quoting what you said here today — is that no one had a breach of duty…Yet you just sat there and retestified that security was everyone’s responsibility. What’s the difference between responsibility and duty? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 920 | So there was a breach of duty, then | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 921 | There was not a breach of duty, in your opinion. | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 922 | you would be OK explaining that to Mary Stevens? | Rep. Randy Weber | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 923 | Ambassador, thank you for being here. You are in an important position. I’m sure you’re busy. You are the secretary for management, correct? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 924 | Would you help a friend if you — a friend were in trouble? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 925 | Do you read your emails when a crisis situation is occurring? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 926 | Should the State Department, excepting issues of national security or operational security or classified information, be generally transparent? Should the Department of State be generally transparent, excepting those issues? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 927 | And should foreign service or military service members have an expectation that the U.S. government is going to do everything it can to ensure their personal safety? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 928 | So when did you know, based on solid intelligence, that the rhetoric your agency and the administration was telling the American people and the world was incorrect? When did you know that? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 929 | Well, they went on for weeks, so can you be specific? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 930 | I’m holding up an — and I’m sure you won’t recognize this, first of all — you’re far away, with all due respect. But second of all, this is a transcribed copy of an email, in which you were included. And it is as of :, so a quarter to :, on the th — so a day later — in which Ansar al-Sharia is noted by Secretary — Assistant Secretary Beth Jones. So at that point, if your — per your testimony, you knew by that afternoon, since you read your emails at the end of the day, to be sure, that you knew at that point. What did you do | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 931 | What did you do? What did you do? You’re a manager. What did you personally do to set the ship straight on the talking points and the message that was going out to the American people and the world? What did you do? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 932 | Why must this committee transcribe — this is an email to you; it’s not an email (form ?) — why must we transcribe all the information that we get? Why must — why can’t we get it, and get copies of it? We’ll make the copies of it. Why can’t we? Why must we subpoena it? Why aren’t you forthcoming, you personally? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 933 | And what was your answer? What are you doing about it? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 934 | But you’re in a position of managing. What are you going to do? Instead of taking the question, what are you going to do to answer it, right now? | Rep. Scott Perry | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 935 | Could you tell me about the — we know that the four people are relieved of their senior position. They essentially get reassigned somewhere else. Can you tell me what — you’ve got Ray, Eric, Scott, Charlene who are the four here. What are they doing today? | Rep. Trey Radel | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 936 | So these undoubtedly, unquestionably are not higher seniority levels, but — correct? | Rep. Trey Radel | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 937 | And quickly, with Mr. Raymond Maxwell, why — I don’t under-stand why he gets put on administrative leave when his duties do not include any review, approval or even formations of recommendations regarding security resources in Libya. Why is this? How does this guy fit in? | Rep. Trey Radel | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 938 | Deputy chief of mission for Embassy Tripoli, Gregory Hicks, stated that Secretary Clinton wanted Benghazi converted to a permanent constituent post. Ambassador Pickering, when he was asked by the ARB and when this was discussed, he kind of looked surprised, looked both ways, does the seventh floor know about this? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 939 | And again, with Ambassador Stevens making multiple requests for security and being denied, in lieu of this report that looks in the past, so that we don’t make those same reports again, would you agree that we should have probably questioned higher up in the chain of command? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 940 | Do you think that the ARB should have questioned higher up? That’s the question. Yes or no? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 941 | Who do you report to directly? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 942 | So is it fair to say that you are accountable to the secretary? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 943 | As the undersecretary for management, you’re responsible for the people, resources, budget, facilities, technology, financial operations, consular affairs, logistics, contracting, and security for the Department of State operations and as the secretary’s principal adviser on management issues. Is that correct? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 944 | The people under you report directly to you, correct? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 945 | You oversee their day-to-day operations? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 946 | They are accountable — and you said that’s correct. If they fail in their job description and it affects your department’s, say, mission objective, would that ultimately be your responsibility? Yes or no. | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 947 | Would it be a sign of lack of management? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 948 | Would it be a lack of failure of your job and responsibility? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 949 | Since you stated that you report directly to the secretary, and if you fail at your job due to your subordinates, you’re saying it’s not necessarily your superior’s fault either? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 950 | The reports I have, and when I was present with this committee and we interviewed Ms. Clinton, she stated that she requested personally for Ambassador Stevens to come to this post, to take this assignment. Are you aware of that? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 951 | The reports I have said that the embassy in Benghazi was understaffed and under protected by the standards at the time. Is that correct? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 952 | the reports I read said that Ambassador Stevens said there were increased tensions between the personnel and local Benghazi population. That’s correct, isn’t it? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 953 | Reports also stated that Ambassador Stevens had requested increased security on more than one occasion, correct? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 954 | Reports said that the requests for increased security was turned down each time and we know that’s correct. Who turned those down, do you know? | Rep. Ted Yoho | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 955 | So I’d like to refocus our attention on these four people that you say they’ve lost their titles. But let me be clear: They have not lost any money or any benefits, yes or no? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 956 | Were there any adverse — adverse, other than title changes and post changes — were there any adverse personnel actions that were taken against these four people that, according to the ARB, were systemically involved in mismanagement? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 957 | Did any adverse actions happen to those two people, other than title changes? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 958 | Yes or no? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 959 | I understand in your opinion a title change is a big deal, but we’re talking about people — four dead Americans. So let’s look at it — anything other than that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 960 | You mentioned the consideration of other posts and you mentioned two people. It’s troubling for me to start to hear reports of where these two people are being considered for very high-profile secure posts overseas. And knowing that the State Department takes about months to go through that, it means that that review process had to have started while they were on administrative leave. Are you aware of that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 961 | So are you aware that they’re being considered for high-profile secure positions overseas? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 962 | Yes or no? Are you aware? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 963 | Are you aware that they’re being considered for high-profile, secure positions overseas? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 964 | It’s either a yes or a no. Are you aware? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 965 | I don’t want a narrative. Are you aware, yes or no? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 966 | Are you willing to report back to this committee within days to make us aware — and I’m assuming from your response that you wouldn’t be supportive of any high-profile posting for these two individuals; is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 967 | You would not be supportive of that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 968 | A high- profile post, overseas — that’s what I’ve asking about. So you are supportive of it? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 969 | [RE bonuses] It now appears that either you or Secretary Clinton have made a decision not to disclose those; is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 970 | So you will be glad to support it because it’s been suggested that some of these people in the ARB got bonuses and that now we’re not disclosing it because it would look bad. You’re not aware of that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 971 | So who made the decision, you or Secretary Clinton, to not be transparent with regard to bonuses? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 972 | Do you know the word “stonewalling”? | Rep. Steve Stockman | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 973 | Do you know the word “cover-up”? | Rep. Steve Stockman | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 974 | Do you know the word “scandal”? | Rep. Steve Stockman | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 975 | How many government employees, including the agency and State Department, et cetera — how many federal government employees were in Benghazi the night of the attack. | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 976 | To your knowledge, has any of these — because we have been told — there are a number of figures out there in terms of maybe up to people, people present, many of — some of whom — or many of whom had skills enough to be engaged in defending our ambassador and preventing that attack or at least thwarting it. Have any of those people — those who were there — of course, you can’t tell us how many — have any of them been asked not to cooperate with congressional or media inquiries or to take lie detector tests? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 977 | Do you have any knowledge of any of those people who were on the scene — now, you can’t tell us how many they were, but you know they were there. Have any of them been told not to cooperate with a congressional investigation? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 978 | Why isn’t the CIA and — why aren’t they the ones doing this investigation? Why is it the FBI? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 979 | [RE FBI responsibility for investigating any killing of American overseas] Sole — it gives them the sole responsibility? | Rep. Dana Rohrabacher | R | House Foreign Affairs 9/18/13 |
| 980 | We’ve received memoranda from other senior Department of Defense officials laying out steps that would have to be taken if sequestration is not avoided. Can you give us a time table? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 981 | Can you tell us first of all whether or not these actions would be reversible if in fact we avoid sequestration in a — say, a week from now or two weeks from now? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 982 | do you echo the president’s call for a balanced approach to avoid sequestration to include both spending cuts and additional revenues? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 983 | The National Military Command Center — let me get my timer going here — at the Pentagon, after it received the initial reports of the incident from the State Department, notified the Office of the Secretary of Defense and Joint Staff. This information quickly passed onto the two of you. Is that — is that correct? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 984 | Did you have any conversation, either one of you, with General Ham, reading the security situation in North Africa prior to these attacks, the subject of today? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 985 | Did he ever request additional assets there, Mr. Secretary? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 986 | The — a Washington Post columnist said that the president had a briefing with the Principals Committee to review the threats and the mitigation of the threats. This would have been the day before. And the Principals Committee, it’s my understanding, is made up of the secretary of defense, secretary of state, director of national intelligence and some others. Were the two of you at this hearing or this meeting? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 987 | What was the assessment of the threat in Libya at the time of this principals committee meeting, either one of you? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 988 | About an hour and minutes after the first attack on Benghazi at the compound, Secretary Panetta, you and Chairman Dempsey were at the White House for a prescheduled meeting on a different topic at that time, and I think that’s when Tom Donilon came in and informed all of you and the president about what happened in Benghazi. Is that about the right time frame? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 989 | The other definition that I’d want in terms is either these two attacks or one or the other would be classified as a spontaneous eruption of violence or a planned terrorist attack. […] Chairman Dempsey, at the time of the meeting at the White House — took place about : — would you have — how would you have characterized the attack on the — or either one of you, on the compound — not the annex, the compound? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 990 | It could have been either one, couldn’t it? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 991 | I have to ask you the same question about the annex. Wouldn’t you agree that that was a preplanned terrorist attack, unequivocally? […] do you agree, Mr. Secretary, that it was unequivocally a terrorist attack on the annex? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 992 | There were, as you point out in your testimony, two attacks, one on the compound, one on the annex. But as the time chart indicates, there seems to be a significant gap between the first attack on the annex at midnight and the deployment of mortars and RPGs. Did that indicate to either of you that this — it took a while for them to sort of organize themselves to conduct a full-blown attack on the annex; that in fact it was something akin, General Dempsey, to one of a meeting engagement, where they’ve seized an opportunity and then they quickly fill in and supplement their firepower to get a much more coordinated attack, suggesting there was a degree of improvisation here as well as planning? | Sen. Jack Reed | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 993 | Was it — both the timing of the attack suggests — and it’s very difficult to sort out which degree not only of planning but improvisation. Is that a fair judgment? | Sen. Jack Reed | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 994 | Going forward, Secretary Panetta, you have already indicated that you’re going to augment embassy security personnel with additional Marine forces. And you also point out, which I think was not entirely apparent before this attack, that the Marines’ major mission was really not — was in general security and protection of classified documents. […] And now you’re talking about an enhanced mission. Can you suggest some aspects of this enhanced mission? | Sen. Jack Reed | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 995 | Another related aspect of this issue is that clearly, even with this expanded role, that security at diplomatic missions is the responsibility of the — of the State Department and the resources for that, other than the Marine presence, are State Department resources. And those resources, in your view, to complement what you’re doing, should be enhanced, Mr. Secretary? | Sen. Jack Reed | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 996 | Can you indicate the current posture of sort of the — what General Ham has available, understanding it’s a big AO, long distances, and if you don’t have adequate intelligence, it’s hard to even preposition resources to react? But what have you been doing to help? | Sen. Jack Reed | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 997 | for you to testify before this committee that they were consistent with available threat estimates is simply false, that our military was appropriately responsive. What would have been an inappropriate response, since the — any forces — no forces arrived there until well after these murders took place and obviously your capabilities allowed you to be positioned to intervene very shortly? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 998 | I’ll be glad to hear your response, General Dempsey, as to how the available threat estimates you were informed by — how our military was appropriately responsive, since seven people — since four people died seven hours later, with the thousands of — hundreds of airplanes, ships, planes and men and women who were serving available in that part of the world, and how did you do what your posture and capabilities allowed. | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 999 | Did you ever get the message that said they could not withstand a sustained attack on the consulate? […] Did you receive that information? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1000 | (Did you ever get the message that said they could not withstand a sustained attack on the consulate? […] Did you receive that information?) GEN. DEMPSEY: I did. And I saw — SEN. MCCAIN: So it didn’t bother you. | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1001 | Then why didn’t you put forces […] in place to be ready to respond? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1002 | You never heard of Ambassador Stevens’ repeated warnings about the lack of security. | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1003 | Who would you blame? […] Who IS responsible, then? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1004 | GEN. DEMPSEY: […] I would also say, Senator, I was also concerned at that time with Sena’a and Yemen, Khartoum, Islamabad, Peshawar, Kabul, Baghdad. We had some pretty significant intel threat streams against those places, as well. SEN. MCCAIN: I’ve seen some of those estimates, and none of them rose to the level of the threat in Ben-ghazi. Did they rise to that level, that they could not withstand a sustained attack? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1005 | They did? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1006 | Well, so, basically you’re saying what our postures and — our capabilities allowed, you did what our capabilities allowed. We didn’t have the capability to station forces a short — go to Souda Bay, Crete? […] Didn’t we have those capabilities? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1007 | I would ask again both of you what I asked you last March when , citizens of Syria had been killed. It’s now up to , How many more have to die before you recommend military action? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1008 | did you support the recommendation by Secretary of State — then Secretary of State Clinton and then head of CIA General Petraeus that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria? Did you support that? | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1009 | (did you support the recommendation by Secretary of State — then Secretary of State Clinton and then head of CIA General Petraeus that we provide weapons to the resistance in Syria? Did you support that?) SEC. PANETTA: We did. SEN. MCCAIN: You did support that. GEN. DEMPSEY: We did. | Sen. John McCain | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1010 | So again, turning to Africa, I know that we’ve conducted training and developed partnerships with a number of Africa militaries for years. I think it’s in North Africa as well as in the Sahel. Talk a little bit about those training relationships, those formal ties and how they’re going to help us deny extremists the opportunities to develop footholds in that part of the world. | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1011 | specifically, should we be expanding training missions like Operation Flintlock or building other DOD/State Department partnership programs in the AFRICOM (AOR ?)? | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1012 | Mr. Secretary, would you — are you suggesting, I should say, that part of what we done in Somalia and what we see developing in these other countries is, by focusing on resource shortages, creating more educational opportunities, using smart power, if you will, we’re seeing some success — it’s conditional success, but what’s happening in Somalia gives us hope that there’s further utility for these approaches? | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1013 | Could I turn, since you’re here — and I know this is on everybody’s mind — to sequestration? Would you lay out your thoughts — General, your — specifically in particular to — if we allow sequestration to take hold, would that require fundamental change in our national military strategy? | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1014 | General Dempsey, if I could follow up on the secretary’s general analysis of where we are, we’re talking about increasing the number of Marine security personnel at our embassies. If sequestration went into effect, how would that affect our other missions? | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1015 | what I hear you implying in that answer is that we’re going to right back to a -to-, or a -to- even, ops tempo for our men and women in uniform? | Sen. Mark Udall | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1016 | Would you consider this incident to be an intelligence failure? […] General Dempsey, what — how would you respond as to whether or not this was an intelligence failure? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1017 | Well, to both of you, if you had had intelligence that there was a storm brewing among this group of individuals, however we characterize them, with respect to an attack at some point in time on that facility in Benghazi, obviously you’d been prepared for it. Is that a fair statement? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1018 | You’re familiar with the timeline that’s on that chart over there, and suffice it to say that there were attacks on the embassy — or, excuse me, on the compound beginning in March of There were a series of other attacks on Western assets, both U.S., Red Cross, U.K. Was the president aware of that timeline of all of those incidents that occurred? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1019 | You’re familiar with the timeline that’s on that chart over there, and suffice it to say that there were attacks on the embassy — or, excuse me, on the compound beginning in March of There were a series of other attacks on Western assets, both U.S., Red Cross, U.K. […] Were each of you aware of each of those incidents that had occurred? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1020 | GEN. DEMPSEY: Yeah, we were. The — every week, General Ham sends a report to the secretary of de-fense on events in his area of responsibility, and he copies me. And he had been tracking the security situ-ation in Libya. SEN. CHAMBLISS: And would that report not go to the president? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1021 | But would you not have discussions with the president about hot spots around the world and what was going on? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1022 | Well, do you know of any other place in the world, General Dempsey, where this number of attacks had occurred over this period of time? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1023 | Where else outside of Afghanistan, outside of Iraq, have we had weapons fired on a compound where we had a U.K. armored vehicle attack, where we had a bomb thrown over the compound wall, where we had a U.N. special envoy attack, where we had RPG attacks and so forth and so on? Where outside of Afghanistan would that have happened? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1024 | We had that at our embassy at Yemen? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1025 | So what response have you made in Yemen? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1026 | You are the chairman of the Joint Chiefs. You knew what was happening in Benghazi. You failed to respond in a way that provided security to that particular United States mission complex when apparently you did respond in a positive way in Yemen, you say. Am I correct in that? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1027 | you said early, in response to Senator McCain, that you were aware of the August cable from Ambassador Stevens in which he said security at Benghazi is not adequate. Am I correct? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1028 | GEN. DEMPSEY: General Ham actually called the embassy to see if they wanted to extend the special security team there and was said — and was told no. SEN. CHAMBLISS: Well, why was that the case? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1029 | And who was it that said we do not need additional security at Benghazi to General Ham? | Sen. Saxby Chambliss | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1030 | How can we help fulfill our promise to the American people that we’ll — since we can’t come to this — I hope we can; I hope we avoid it. But if we don’t, is there language we could give you-all to live with the amount of sequestering that the cuts will bring? | Sen. Joe Manchin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1031 | This is the least amount of drawdown postwar that we have asked for, but it seems to be doing the most damage. I think you were telling me the timing of it is hitting you harder than anything else. […] Is that correct? | Sen. Joe Manchin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1032 | If I can move on to General Dempsey, General, my question is what is happening in Mali right now, if you can give me a little oversight on that? | Sen. Joe Manchin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1033 | And when we look at Mali, are there any lessons from Benghazi that can be applied to our security posture there? | Sen. Joe Manchin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1034 | Secretary Panetta, after / we undertook a whole-of-government approach to making sure our intelligence systems are integrated. And I guess, can you tell me if something has gone wrong there, and did we miss something? […] did something break down, sir, that we could repair? | Sen. Joe Manchin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1035 | I wanted to follow up, General Dempsey, on — as I understand it, you receive briefings from General Ham that would include intelligence reporting as well as the reports from the State Department. And you received those regarding the situation in Libya, including the information about the prior attacks within Benghazi, including those on our consulate. Is that right? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1036 | And so as the ARB found, as well as the — HSGAC did a report on this as well, and — but the ARB had said that there was a clear and vivid picture of a rapidly deteriorating threat environment in eastern Libya. Would you agree with that? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1037 | One of the things you had said is that — Secretary — that you were aware that Ambassador Stevens, of his cable that said that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack. Is that right? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1038 | And you said that the State Department didn’t request assistance, is that right? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1039 | Did you ever bring that to the attention of Secretary Clinton? I mean, this is a pretty — a pretty surprising and shocking, important cable to receive from an ambassador that where our people are housed could not withstand a coordinated attack. Did you ever speak with Secretary Clinton about that? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1040 | I just would add my straightforward question — I think — and particular to both of you is — particular to General Dempsey — you said you were aware of the cable; did you ever bring it to Secretary Clinton’s attention given that it said from her ambassador that the consulate could not withstand a coordinated attack, yes or no? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1041 | It’s a pretty important cable. And you said you were also aware of the deteriorating security situation. […] But you did not bring it to Secretary Clinton? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1042 | It’s a pretty important cable. And you said you were also aware of the deteriorating security situation. […] Did you ever bring it to the president’s attention, either of you? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1043 | Let me — based on the deteriorating security situation, we have this map that has the potential military bases in the area. As I understand it, we have F-s at Aviano, is that true? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1044 | Were they deployed that night? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1045 | (Were they deployed that night?) GEN. DEMPSEY: They were not. SEN. AYOTTE: Why not? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1046 | Secretary Panetta, you said that you were in a briefing with the president of the United States. I believe it was about :, our time. And you had just learned about the incident on the consulate. What conversation did you have with the president? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1047 | What did he ask you to do as a result of this attack? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1048 | And throughout the night what communications were you having with him? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1049 | And can you tell us on a — on a timeline as to who was calling the shots there, if it wasn’t him, another member of the White House? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1050 | Did he ask you how long it would take to deploy assets, including armed aviation to the area? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1051 | Did you have any — so he didn’t ask you what ability to had in the area and what we could do? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1052 | Did you have any further communications with him that night? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1053 | Did you have any further communications — did he ever call you that night to say, how are things going; what’s going on; where’s the consulate? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1054 | Did you communicate with anyone else at the White House that night? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1055 | No one else called you to say, how are things going? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1056 | And since then, has the president asked you, why weren’t we able to get, in light of the second attack that occurred seven hours later, armed assets there in order to help those who were left and attacked in the annex? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1057 | But just to be clear, that night he didn’t ask you what assets we had available and how quickly they could respond […] and what we could do to help those individuals there? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1058 | And there was no follow up during the night, at least from the White House directly? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1059 | But no direct communication from him? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1060 | That day, September , , witnessed demonstrations in other countries that were part of the Arab Spring, countries that were supported — that we supported the voices of democracy. But throughout these countries, we continue to see jihadists and fundamentalist movements align against us and against our interests, and perhaps funded by some of the Gulf countries. What leverage would you — what leverage should we be using with the Gulf governments to address the support for groups that threaten our security? | Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1061 | Your testimony, as I understand it, Secretary Panetta, that you talked to the president of the United States one time. | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1062 | (Your testimony, as I understand it, Secretary Panetta, that you talked to the president of the United States one time.) SEC. PANETTA: I talked to him on September th with regards to the fact that we were aware this attack was taking place. SEN. GRAHAM: One time. SEC. PANETTA: Right. | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1063 | What time did you tell him that? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1064 | General Dempsey, did you ever talk to the president of the United States at all? […] Did you talk to the president? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1065 | You talked to him how many times. | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1066 | How long did the conversation last? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1067 | So you talked to him for minutes, one time, and you never talked to him again, either one of you. | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1068 | (So you talked to him for minutes, one time, and you never talked to him again, either one of you.) GEN. DEMPSEY: Until afterwards. SEN. LINDSEY: Until after the attack was over. GEN. DEMPSEY: That’s right. | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1069 | Were there any AC- gunships within a thousand miles of Benghazi, Libya? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1070 | Were there any AC- gunships within , miles of Benghazi, Libya? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1071 | You said the F- was not a good platform to defend the consulate. What would have been the appropriate platform? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1072 | Well, so — well, let’s just — I mean, would an AC- have been a good platform to help defend the consulate after the attack? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1073 | Is there a saying in the military, when you go into harm’s way, we’ve got your back? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1074 | Do you — don’t you think that saying has been undermined here; that how can people in the military, the foreign service, believe we’ve got their back when after over — one, did you know how long the attack was going to last, Secretary Panetta? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1075 | Now, my question is, was one airplane anywhere in the world deployed in the aid of the consulate? Did anybody launch an airplane? Was any airplane launched anywhere in the world to help these people? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1076 | When were they launched? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1077 | Was any airplane launched anywhere in the world before the attack was concluded? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1078 | Was any soldier en route to help these people before the attack was concluded? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1079 | Were they on — was anybody in motion, before the attack concluded, to help these people? Anybody? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1080 | Was any DOD asset ever deployed to help these people before the end of the attack? […] Was any DOD asset, aircraft or individual soldier ever sent — put in motion to help these people before the attack was over? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1081 | My question is, did anybody leave any base anywhere to go to the aid of the people under attack in Benghazi, Libya, before the attack ended? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1082 | In these threats that we’ve received, can you go back and look and see if any of these threats have a cable from a U.S. ambassador saying, if we’re attacked, the consulate is attacked in a coordinated fashion, we cannot defend the consulate, and oh, by the way, there are al-Qaida flags flying over government buildings? Is there any other situation of these that rise to that level? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1083 | And I want — did General Ham on that night every order — every — ever suggest that a military asset — did he order a military asset in motion and someone told him to stand down? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1084 | Now, you knew about the cable from Ambassador Stevens because General Ham informed you of it. Is that correct, General Dempsey? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1085 | So when Secretary Clinton testified a few weeks ago that she had a clear-eyed assessment of the threat we faced in Libya, is that really a credible statement if she didn’t know about the ambassador’s cable on August the th saying, we can’t defend this place? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1086 | Are you stunned that she didn’t? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1087 | Are you surprised that the president of the United States never called you, Secretary Panetta, and say, how’s it going? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1088 | Did you ever call him and say, Mr. President, it looks like we don’t have anything to get there anytime soon? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1089 | And my question to you is during that eight-hour period, did the president show any curiosity about how’s this going, what kind of assets do you have helping these people? Did he ever make that phone call? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1090 | So you think it’s a typical response of the president of the United States to make one phone call, do what you can and never call you back again and ask you, how’s it going, by the way, showing your frustration we don’t have any assets in there to help these people for over seven hours? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1091 | But can you talk about what kind of coordination you envision going forward to address areas where there is potential risk? And obviously Northern Africa and the Middle East are certainly these days those kinds of areas. What kind of communication and coordination are we doing to address this? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1092 | And is there going to be an ongoing structure to do that, an ongoing system that would be put in place, so that it’s not just this one review of what the circumstances are but that for the foreseeable future we’ll expect to have communication and coordination between DOD and State? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1093 | Will some of the assets that are used in Afghanistan be redirected to AFRICOM for future use, do you think? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1094 | Is the re-prioritization that — we should be doing as we are drawing down forces in Afghanistan and looking at what we need to? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1095 | And given the challenge of — the potential challenge of sequestration, if we can’t act in Congress to address that — and I certainly hope that we can, I think it’s irresponsible for us to do that — but how do you expect that reprioritization to occur given the budget challenges we’re facing? | Sen. Jeanne Shaheen | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1096 | Secretary Panetta, a few minutes ago you indicated that we didn’t have boots on the ground. We didn’t deploy forces because the attack came to an end. But as Senator Graham pointed out, this is an attack that lasted nearly eight hours from start to finish. So at some point there had to have been a decision made not to deploy them. At what point in that time frame was it made? Or was it not made until after the attack had ended nearly eight hours after it began? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1097 | what we did know is that a lot of people were still unaccounted for. So the immediate attack was perhaps not visibly under way, but you weren’t certain that there wouldn’t be more fighting. | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1098 | SEC. PANETTA: […] when we were told that the attack was over, you know, we immediately — you know, although we had the forces in place, we would have responded if something, you know, had indicated more — we had no intelligence that — to indicate that that was the case. SEN. LEE: OK. An at — and at what point — to what point are you referring right now? You were talking about the initial attack on the compound? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1099 | So was that decision revisited hours later when in the early hours of the morning, Benghazi time, another pretty considerable attack came about? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1100 | Did they get to Tripoli? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1101 | And did — why didn’t they move forward to Benghazi. | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1102 | How did you know there was no need to do it by the time they got there? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1103 | And yet it took another days, as I understand it, to secure the compound after the attack had completed — had ended. So what — why did it take days to secure the compound? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1104 | SEC. PANETTA: Senator, we were not requested to secure that compound. When the FBI decided to go in and then requested us to provide security, we did. SEN. LEE: After the FBI requested that, at that time? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1105 | But again, going back to the early morning hours Benghazi time, when there was still fighting going on, how did you know that that was the end of it? Or are you saying it didn’t matter at that point because you had removed all the Americans from the compound and from the annex? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1106 | GEN. DEMPSEY: What I’ve said, Senator, is that the — when we put the forces in motion, they continued in motion until they arrived at the location. SEN. LEE: At what point did you put them in motion? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1107 | Had they been on alert or at a higher state of alert, could you perhaps have gotten them there faster? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1108 | Looking back, given that it was an important anniversary of /, was there good reason to have put them at a higher state of alert than they were? | Sen. Mike Lee | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1109 | What does it mean when CENTCOM has decided that there should be two carriers in the Middle East and decides purely because of sequester we can’t do that? What does that mean to our readiness posture and what message does it send to allies and adversaries? | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1110 | In terms just of the sheer organizational effort, I assume it’s thousands of hours of your personnel to try to figure out how to contort your budget to comply with a sequester that would much better be spent looking forward and working on an FY budget. | Sen. Tim Kaine | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1111 | If you could go back in time with the knowledge you have today and play it over again; if at : p.m. Benghazi time, when the first attack began, you knew that at : a.m. two former SEALs would be on the roof of that annex and would face mortar fire, what specifically could have been done if we had that knowledge? And I recognize that is a hypothetical, but if we had that knowledge, what military options would there have been to prevent that loss of life and to stop that attack at the annex? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1112 | So in your judgment, if I understand you correctly, the most effective means would have been to have boots on the ground. | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1113 | If — and again, this is a hypothetical — at : p.m. you had received a direct order to have boots on the ground to defend our men and women there, what is the absolute fastest that could have been carried out? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1114 | So if I understand your testimony correctly, the — in your military judgment, there was no way conceivably to get troops on the ground sooner than to hours? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1115 | How about assets like an AC-? If you had received an order at the outset to deploy an aircraft like an AC-, what would have been the absolute fastest it could have arrived at Benghazi? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1116 | I take it neither of you received the hypothetical order at any point to get boots on the ground immediately. | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1117 | Now, both of you mentioned that at p.m. D.C. time, you met with President Obama for a regularly scheduled meeting during which you discussed the attack at Benghazi that had happened about an hour and minutes earlier. You said the total meeting lasted roughly minutes. How much of the meeting would you estimate covered Benghazi? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1118 | And after that or minutes discussion of Benghazi, do I understand your testimony correct that neither of you had any subsequent conversations with the president the rest of that day and that evening? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1119 | In between : p.m. Benghazi time, when the first attack started, and : a.m., when Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Woods lost their lives, what conversations did either of you have with Secretary Clinton? SEC. PANETTA: We did not have any conversations with Secretary Clinton. SEN. CRUZ: So — and General Dempsey, the same is true for you. (No audible response.) | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1120 | And I just want to make sure I understood your answer correctly in that you said that you were not requested to secure the compound. And had you been requested to secure the compound, in your judgment, the U.S. military could have done so and could have done so effectively? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1121 | And documents recovered from the post indicated that while the local militias trained with U.S. officials for this role, militia members were generally expected to provide their own weapons and their own ammunition in order to protect. To what extent has the Department of Defense also relied on such arrangements in high-threats — high-threat areas in which central government forces did not fully control the territory, such as Afghanistan? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1122 | how should the committee view the use of local militias for force protection? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1123 | GEN. DEMSEY: […] I do know that it’s common practice in most countries to use local bodyguards and local security forces. So it’s — it is the norm, not the exception. SEN. HAGAN: Typically that’s with the country, though, that has an organized government? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1124 | Secretary Panetta, in your opening statement, you suggested the department is looking at how you can assist in the development of host nation forces using a range of security assistance authorities to train and equip these forces. As the — I chair the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee of this committee, which does have jurisdiction over the DOD’s train-and-equip authority, and I’d be interested in hearing whether you think DOD currently has the authority to conduct these training operations, or whether you would need to seek new authorities. | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1125 | Are the host nation forces you’re looking to engage members of the military, civilian law enforcement or are these local guard forces that would be employees of the diplomatic post? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1126 | What is your comfort level if they declined to have assistance with training? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1127 | Well, then what’s Plan B in that case? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1128 | Well, did you feel comfortable with the training of the local militia in Libya? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1129 | Of the violent extremists operating in North Africa, are there any groups or individuals the Department of Defense has designated as eligible for targeting under the Authorization for use of Military Force? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1130 | how is such a determination made? | Sen. Kay Hagan | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1131 | Are you suggesting that there was something else that you needed to know from intelligence sources? Or are you suggesting the alternative that, really, the only thing missing was a request from the State Department? You got it in Yemen and you acted on it. You didn’t get that request from the State Department officially on Benghazi so you didn’t make more arrangements for security there. Would you clear that up for us? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1132 | Did those come up through the military personnel on the country team’s — | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1133 | And where did the combatant commander get his information? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1134 | The defense attache would be a member country team? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1135 | Did you know that the Red Cross had been attacked, that Red Cross workers had been abducted and that the Red Cross subsequently suspended there Benghazi operation? Did you know that? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1136 | And did you know that the United Kingdom had undergone an attack and that they had decided to close their mission in Benghazi? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1137 | And did you — and did you then know about the attack on American interests? […] Through General Ham you knew about the attacks on the United States? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1138 | And you did not feel that you, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were in a position based on that to make a decision to send in extra security for those American interests there? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1139 | Do you get military resources close by and ready to respond or must you wait for a State Department request to do that also? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1140 | In retrospect do you wish you had adjusted your alert posture? […] With / hindsight? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1141 | And what would you have done? […] Would you put — have put them in Crete? Would you have put them in Libya? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1142 | It seems that two factors that allowed this situation to — from — to go from bad to worse were the very same ones that allowed the first / attacks to succeed. Number one, the lack of effective intelligence sharing. I think enough Americans knew what they needed to know to know this was really, really bad. And secondly stovepiped communications between organizations that are supposed to be working together on these sorts of things toward common goals. So years after /, my final question to you: Do you believe we’re any closer to breaking down these institutional barriers? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1143 | what steps has DOD taken in this regard in response to the Benghazi incident? | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1144 | SEC. PANETTA: […] And the fact is some of these FAST teams did not have airlift; airlift we would have had to deliver from other areas. We now have airlift that is associated with those teams. So we have taken a number of steps to try to improve our ability to respond. SEN. WICKER: When did you take that last step on airlift? When did you impose that last — | Sen. Roger Wicker | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1145 | General Dempsey, I want to clarify that you have said today that once the attack occurred, you were moving forces. | Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1146 | All that I told you — can you imagine the amount of money that we’ve spent fooling around with these con-tractors that weren’t getting the job done? Can you imagine the time we’ve spent on this and the money that has been spent? | Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1147 | why in the world this is so hard for us to get our arms around and where is there the analysis that shows me we’re saving any money? | Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1148 | But is there a way we can get back to the point, Secretary Panetta, that we’re not relying on a contract force to do what is inherently a government function? I mean, it’s almost like I hit a brick wall every time I talk about this. Why is it that this has to be a contract function? Why can’t we use the best-trained military in the world to protect our most valued assets in our most dangerous places? | Sen. Claire McCaskill | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1149 | Earlier in the hearing, Mr. Secretary, you said that it is not the Department of Defense’s job to be And so the question that struck me is, so when this happens — and the — and it happens so fast and so quick that when you respond in an hour, it may already be over by that time, are we relying on the home country to be ? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1150 | how are you making that decision that we have people in harm’s way and we’re relying on a host nation that might not be up to taking care of our people? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1151 | And so how do you determine, other than the ambassador telling you, hey, we think we’re here, or we think we’re there? Are there reviews done at the Department of Defense when you look and say, in a Benghazi or — you know, I don’t want to go city by city, for obvious security reasons, but when you look at these, how often do you determine, we’ll take a look at this this week and see where we are securitywise? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1152 | And how often is a — is a review done in some of these places, for instance Benghazi? Do they — is it on a — when the ambassador says, hey, things are getting a little tougher, or every couple of weeks, is it looked at as, this has deteriorated or has gotten better, or what kind of matrix is used? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1153 | With our NEO plans that we have — we have approximately diplomatic missions out there — how far along are we in having plans for all of them? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1154 | Is there a — it seems this is so much of a distance and time challenge that when it happens, how quickly can we respond, how far away are we — is there almost like a play book for ambassadors, for the people in those facilities that here’s the steps to follow, jump on these immediately, if this doesn’t click, we go to this, if this doesn’t click, we go to that? | Sen. Joe Donnelly | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1155 | The Crete base, I don’t know the capacity, but given that that was pretty close in terms of transportation time, why was that not an option to get people there faster? Was it a question of who and what is at the Crete base? General Dempsey? | Sen. Angus King | I | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1156 | And those types of troops were not at the Crete base at the time of this — | Sen. Angus King | I | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1157 | Now, to follow up, you talk about everybody wants a fire station next door; it doesn’t work. On the other hand, in this case, as you testified, there was about a to -hour practical limitation. I gather since this incident, you’re trying to shorten that. Do you have a target? What’s — what do we — what would we like to be able to do, particularly in these hot spots, which we can identify in advance? | Sen. Angus King | I | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1158 | So you are moving the fire stations nearer the — | Sen. Angus King | I | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1159 | The so-called first attack was not an attack of shooting, was it? Wasn’t it suddenly the guards out front dis-appeared, and suddenly people just walked into the compound? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1160 | And this occurred until someone firebombed the main building, which housed the ambassador and the mission. Is that correct? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1161 | And then a response team coming from a nearby location tried to get there one route and determined that route was not the correct one and went another route. Is that correct? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1162 | But then they got there, got inside, rescued one of the people, but in the process of getting them out on all of the smoke and the fire, the ambassador was not retrieved from the building. SEC. PANETTA: That’s right. | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1163 | And so everything stopped. An hour or two later, then there was an attack on the annex. And is it true that the main building at the annex was not penetrated? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1164 | OK, and then that subsided. Is that correct? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1165 | And then for a period of some three hours or more, nothing happened, and then the attack of the mortars, which is going through the roof. That’s what killed the two that were there in that building. GEN. DEMPSEY: They were actually on the roof. | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1166 | is it also correct that the response team from Tripoli were landing on or about the time that the mortar attack started? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1167 | And finally, I’d just say, going to the sequester, to respond to these kind of attacks in the future — and there will be these kind of attacks in the future — sequester certainly wouldn’t put you into a better position in order to respond, would it? | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1168 | And you didn’t know the situation with regard to the ambassador until hours later, when, in fact, some Libyans had come into that facility and tried to rescue him and found him at that point unresponsive from smoke inhalation. GEN. DEMPSEY: That’s right. | Sen. Bill Nelson | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1169 | On — one question I have, I saw, General Dempsey, in your comments over the weekend — I think it was on “State of the Union — that looking back, you don’t know of anything you could have done differently. Is that — was that your response? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1170 | How about looking forward? What would you do differently, or what are we — let’s do that in two questions. One, what would you do differently if the same circumstance occurred again, and what are you doing to prepare for a different kind of response? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1171 | Are we — with the new norm, are we repositioned in a way in this, you know, dangerous part of the world — and many areas you all have both mentioned today — to where we could respond now quicker than seven hours? If we had the same seven-hour window, could we — could we get somebody there? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1172 | On one other area, I know in the — at least for the first several years after /, there was always an active discussion of what was going to happen on / Now, on /, Zawahiri did a video where he actually talked about al-Libi, the Libyan, being killed and how we — by Americans — and how they must get even. Was there — Secretary Panetta, are you aware — was there any evaluation of what that might mean and whether we should be thinking about how to respond to that threat? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1173 | The — one — my last question would be, did we call on anybody else who had friendly forces in Benghazi to come to our assistance, the Turks, we — people we had helped in that area recently by coming to their assistance? Did we ask for any help that might have already been on the ground there? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1174 | There were no alternative security forces […] that other countries had […] that we could have called on? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1175 | And are we evaluating whether we’re going to use groups like February th again or not? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1176 | Now, the State Department’s Accountability Review Board described a gap in intelligence coverage for the area, and it is one of their findings, number four. Mr. Secretary, drawing from your experience at the Pentagon and the CIA, in your estimation what caused this gap in intelligence? Was it a tasking prioritization issue with just too many areas to watch? Or are there structural impediments within or among the intelligence organizations that led to the tragedy in Benghazi? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1177 | And how would you improve the situation? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1178 | SEC. PANETTA: Yeah. You know, it’s obvious now that, recognizing that, we’ve got to — you know, you try to do what you can to develop your own sources, try to develop the other country’s capabilities with regards to intelligence and develop other approaches that we have in terms of technology being able to gather the kind of intelligence we need. REP. HIRONO: And is that happening? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1179 | can you cite to a very specific thing that is fostering this kind of change as a result of our tragedy in Benghazi, that you can talk about? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1180 | So in terms of just the coordination, that has — there are some specific steps that are being taken to coordinate between State and the intelligence community and DOD. | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1181 | Now, in listening to your earlier testimony, I think that some of it was that there seemed to be gaps in terms of the information you were getting as to what was happening in Benghazi. So have steps been taken to make sure that those kinds of communication occur instantaneously or while the event is occurring? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1182 | Can you talk a little bit more — I think I still have a little bit of time — on what the impact of sequestration would be for — in terms of our ability to safeguard our men and women in these hundreds of embassies and offices throughout the world? | Sen. Mazie Hirono | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1183 | I think both of you answered this, but I think mainly you, Secretary Panetta, about how many times did you talk to the president during the day of these events, and I think your answer was once during — and I think, General, you also indicated once during. And it was sort of a question as well, you mean, he never — he never got back to you to find out what was going on? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1184 | Do you know how many times that day, if any, the president talked to his chief of staff or to the National Security Council people? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1185 | Now, relative to those unclassified talking points that were prepared at the request of Congress by the intelligence community that were erroneous, through no fault of her own, Ambassador Rice used them, bore the brunt of the criticism for the use, although she didn’t prepare them. Are you familiar, either of you, with those talking points? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1186 | And did the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, participate in the production of those talking points, do you know? […] All right, and do you know whether or not the DIA was part of the intelligence community which prepared those talking points? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1187 | You don’t know how — you could have been — have you talked to him as to how he could not have known, or how they could not have known, that the talking points that they handed to Rice and others were erroneous? | Sen. Carl Levin | D | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1188 | Let’s forget about the compound one. Just the annex attack. The intelligence community has said that it’s irresponsible for any terrorist professional not to know that it was a planned terrorist attack at the moment of the RPG and the six coordinated mortars that took place. I think almost everyone else agrees with that. And that happened right on the same day — or the morning after because it was in the middle of the night. Secretary Panetta, do you believe that unequivocally at that time we knew that this was a terrorist attack? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1189 | And that took place — that realization took place at the time that the RPG and all these sophisticated things such as the coordinated attack took place, is that correct? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1190 | And Mr. Brennan, who is going to be having a hearing later on today that I will not be able to attend, I would consider him to be one of the foremost intelligence experts around with, what, or years of experience. Would you agree with that? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1191 | Now, the only question I want to ask you — and I’ll ask you for an answer now, and I doubt if you will have a very good answer, but after that, I’d like to have you think about it and give an answer for the record, and that is, with everyone agreeing, including the secretary, Secretary Clinton, that right after this took place, that it was, in fact, a planned terrorist attack, how in the world could Ambassador Rice say, quote, the information — this is five days later — the information — the best information and the best assessment we have today is that, in fact, this was not a pre-planned, pre-mediated attack? | Sen. Jim Inhofe | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1192 | As I understand it, we had a security team in Tripoli. Six of them came then to Benghazi. They arrived about minutes at the annex before the second attack. Is that right? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1193 | Why wouldn’t we have an Osprey, a standard helicopter, any aviation assets there to be able to get to an area within country to provide assistance in light of the fact there was a deteriorating security situation, in light of the fact that you were aware that the ambassador had said that the consulate couldn’t withstand a coordinated attack? […] Why wouldn’t we have something there, some kind of aviation asset that would allow us to get from Tripoli to Benghazi in light of what we knew about the security situation and the attacks listed on that board? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1194 | I mean, I think about what it takes to charter a plane if we had had aviation — some form of aviation assets there, we could have gotten to Benghazi sooner. Would you agree? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1195 | Also, I wanted to ask you, Secretary Panetta, you had said that you didn’t end up deploying — based on a response, I think, Senator Graham had asked you. Why didn’t we have people going, moving? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1196 | But were planes flying? Were troops moving? I mean, the minute this attack occurred, we had an ambassador missing. Were people going to Benghazi? | Sen. Kelly Ayotte | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1197 | Both of you agreed with Petraeus and Clinton that we should start looking at military assistance in Syria, is that correct? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1198 | It is certainly up to the president to make all these — who was in charge in Benghazi? Were you in charge, Secretary Panetta? […] As running the operation, trying to find a way to save our ambassador who was lost, trying to prevent our people from being killed, providing assistance to people who were under attack? Simple question. If the families asked me, would it be fair to say that you were in charge? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1199 | Would you say Secretary Clinton was in charge? […] Was Secretary Clinton in charge? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1200 | Somebody had to be in charge of coordinating assistance. Was it you, the secretary of state or the president? Who was in charge? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1201 | Did you ever talk to Secretary Clinton at all that night, September the th? […] did you, as secretary of defense and state, ever consult each other before the attack was over? […] did you talk? Did you individually talk to each other? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1202 | Did you — when did you talk to the president after your initial meeting around 😕 When did you talk to him again? […] Was it on September the th? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1203 | Did you go to bed that night? Did you go to bed before the attack was over? […] Nor did you, General Dempsey? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1204 | Do you know if the president went to bed before the attack was over? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1205 | Do you know who was talking to the president at the White House? […] Do you know how many — but you don’t know? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1206 | I would just conclude by, Mr. Chairman, saying I want to know more about what the — finally, do you know if the president knew of these prior attacks, March and April, June? | Sen. Lindsey Graham | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1207 | You said, I believe, to Senator Ayotte that you thought — what time did you — when did you think the attack was over? […] When did you think that this was — that the activity was over and under some reasonable level of control? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1208 | All right, who was in charge? […] I think what Senator Graham was asking though, is who was in charge of our response from here. You all can’t just be talking with no thought of conclusion. | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1209 | On the — the Marines that were on the plane in Rota, Spain, that eventually — did those Marines eventually go to Tripoli? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1210 | And why were they taken off the plane and told to change from their uniforms to other clothes? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1211 | And how much did that slow that response up? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1212 | Now, I read other places an hour and a half to two hours. You think minutes? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1213 | And why did they go to Tripoli instead of Benghazi? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1214 | When did we get the last person out of Benghazi that we brought out? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1215 | And did they go to Germany? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1216 | And the second attack was the attack that was over around midnight? | Sen. Roy Blunt | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1217 | Is it correct then that, had the Department the State responded to the request from the ambassador for additional security and requested from DOD additional security that that would have been provided in Benghazi as well? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1218 | And if the State Department had requested additional security so that there was additional boots on the ground in Benghazi, is it your military judgment that that would have prevented the loss of four lives, including our ambassador, in Benghazi on September ? […] In your judgment, would additional troops on the ground in Benghazi have prevented the loss of life from the assault that we sustained? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1219 | A number of terrorists murdered four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. To the extent you are able in an open hearing, I would like to know what our progress is in tracking down those terrorists and exacting serious retribution. | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1220 | Had the compound been secured in a timely matter (sic) rather than days later, do you think that would have assisted in the effort to track down who committed these acts of terrorism? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1221 | And my final question, in the months that have followed since then, we have seen other terrorist attacks. We have seen, tragically, a suicide bomber in Ankara, in Turkey, and we have seen the horrific attack in Algeria that murdered, among others, two Texans, Victor Lovelady and Frederick Buttaccio. Do you think the lack of a public, visible response and retribution for this terrorist attack may have had the effect of emboldening those who would seek to do harm and take the lives of Americans? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1222 | Did you agree with the reports that have suggested that Osama bin Laden was emboldened by what he perceived as the lack of vigorous response of the United States to prior terrorist attack and that was a contributing factor to September th, ? | Sen. Ted Cruz | R | Senate Armed Services 2/7/13 |
| 1223 | Mr. Thompson, you went through a process of things that you observed and how you tried to activate your team. Did you do so because you had an initial view of whether this was a terrorist attack or something else? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1224 | In your own words, take as much time as you want, please take us through the day of September th from whatever time you want to begin through when you first heard from Ambassador Stevens and through the hours and days immediately following that, if you would, so we can have an understanding for the first time from somebody who was there. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1225 | Please explain the annex chief so that people that don’t know as much would understand that. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1226 | Mr. Hicks, in the interview with the committee staff, you stated, ‘‘In my personal opinion, a fast-mover flying over Benghazi at some point, you know, as soon as possible might very well have prevented some of the bad things that happened that night.’’ Is that right? Did you say that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1227 | And you further stated, ‘‘I believe if we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, I believe there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in the morning because I believe the Libyans would have split.’’ Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1228 | Mr. Hicks, I understand that you wanted planes to get to Benghazi faster. If I were in your shoes, I would have wanted them to get there yesterday. And that is completely understandable. But the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said they simply could not get there quickly. Mr. Hicks, do you have any reason to question General Dempsey’s testimony before the Senate? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1229 | So former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also testified in February, and he said this, He said, ‘‘Soon after the initial reports about the attack, the President ordered all available DOD assets to respond to the attack in Libya and to protect U.S. personnel and interests in the region. Some have asked why other types of armed aircraft were not dispatched to Benghazi. The reason is because armed UAVs, AC– gunships, or fixed-wing fighters with associated tanking, armaments, targeting, and support capabilities were not in the vicinity of Libya and because of the distance. It would have taken at least to hours, if not more, to deploy. This was, pure and simple, a problem of distance and time,’’ end of quote. Do you question his testimony? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1230 | So, Mr. Hicks, let’s find out the truth. The President of Libya responded to the attack and labeled it an attack by Islamic extremists possibly with terror links, correct? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1231 | So hours after our Ambassador and three others are killed in Benghazi, the President of Libya says it was an attack with possible terror links, correct? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1232 | Did the President of Libya ever mention a spontaneous protest related to a video? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1233 | When Ambassador Stevens talked to you perhaps minutes before he died, as a dying declaration, what precisely did he say to you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1234 | Would a highly decorated career diplomat have told you or Washington had there been a demonstration outside his facility that day? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1235 | Did he mention one word about a protest or a demonstration? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1236 | So fast-forward, Mr. Hicks, to the Sunday talk shows and Ambassador Susan Rice. She blamed this attack on a video. In fact, she did it five different times. What was your reaction to that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1237 | Did she talk to you before she went on the five Sunday talk shows? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1238 | You were the highest-ranking official in Libya at the time, correct? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1239 | And she did not bother to have a conversation with you before she went on national television. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1240 | Mr. Hicks, who is Beth Jones? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1241 | Number one, why in the world would Susan Rice go on five Sunday talk shows and perpetuate a demonstrably false narrative? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1242 | And, secondarily, what impact did it have on the ground in Benghazi, the fact that she contradicted the President of Libya? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1243 | So the crime scene was unsecured for days. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1244 | I would like to ask the panelists in a yes-or-no question, do you agree that this is the proper procedure or the procedure that’s followed by the State Department, that thousands and thousands of cables leave the Department headquarters every single year with the Secretary’s name at the bottom of the page or on the page? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1245 | Mr. Nordstrom, yes or no, do you agree with the manual? Is that the procedure of the State Department? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1246 | And you mentioned it in your opening statement, but if you could please go back to what the second team—now, the second team included four U.S. military. These are highly trained Special Forces personnel, one of which is a medic. And yet these military personnel do not operate under your authority, and your permission is not enough for them to go. Explain to me again exactly what happened. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1247 | But were any of these U.S. military personnel not permitted to travel on a rescue mission or relief mission to Benghazi? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1248 | What happened with those personnel? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1249 | How did the personnel react to being told to stand down? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1250 | So the military is told to stand down, not engage in the fight. These are the kind of people willing to engage. Where did that message come down, where did the stand-down order come from? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1251 | Now, my understanding is that General Ham was actually not in Stuttgart, where AFRICOM is headquartered, but he was in Washington, D.C. Is that correct? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1252 | You wrote, ‘‘I am told that Pat Kennedy participated in a very senior conference call with the White House and discouraged the F.E.S.T option. To remind, F.E.S.T. has dedicated aircraft able to respond in hours, is Department of State-led, and provides the below skills. When FBI was contacted, they responded that this situation would be better addressed via a F.E.S.T. response. Thus, there are others who are thinking the same way. Ready to discuss further as needed. Mark.’’ […] Mr. Thompson, do you recall that email? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1253 | Were you ever given a detailed explanation as to why the F.E.S.T. was not considered for deployment? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1254 | And, number two, did you attend or attempt to attend any senior meetings to plead your case for a F.E.S.T. deployment? And if so, what happened? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1255 | Did you attempt to attend any meetings? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1256 | So why were you not called into action? This is what you trained for, it is what tabletops are for, it is what you are prepared to do. Why was F.E.S.T. not called into action? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1257 | Mr. Thompson, I am asking you, is that quote accurate, that you believe that the Counterterrorism Bureau was intentionally kept out of the loop for political reasons? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1258 | But do you believe you were kept out for political reasons? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1259 | Mr. Thompson, I was just quoting the quote. So the quote isn’t entirely accurate, then? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1260 | This week, this quote apparently caused your former boss in the Counterterrorism Bureau at the State Department—I am speaking now of Ambassador Daniel Benjamin—to issue a public statement disagreeing with this allegation in particular, which was in quotes. And he said, and I am now quoting him, ‘‘It has been alleged that the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau was cut out of the discussion and decision-making in the aftermath of the Benghazi attack. I ran the bureau then, and I can say with certainty as the former coordinator for counterterrorism that this charge is simply untrue.’’ Do you agree with Ambassador Benjamin? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1261 | Now, all of this was under Ambassador Benjamin. He didn’t say one portion or the other. You are yourself saying, although the bureau was represented, somehow some portions of the bureau were not represented? And how is that? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1262 | Now, were you aware that your superiors were consulted about the decision not to employ the Foreign Emergency Support Team? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1263 | Mr. Hicks, when you arrived in July, did the facilities in Benghazi meet the minimum OSPB security standards set by the State Department? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1264 | What about the facilities in Tripoli? The Benghazi facilities did not meet the minimum standards. Did the facilities in Tripoli? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1265 | They did not meet. Do you think they were close to meeting the standards? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1266 | Mr. Nordstrom, before you left as the RSO, did the facilities have the number of security personnel that you had requested? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1267 | Mr. Nordstrom, there are a very, very small number of facilities worldwide that are considered by GAO critical or high-threat level for personnel serving in our different embassies and consulates. Tripoli and Benghazi, were they listed as critical or high-threat level? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1268 | By statute, Mr. Nordstrom, who has the authority to place personnel in a facility that does not meet the minimum OSPB standards? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1269 | Mr. Hicks, why was Ambassador Stevens headed to Benghazi? There were a lot of concerns about him. There were a lot of security issues that Mr. Nordstrom had listed in numerous reports leading up to his trip there. Why was the Ambassador headed there? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1270 | Why was this timing important? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1271 | Was it significant that he went right now? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1272 | Was there some hesitation about him going at that moment for that length of time? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1273 | Could he have waited a couple more months to be able to go? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1274 | What was the timeline on trying to make this a permanent facility? Or was there anything pending that had to be accomplished by a certain deadline? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1275 | And where did those instructions come from? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1276 | Mr. Nordstrom, on March the th, there is a cable that you sent to Washington requesting to keep the Diplomatic Security that you already had on the ground, that level of security, and not have that level of security decreased. Did you draft that cable? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1277 | Who was the intended recipient of that cable? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1278 | Mr. Hicks, you told our investigators that you weren’t involved with the drafting of those talking points. Is that right? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1279 | And, Mr. Nordstrom, you weren’t involved either. Is that correct? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1280 | And, Mr. Thompson, you also were not involved. Is that right? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1281 | So General Clapper says that he thinks the attacks on Ambassador Rice were unfair. She was using exactly what the intelligence community gave her. Mr. Hicks, do you have an argument with his veracity when he made those statements? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1282 | The difficult question I have for you because you were good enough to come forward is, do you contest General Clapper’s veracity? Is he lying or is he telling the truth of what information he gave to Ambassador Rice? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1283 | Mr. Hicks, in your years of service to our country, you have always received good reviews, strong evaluations. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1284 | Isn’t it true, Mr. Hicks—I think you cited this in your opening statement—that Secretary Clinton gave you a call immediately after the attacks and said you did an outstanding job under extreme circumstances? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1285 | And isn’t it also true the President of the United States called you up and said, you know what, Mr. Hicks, did you an outstanding job, again, under severe circumstances? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1286 | You are getting all this praise and support, but all that seems to change. And it seems to change in the phone call you were on that Mr. Gowdy referenced in his questioning, the phone call you got from Beth Jones. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1287 | This is after Secretary Rice went on television and misled the American people. You are on a phone call with Beth Jones. And it all seems to change then because you asked Beth Jones what? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1288 | And, again, what kind of response did you get from Beth Jones when you asked that question? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1289 | Was it like you shouldn’t be asking that question, you should be quiet, we don’t want to talk about that? What was the sense you got? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1290 | And did things continue to deteriorate between you and your superiors? After they have given you all this praise, you have had this outstanding service record, years serving our country, things began to deteriorate even more. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1291 | And as I read the transcript, it seems to me that it came to a head in phone calls you were on with lawyers from the Department of State prior to Congressman Chaffetz coming to visit in Libya. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1292 | And tell me about those conversations, what those lawyers instructed you to do on Mr. Chaffetz’ visit to Libya. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1293 | So the people at State told you, don’t talk to the guy who is coming to investigate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1294 | Now you have had several congressional delegations come to various places you have been around the world. Has that ever happened, where lawyers get on the phone to you prior to a congressional delegation coming to investigate a time where we have had four Americans lose their lives, have you ever had anyone tell you, don’t talk with the people from Congress coming to find out what took place? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1295 | Mr. JORDAN. Never. And you have had dozens and dozens of congressional delegations that you’ve been a part of? Mr. HICKS. Yes, sir. Mr. JORDAN. First time it’s ever happened? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1296 | And isn’t it true that one of those lawyers on the phone call accompanied the folks from the delegation and tried to be in every single meeting you had with Mr. Chaffetz and that delegation from this committee? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1297 | Tell me what happened when you got a classified briefing with Mr. Chaffetz, what happened in the phone call that happened after that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1298 | Did the lawyer try to get in that briefing? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1299 | You had a subsequent conversation after this classified briefing that the lawyer was not allowed to be in, you and Mr. Chaffetz and others on that delegation, you had another conversation on the phone with Cheryl Mills. Tell me who is Cheryl Mills? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1300 | Mr. JORDAN. That’s a pretty important position? Mr. HICKS. Yes, sir. Mr. JORDAN. When she calls, you take the phone call? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1301 | She is the fixture for the Secretary of State. She is as close as you can get to Secretary Clinton; is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1302 | And what did she have to say to you? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1303 | Was she upset by the fact that this lawyer was—— | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1304 | This baby sitter, this spy, whatever you want to call them, was not allowed to be in that. The first time it’s ever happened. All the congressional delegations you’ve ever entertained was not allowed to be in that classified briefing. Was she upset about that fact? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1305 | So this goes right to the person next to Secretary Clinton; is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1306 | Mr. Nordstrom, you told our staff that you read the ARB’s unclassified report and recommendations. Do you think that implementing these recommendations is important to ensure the safety and security of our foreign service? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1307 | You know, the ARB—Mr. Nordstrom, just to be clear, you provided information to the ARB; is that correct? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1308 | And Mr. Hicks, is it true that you also provided information to the ARB? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1309 | Mr. Nordstrom, do you agree with the board’s review? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1310 | So they developed a recommendation? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1311 | How about you, Mr. Hicks? Do you agree with the recommendation? | Rep. Lacy Clay | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1312 | Mr. Nordstrom, you were on that panel. Do you remember what she said. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1313 | Now Mr. Thompson, you have a very important position. The title is Bureau of Counterterrorism Leader, Foreign Emergency Support Team, U.S. Department of State; right? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1314 | And did you participate? Were you interviewed by the ARB? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1315 | You were not interviewed, okay. You were on the job during this period? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1316 | And you were not allowed to convey information to the board? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1317 | So they did interview you after that? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1318 | Have you ever been interviewed? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1319 | So you are one of the primary players, but yet the board failed to interview you. Would you say that’s correct? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1320 | Mr. Hicks, is Mr. Thompson an important player in this? Mr. Nordstrom? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1321 | Let me go to Charge´ Hicks. Were you interviewed by the board? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1322 | Were you able to convey all the information that you felt was necessary regarding this to the board? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1323 | And Mr. Nordstrom, did you participate? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1324 | Did you share how the process worked that we heard from Mr. Hicks? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1325 | Was it thorough? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1326 | Now the next part is interesting. That being said, Embassy Tripoli did not demonstrate strong and sustained advocacy with Washington for increased security for Special Mission Benghazi. Would you both agree with that? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1327 | So what they are saying is because there was an extension made that there was a lowering in expectation there, that the resources for physical security and also the personnel assignments needed at that was not given an adequate priority and that it was left to Diplomatic Security in some cases to make those repairs. Is that something that you see as being a weak point in this whole process that allowed Benghazi to be ill-prepared for the attacks on September ? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1328 | And so the status was still in limbo at that point? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1329 | You used the term ‘‘M’’ for the Under Secretary of Management. Who was that? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1330 | Who were those personnel on Colonel Gibson’s team? What were they doing in Libya? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1331 | Now do you know why they were told to stand down? Did Colonel Gibson give you any information or understanding? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1332 | Is there any reason to believe that the situation in Benghazi was over? I mean, there were a number of serious attacks as you’ve described it to us. Is there any reason to believe that there was no longer any danger in Benghazi? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1333 | Mr. Hicks, Mr. Chaffetz has given me an article that appeared in USA Today just this week. And just as early as last Monday, Major Robert Furman, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the military’s account that was just first issued weeks after the attack hasn’t changed. There was never any kind of stand-down order to anybody. And that’s a pretty broad statement, anybody. What’s your reaction to the quote by Mr. Furman? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1334 | So your firsthand experience being on the site, standing next to Colonel Gibson who was on his way on that C– transport and being told not to go contradicts what Mr. Furman is saying on behalf of the Pentagon? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1335 | Mr. Hicks, did the embassy have a defense attache on staff whose role it was to interface with the Defense Department? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1336 | And did you ask him that evening, were there any resources coming from the U.S. military? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1337 | And what was your reaction to his responses as the evening unfolded? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1338 | Were the Libyans surprised? | Rep. Michael Turner | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1339 | Thank you. Before we go to Mr. Connolly, just because most people in the audience, including on the dais, don’t understand ‘‘chief of mission authority,’’ would you, as Chief of Mission, run us through who was under your chief of mission authority and who wasn’t? In other words, who did you have command and control of? And we are talking about military assets. Because I think a lot of folks up here are hearing two chains of command. And it would be helpful for you to explain it as a career State Department person quickly. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1340 | So anyone you had under your authority, you gave orders to; they responded; they went downrange if you asked them to. The others were not allowed to? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1341 | Mr. Thompson, statements have been attributed to you that your bureau, the Counterterrorism Bureau, was actually deliberately kept out of post-Benghazi developments, decision making, and so forth. Are those statements attributed to you accurately? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1342 | Your portion. To whom do you report? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1343 | And did Mr. Benjamin, was he included? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1344 | He was overseas. But was he kept informed and involved? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1345 | Was he kept informed and involved by the Secretary’s Office? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1346 | Would it surprise you to learn that he has stated emphatically that he most certainly was? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1347 | And would it surprise you that he contradicts your statements or statements attributed to you? And I read to you: This charge that we were kept out of the loop in the aftermath is simply untrue. | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1348 | Do you want to talk just a little bit about the domestic situation in Libya as we found it because I think sometimes we have forgotten in the telling that we are facing instability in Libya still in a post-Qadhafi revolutionary situation and likewise in Benghazi. Could you just share with us some insights into what you found in terms of that inherent instability? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1349 | Did I understand you correctly to say a few minutes ago that you know of other witnesses that had firsthand knowledge who were not interviewed by the board? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1350 | Mr. Thompson, what were you told was the reason you were not interviewed? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1351 | Mr. Hicks, do you feel the report lets any individual or bureaucracy off the hook? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1352 | Mr. Thompson, let me ask you this. Another thing I find surprising is that—do the security people not consider that the date of /—I have already heard somebody say that this mission was considered to be a high threat or a high risk mission. Do they not realize that / is a high security type date and we should be prepared for terrorist activities on that date in particular? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1353 | The report basically puts the primary blame for this situation on the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. I would like to ask if any of you have a comment about that. Do you think that’s fair? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1354 | Mr. Hicks, did you find other shortcomings in the report? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1355 | You said earlier today that the lawyers at State told you not to talk to Mr. Chaffetz when he came. That’s what I wrote down. Would you just verify that that’s what you said? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1356 | Now in your interview with the committee, you were asked the question, did you receive any direction about information that Congressman Chaffetz shouldn’t be given from Washington? And your answer was, no, I did not. Is that still your testimony today? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1357 | You did say that you were told to make sure other State Department officials were present for meetings with Representative Chaffetz. As you stated, they told me not to be isolated with Congressman Chaffetz. Is that correct? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1358 | Okay, so it was more about not being in a situation where you did not have other people with you. Is that correct? As opposed to not being interviewed. | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1359 | There was a classified briefing for Mr. Chaffetz that no other State Department official was able to attend and you testified earlier. So as a result no other State Department officials can confirm what was said, if there was a mischaracterization after the fact. So when Representative Chaffetz returned to Washington and attended this committee’s hearing in October there was a great deal of controversy about his description of that classified briefing. Did you by chance watch the hearing? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1360 | Mr. Hicks was there a protocol within the consulate in the event of a protest? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1361 | Was there any evidence when you were there in Libya on that day that this was a protest? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1362 | Was there anything in connection to a YouTube video, was there any awareness that the events occurred because of a YouTube video? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1363 | And did you know about that within a couple of days or the day of? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1364 | And so did you report to anyone in Washington within the first couple of days that there was anything in connection—a protest in connection to a YouTube video? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1365 | Not a protest? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1366 | Mr. Gowdy mentioned this earlier, but on September th Ambassador Susan Rice went on the Sunday shows, recited a whole group of talking points. Were you a part of those talking points. | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1367 | By September th, did you know what you know what you know, which is apparently what Susan Rice said? Let me rephrase that actually. Let me actually make that a question, if you will. Ambassador Rice recited a set of facts. A month later they defended—the State Department defends that. You are a career State Department official. Would you have said the things that Ambassador Rice said? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1368 | And did that occur before September th? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1369 | And did you report that—was there knowledge that he was going to say that? | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1370 | Mr. Chairman, I know we have a lot more questions about this, including what that did in country, Ambassador Rice’s rhetoric, what that did and the impact it had in country for the work that you were doing and the delay that resulted because of that of the FBI investigation on the ground. If you could speak to that. | Rep. Patrick McHenry | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1371 | My questions specifically, both Mr. Hicks and Mr. Nordstrom, are when it comes to extra training or extra security do you feel that we need more in some of the embassies across the world so that we make sure those who are working in there indeed have the very best protections because we have that responsibility to them as they serve the country? | Rep. Mark Pocan | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1372 | Let me give you further opportunity and ask you, why were you concerned about the ARB’s failure to interview you? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1373 | And did you raise any concerns with the Department about the Review Board’s unwillingness to interview you? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1374 | Any of those findings included in the ARB report? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1375 | Do you know if anyone interviewed by the ARB was provided an opportunity to read the full classified report? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1376 | So you mentioned that there was a : a.m. phone call with the Secretary of State. During that short phone call, conversations you rehearsed for us, was there any mention of a demonstration during that conversation? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1377 | Do you think the ARB report lets any individual or bureaucracy off the hook? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1378 | What, in your view, were the shortcomings of the ARB process, besides not interviewing some people and allowing the classified report to be read? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1379 | No stenographer? […] So we’re talking about editorial commentary, potentially, as opposed to clear truth, accuracy? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1380 | Mr. Hicks, you had said that, regarding the ARB’s recommendations, that you thought it was incomplete, that the recommendations were unbalanced in favor of, I think you said, building higher walls, pouring more concrete, and that it was insufficiently strong in recommending that the State Department personnel needed to have more and better training, which is what you started to respond to my colleague from Wisconsin, Mr. Pocan. Could you elaborate further on what you believe needs to be done with improvements in training? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1381 | Mr. Nordstrom, I know you did not have a chance to answer or elaborate on my colleague’s question. What is your opinion? Because I really want to make sure that we get the lessons learned from this. You know, is there a balance that could be struck between focusing on improvements to physical security and also focusing on improvements to training, as Mr. Hicks suggested, or maybe dynamic communications? Do you have any specific recommendations? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1382 | Mr. Hicks, you testified that you haven’t read the final classified ARB report. Is that correct? | Rep. Justin Amash | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1383 | If you haven’t been allowed to read the report, how do you know whether your testimony was used appropriately? | Rep. Justin Amash | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1384 | The Department employees who were singled out for disciplinary action, were they allowed to read the final classified ARB report to examine the evidence that was used against them? | Rep. Justin Amash | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1385 | Do you believe that the ARB report does enough to ensure that a similar tragedy doesn’t take place in the future? | Rep. Justin Amash | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1386 | Did you have an opportunity to provide input with respect to the report? | Rep. Justin Amash | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1387 | Mr. Hicks, do we typically need permission of a host-nation government to fly military aircraft over their territory? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1388 | And, to your knowledge, did we ever ask the Libyans for permission to fly over their country? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1389 | Mr. CHAFFETZ. But did we the night of the attack? Mr. HICKS. The night of the attack? Mr. CHAFFETZ. The night of—once this incident started, did we seek permission from the Libyan Government to do a flyover? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1390 | Did we ever ask for permission to fly anything other than an unarmed drone over Libya during the attack? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1391 | Would you have known that? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1392 | Based on your extensive experience as a diplomat in dealing with the Libyan Government, do you believe the Libyans would have granted overflight rights if we had requested it? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1393 | Mr. Nordstrom, do you believe that would also be true? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1394 | Mr. Hicks, when did you think that this was actually over, it was done, we were safe? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1395 | When did you actually return to the embassy in Tripoli? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1396 | When did the FES Team arrive to help secure the embassy? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1397 | In the last minute here, I want to ask Mr. Thompson here—I want to read to you another excerpt of an email sent by you to Timothy Walsh and James Webster on Wednesday, September th. This is at : in the morning. ‘‘Spoke to DB’’—who is DB? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1398 | ‘‘Daniel Benjamin on the phone this morning. He understands my FEST points, concurs, but expressed his pessimism regarding our deployment and, by extension, does not intend to lobby for our inclusion,’’. To remind everybody here, didn’t Daniel Benjamin recently state that any claim that key elements of the Counterterrorism Bureau, such as F.E.S.T., were cut out of the response planning was simply, ‘‘untrue’’? Is that your understanding? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1399 | How do you react to that? He goes out and publicly says that’s not true, but based on the email, it sounds like you had a discussion with him. What happened in that discussion? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1400 | First, in your interview with the committee, you explained that the first plane from Tripoli to Benghazi left on the night of the attack around : a.m. Is that correct? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1401 | The ARB report said that the first plane had a seven-person security team which included two military personnel. Is that correct? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1402 | Now, you also told the committee that a second flight left Tripoli the next morning, September th, between : and : a.m. Is that correct? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1403 | You said that four military personnel were told not to board that plane and that this call came from Special Operations Command Africa. Is that right? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1404 | During the interview, you were asked if you knew what was the rationale that you were given that they couldn’t go ultimately, and you explained, I guess they just didn’t have the right authority from the right level. Is that correct? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1405 | So you basically don’t know why they were told not to get on the plane, right? | Rep. Robin Kelly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1406 | Mr. Hicks, you said rather emphatically that the video had no material impact in Libya? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1407 | And you talked several times about conversations, phone conversations, with the Prime Minister, who referred to it as a terrorist act, not as a protest. Is that correct? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1408 | Now, my only point is the Libyan Government doesn’t speak with just one voice; there were disparate voices. Some, in fact, did see the video, apparently, at the time, as an influence. And it’s a little—I don’t want to mislead the public that there was one unified perspective, and that was—that narrative is entirely false and was at the time. Would you care to comment? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1409 | Mr. Hicks, did you ever question officials in Washington about what Secretary Rice said on the Sunday talk shows? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1410 | Was she [Assistant Secretary Jones] the only one that you talked to? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1411 | And her reaction was? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1412 | So she was very curt? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1413 | Did you receive any negative feedback based on this conversation? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1414 | Well, I’m really mad. But, Mr. Hicks, would you— could I give you the opportunity to respond to that question, what difference does it make? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1415 | So that definitely impacted getting the FBI to look at the crime scene, did it not? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1416 | So when you talked to the Libyan Government, were they responsive when you asked about access for the FBI? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1417 | So this false—? thing to a spontaneous reaction to a video was a direct contravention of the explanation offered by this President, the President of Libya. And the facts on the ground impact our ability to investigate the crime scene afterward. How long was it, as you said, before the FBI was allowed access into Benghazi to examine that crime scene? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1418 | Seventeen days. Was the crime scene secure during that time? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1419 | So let me get the timeline finalized here. So the FBI is sitting in Tripoli for weeks, waiting for the approval of the Libyan Government to travel to Benghazi. Is that appropriate? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1420 | But they were denied access into Benghazi, right? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1421 | So what were they doing with their time? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1422 | Were you interviewed by the FBI? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1423 | And I think each of you agree that Congress must do its part. Am I correct, yes or no? Real quick. | Rep. Steven Horsford | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1424 | I am struggling to find out how we had a United States Ambassador in a marginally safe American compound in an increasingly hostile area on an iconic day like September th with limited security. And I think that there are some issues that you were talking about first, decisions that were made about allowing occupancy in the first place. Could you tell me quickly about how that was enabled to be approved? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1425 | But you do know, according to the law, it appears that it must be signed off by the Secretary of State, and there is no delegation. | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1426 | Following up, on July st, it’s a fact that there were—I go back on the record—there were SSTs, Special Forces, in Libya, Department of State security personnel. On August st, just shortly before, that had been reduced to six regulation individuals in Tripoli, three in Benghazi. Why the cutback on security? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1427 | Did you have confidence in the ability of the locals in the country who were purportedly designed to provide security for you, did you have confidence in their ability to provide that? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1428 | It was the only thing—but I didn’t ask if—I said, did you have confidence in that? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1429 | Did you report that at any point in time to officials in Washington, D.C.? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1430 | I also note then a series of issues: an RPG attack on the Red Cross in early May; a Red Cross second attack in June; an IED attack against the U.N. mission on April th; an IED attack against a U.N. convoy on April th; an assassination attempt on the British Ambassador on June th with RPGs; an attempted carjacking on August th of two SST officers of the United States. In your mind, in your professional opinion, would this suggest to you that the facility in Benghazi by a reasonable person with your experience or a reasonable person in the State Department would be likely to be considered a possible or even likely target of a terrorist incident? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1431 | And in light of that and in light of your experience and Mr. Nordstrom’s testimony, would you have been happy with the idea that it was allowed to be maintained under less than the staffing that had existed only a month before or months before and under standards which were only two in the entire country, according to the testimony of Mr. Nordstrom, that were not meeting the requirements, the minimal requirements of safety? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1432 | Mr. Nordstrom or Mr. Hicks, what is normalization? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1433 | And why were we doing this? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1434 | My time has expired, but, Mr. Hicks, did you have a response to that, as well? | Rep. Patrick Meehan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1435 | Mr. Hicks, you mentioned earlier your wife being such an important part of your decision process. Were you planning on bringing her to Libya since it was normalized? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1436 | Chairman ISSA. But as to family returning to Libya, I mean, normalization means you bring back dependents and so on. Mr. HICKS. Right. Chairman ISSA. Was that part of what was going on? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1437 | So, given everything that was going on at the time and everything you have said today and what you said on October th, at any point did you suggest to Ambassador Stevens that he should not travel to Benghazi on September th, the anniversary, and that the situation was volatile and that the facility, per your own assessment, was not secure? | Rep. Tony Cardenas | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1438 | So you have your opinions today, but you did not have those same opinions back then? | Rep. Tony Cardenas | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1439 | If the gentleman would indulge, I think he’s asking, what was your opinion on the day you left relative to Benghazi? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1440 | So you stressed that you did stress concerns, but not to the point where you said, ‘‘I wouldn’t go if I were you,’’ or, ‘‘You shouldn’t go’’? | Rep. Tony Cardenas | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1441 | And resources require other kinds of resources. I mean, if you have resources on the ground, they require actual funding, et cetera. There’s a balance to creating the kind of atmosphere and security that would be required to meet any concerns, correct? | Rep. Tony Cardenas | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1442 | Mr. Hicks, can you shed some light on this discussion that we’re having? | Rep. Tony Cardenas | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1443 | Mr. Hicks, after your visit with Congressman Chaffetz—or Congressman Chaffetz’ visit, did you feel any kind of shift in the way you were treated? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1444 | But yet, right after the attack and before the attack, you had all kinds of praise for your leadership. You got a call from Secretary Clinton, you got a call from the President praising you for your service and how you handled things. Was there a seminal moment in your mind to when all this praise and appreciation turned into something else? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1445 | So what other impediments have you had, or how have you felt since deciding to come forward? Do you feel like they’ve treated you any differently from that point on? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1446 | What is your job right now? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1447 | A far cry from where you were in your level of capabilities? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1448 | So when you came back to the United States, were you planning on going back to Libya? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1449 | And what do you think happened? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1450 | This cable, was it, as far as you know, from the President of the United States directly? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1451 | And was it delivered to the President of Libya directly? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1452 | And does it mention ‘‘terrorist attack’’ anywhere else? And I would note that this is September th, which would be that Monday afterwards. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1453 | Does this, in your opinion, in any way, shape, or form describe the unfortunate circumstances as terrorism to the President of Libya? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1454 | But, as far as I can tell, it speaks of it as a tragic attack. It doesn’t speak to it, even after Ambassador Rice spoke, it doesn’t speak to it as a terrorist attack or our war on terror or fighting terrorism. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1455 | So it’s an outrageous attack, but it doesn’t talk about us working together to fight terrorism, does it? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1456 | But first off, Mr. Hicks, you have testified on numerous occasions that you never got a chance to read the classified ARB report. You do have a security clearance that you sat in the meeting with Mr. Chaffetz that your minder couldn’t attend. So you do have a security clearance. | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1457 | Then Mr. Thompson, you testified in answer to the question as to why the F.E.S.T. team, your response team was not deployed, that one of the things you heard was it might not be to a safe location. Do you guys train to deploy to Canada or the Caribbean islands or other safe locations, or are you trained to respond to hot spots? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1458 | And would there have been any reluctance on the part of you or any of the men or women in your organization to go to Libya or anywhere in the world that you were needed to protect Americans? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1459 | We had a friendly government, relatively friendly government going in. And then we all but make the new President out—we throw him under the bus on the Sunday shows. And you testified that that may have been one of the reasons the FBI was slow getting in. Do you think it overall damaged our relationship beyond that with Libya? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1460 | And isn’t that one of the reasons Ambassador Stevens went to Benghazi on that fateful day, is to continue to show our support for what was going on in Libya at the time? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1461 | Mr. Nordstrom, can you tell me what the role of the February Martyrs Brigade was in protecting the consulate in Benghazi? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1462 | Now, were you aware of any ties of that militia to Islamic extremists? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1463 | And Mr. Hicks, you were in Libya on the night of the attack. Do you believe the February th militia played a role in those attacks, was complacent in those attacks? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1464 | Mr. Hicks, Mr. Nordstrom, I am going to ask you both this question. I am stunned that the State Department was relying on a militia with extremist ties to protect American diplomats. That doesn’t make any sense. How does that happen? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1465 | Mr. Hicks, I want to follow up. You may have answered this, so I just want to get a clarification, because Mr. Jordan was entering into questions regarding the lawyer that came in and was not allowed to go to the meeting because he wasn’t qualified to go to that meeting. My question specifically is to back up. The State Department sent this lawyer. Were you told why the lawyer was sent? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1466 | Did you find that unusual? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1467 | But the State Department did say that this lawyer was going to come and participate in all of the meetings? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1468 | Mr. HASTINGS. You were told that. And then of course he couldn’t because of the protocol. You mentioned that the tone of the State Department as it related to you changed probably after the Rice interview. Mr. HICKS. It began to change, yes. Mr. HASTINGS. Yeah. Explain, just give us some examples of how things changed. | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1469 | Prior to September th, , had you received any negative feedback from your superiors? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1470 | Well, I suppose in a career as long as yours you might have some disagreement with your superiors. Was it to the extent that you have felt that you were treated after this event last September, compared to prior maybe disagreements you may have had with your superiors? I guess on a scale of to , being the worst, you were—— | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1471 | You mentioned that you feel in the job you have it is really a demotion from the qualifications that you have had in your career in the service. Have you talked to any of your colleagues or any senior leaders within the State Department regarding this? And if so, what was those conversations all about? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1472 | Going through the process, and I understand there is protocols, but would that strike you as unusual for somebody with your background and the position that you had in Libya and other areas? | Rep. Richard Hastings | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1473 | First question, Mr. Nordstrom. Now, do I understand you had responsibility for security in Libya while you were there? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1474 | And then you left in July. Is that correct? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1475 | Now, before you left did you make security recommendations to Washington, D.C.? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1476 | And so they had recommendations from you? Or not? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1477 | And do you know were those—was that implementation plan accepted? Was it implemented? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1478 | Mr. Hicks, do you know whether security recommendations were implemented? Were there security recommendations that were implemented? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1479 | Mr. Hicks, are you aware of any efforts by department officials to limit department witnesses’ access to information about the attack prior to their testimony before Congress? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1480 | Mr. Nordstrom, do you know whether the State Department consciously sought to limit your awareness of certain information prior to your testimony before this committee? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1481 | Mr. Nordstrom, I want to read you an excerpt from an email Ambassador Stevens sent to you and a colleague on July th, The email concerned a draft cable intended to request an extension of security personnel for the embassy, which was ultimately sent on July th. Now, the Ambassador wrote, ‘‘gentlemen I have taken a close look at the cable and edited it down and rearranged some paragraphs. My intention was to give more focus to what we are doing to end our reliance on TDY support and to let the Department figure out how to staff our needs. If it looks okay, please run it by DS and see if they want it front channel.’’ Then Mr. Nordstrom, can you briefly explain what Ambassador Stevens meant when he asked you to run it by DS and see if they wanted it front channel? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1482 | Mr. Nordstrom, my questions are following up on my colleague from Wyoming, thinking back to early July, Do you recall your back and forth with Charlene Lamb particularly? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1483 | What did you think of that decision-making process? Were those decisions that Ms. Lamb was making or were those decisions being kicked up to a higher level? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1484 | Given the seriousness of that conversation, thinking about extending SST and MSD as the security support, did you receive an explanation for why that request was denied that satisfied you? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1485 | And then following up on moving these discussions from back channel to front channel, what was the nature of your conversation with the Ambassador that this was such a serious issue that rather than leaving it with a no on back channels he wanted to elevate that? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1486 | And did you receive any feedback back from Washington, whether a direct response to that cable or a back channel response to the fact that you elevated it to this front channel process? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1487 | And if you could characterize it then between a nonresponse or a disagreement when it comes to these issues of security for American personnel on the ground in Libya, were you receiving a nonresponse from Washington or was there disagreement in Washington with your assessment of levels of need on the ground? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1488 | Last week an unidentified individual, who was described as a military Special Ops member, appeared on national television to give an interview on the military’s response to the attacks in Benghazi. The man appeared behind a black screen in order to conceal his identity. He suggested that military assets in Europe could have prevented the second attack in Benghazi. Specifically, he said this. ‘‘I know for a fact that C–, the EUCOM, European Command, CIF, Commander’s InExtremis Force, was doing a training exercise not in the region of North Africa, but in Europe, and they had the ability to react and respond.’’ He further stated, ‘‘We have the ability to load out, get on birds, that is aircraft, and fly there at a minimum stage. C– had the ability to be there, in my opinion, in four to six hours.’’ He then went on to conclude that they would have been there before the second attack. Let me ask if any of you gentlemen are familiar with this claim. | Rep. Rodney Davis | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1489 | ‘‘In regards to the anonymous allegation that the CIF could have arrived in Benghazi prior to the initiation of the second attack on the annex, the time needed from alerting the CIF to landing at the Benghazi airport is greater than the approximately hours between the initiation of the first attack and that of the second one.’’ The letter also states this. ‘‘The time requirements for notification, load, and transit alone prevented the CIF from being at the annex in time enough to change events.’’ Does anyone disagree with that statement? | Rep. Rodney Davis | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1490 | By all accounts, Ambassador Stevens was a remarkable man. And I wonder was he aware how dangerous it was in Benghazi? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1491 | And Mr. Hicks, were you aware how dangerous it was, yet he still made the decision to go there? Is that correct? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1492 | I would like to start with Mr. Thompson. I am struck by your long and distinguished career of hostage rescue missions. And some of these missions are still classified, but were successful. Can you remind us where you were when these events began to unfold? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1493 | So you were at your desk at the State Department. And you were asked to marshal the resources and the team to help with the rescue effort, defense effort, did you not? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1494 | And in your testimony you stated that you were told this was not the right time. Is that correct? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1495 | If this wasn’t the right time, when would be the right time? Because this is the source of frustration that the American public has, that I have. We are the greatest country in the world, and we left people there, Mr. Hicks and Mr. Stevens, to essentially fend for themselves, and when we had these resources. When would be the right time if this weren’t the right time? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1496 | Staying on that topic of time, would it have been a reasonable thing in an uncertain situation such as this crisis, where we don’t know how it is going to unfold, to go ahead and assemble that team and put them on a plane? Were there sufficient communications on the plane that you could have pulled back a mission that was ready to deploy? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1497 | Are you convinced—I know you haven’t been allowed to review or even contribute to the Accountability Review Board’s report. But are you convinced that the changes have been made so that this won’t happen again for another embassy? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1498 | Mr. Hicks, you mentioned that at a.m. you had a phone conversation with Secretary Clinton. Is that correct? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1499 | At any time during that conversation did she ask what resources you might be able to use or might need? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1500 | Was there any indication that you would receive air support? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1501 | But no immediate military response? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1502 | Did you tell the Accountability Review Board about Secretary Clinton’s interest in establishing a permanent presence in Benghazi? Because ostensibly wasn’t that the reason that the Ambassador was going to Benghazi? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1503 | Mr. MASSIE. Pickering was surprised that this was—his mission was to establish a permanent facility there? Mr. HICKS. Yes. Mr. MASSIE. That’s your impression? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1504 | I just want you to say it unambiguously, if that’s the correct way to say it without a flaw, one more time, the reason the Ambassador was in Benghazi, at least one of the reasons was X? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1505 | Mr. Nordstrom, I want to follow up on a question from Mr. Lankford earlier about a March th cable asking for more security. He asked you about your intended recipients of that cable. Now, did you expect Secretary Clinton to either have read or to be briefed about that cable? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1506 | I think it was you that said earlier could this be a concern about a DOD presence and an embarrassment with State on an embassy? And a real short answer there. | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1507 | Mr. Hicks, I have a question, we are going back, it has been asked here a little bit before, in discussions about a permanent presence in Benghazi, give me a sort of a quick flavor of what were those discussions like? Was it said you do this? How was it going out? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1508 | Was Washington informed of the Ambassador’s plan to travel to Benghazi? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1509 | Mr. COLLINS. Were there any concerns raised from that? Mr. HICKS. No. Mr. COLLINS. Given the timing and everything? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1510 | Mr. Hicks again, based on your experiences in Libya, do you believe that Foreign Service officers remain in avoidable danger in such high threat countries as Libya? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1511 | But could we, in light of what we are seeing now, be avoidable in the sense of from our lessons learned, if you would? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1512 | I think what I am asking is if you had that situation, what needs to be done to prevent something like this from happening again? Is that being taken advantage of? Or is there still sort of a denial process going on here? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1513 | So as we move along, and I want to maybe ask you this question that I asked earlier, especially from a security standpoint, because it is something I think that we can flesh out over time, and maybe, Mr. Thompson, if you want to jump in on this, is that DOD sort of influence that has been mentioned by Mr. Nordstrom a couple of times, from wanting to be permanent in the area, was that an embarrassment for you? Did you get that sense as well that we are trying to do this on our own? | Rep. Doug Collins | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1514 | Mr. Hicks, Colonel Wood in the previous hearing with Mr. Nordstrom testified about trips back and forth of these people, these military people like the four that were told not to get on the plane, himself included. During your time as Deputy Chief of Mission, did those four men doing training ever go to Benghazi? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1515 | Mr. Thompson, let me go to you. You had talked earlier about the deployment of the F.E.S.T. team, and you said that you thought it was important to do that. Were there any other agencies that thought, other than you, that thought that that was important? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1516 | So you are saying that it wasn’t just you, but the DOD—so outside the State Department, the DOD and the FBI both felt like that that was the appropriate response to make sure that we provide that kind of forces? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1517 | But the DOD and FBI had a contradictory response to what the State Department’s ultimate decision was to deploy? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1518 | Mr. Nordstrom, let me go back to the ARB, because everybody talks about how wonderful this process was. What I see it as narrow in scope, incomplete in its nature. And I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but earlier you talked about the ARB fixed blame I think you said on mid-level, or those career employees, not those at a senior level or the political appointments. Is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1519 | And did you not say that that’s where the decisions are made, at that senior level? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1520 | So you personally believe that the decisions are made at a much higher level. And I see, Mr. Hicks, you are nodding your head ‘‘yes.’’ Is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1521 | So the ARB, in looking to place blame on those career employees, ignored a whole lot of the what you would say the decision makers in terms of assigning blame? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1522 | As we look at this, is it fair that all the blame got assigned to the Diplomatic Security component? Aren’t they just one component underneath the management bureau? Is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1523 | So as we look at that, when we start assigning blame, the ARB was incomplete in their analysis in terms of who was to blame for that with regards to an agency. Is that correct? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1524 | I know I don’t have much time, but Mr. Hicks, I want to set the table for the next round. On September the th, , did you receive an email from Beth Jones that also copied Victoria Nuland, William Burns, Patrick Kennedy, and Cheryl Mills? You are also on the distribution list. Do you recall receiving that email? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1525 | This one said, ‘‘When he said his government suspected that former Qadhafi regime elements carried out the attacks, I told him that the group that conducted the attacks, Ansar al-Sharia, is affiliated with Islamic extremists.’’ Do you recall that email? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1526 | Mr. Thompson, earlier you mentioned that you hang out with some brave and honorable group. Are they Navy, Army, Air Force, Marines or shallow-water sailors? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1527 | And this is — this is part of your special security force or team? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1528 | REP. BENTVOLIO: They all highly trained? MR. THOMPSON: Very much so. REP. BENTVOLIO: SWAT? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1529 | Never leave anyone behind, always watch your buddy’s : and lead by example. Is that a safe thing to say? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1530 | So according to recent media reports, at least special operators and highly skilled State Department security staff were available in Tripoli but were not dispatched to aid Americans under attack in Benghazi. Why were these personnel not deployed to rescue the Americans in Benghazi? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1531 | So against that backdrop, this email was sent on September the th. And I want to read you a little quote from Ambassador Rice: Well, Jake (sp), first of all, it’s important to know that there’s an FBI investigation that has begun — this is on September th — that has begun. It has not begun in Benghazi, has it? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1532 | I was an average prosecutor, but I did it for a long time. So let me ask you this: Are you aware of any crime scene that is improved with time? (Laughter.) | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1533 | Trust me when I tell you, crime scenes do not get better with time. They’re unsecured, which means people have access to them. They can walk through them. They can compromise the evidence. Would you agree with me that you would want to talk to witnesses as close to the event as you possibly can? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1534 | So Ambassador Rice is telling the media that the FBI investigation has begun when she’s also talking about a video. And the reality is — and this is the point I want to drive home — the reality is it was a direct result of what she said that the bureau did not get to Benghazi in a timely fashion. Is that true or is that not true? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1535 | You used the word “immeasurable,” that what she said was immeasurable in its damage. I want you to try to measure immeasurable. Tell me what you meant by that. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1536 | And Mr. Hicks, I’d — just to go back and get this, you know, even though you believed help was needed, there was a SOF unit, special operations units ordered to stand down, correct? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1537 | REP. DESANTIS: And even though you thought air support was needed, there was no air support sent. MR. HICKS: No air support was sent. REP. DESANTIS: So no AC- gun ships, no fighter planes, right? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1538 | So when the order to stand down was given, who issued that order? Were you told that Lieutenant Colonel Gibson told you who was ultimately responsible for issuing that order? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1539 | REP. DESANTIS: OK. So you don’t know if it was the combatant commander -MR. HICKS: I do not know. REP. DESANTIS: — or whether it was the secretary of defense or the president, correct? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1540 | And have you — since this incident has happened and you’ve been interviewed, have you been enlightened as to who was ultimately responsible for issuing this stand-down order? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1541 | When you spoke with Secretary Clinton at : a.m., did she express support for giving military assistance to those folks in Benghazi, i.e., did she say that she would request such support from either the secretary of defense or the president of the United States? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1542 | So as part of that discussion, you informed her that you guys in Benghazi were, in fact, under attack, correct? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1543 | So you — it was under your — you viewed it as secured at that point? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1544 | When you spoke to the president following the attack on the phone, did he say anything about deploying assets, whether — why assets were not deployed? | Rep. Ron DeSantis | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1545 | Mr. Hicks, two in the morning, secretary of state calls you personally — not a common call. MR. HICKS: No, sir. REP. ISSA: Did she ask you about the cause of the attack? Did she ask about videos? Did she ask about anything at all that would have allowed you to answer the question of how Benghazi came to be attacked as far as you knew? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1546 | So she wasn’t interested in the cause of the attack, and this was the only time you talked directly to the secretary where you could have told her or not told her about the cause of the attack? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1547 | If you didn’t have that discussion with her only because it was assumed that since you’d already reported that the cause of the attack was essentially Islamic extremists, some of them linked to al-Qaida? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1548 | Mr. Hicks, in my first round, I asked you about Cheryl Mills, and you indicated in your response that this is a call that you always take but frankly don’t want to get. Cheryl Mills is the counselor to the secretary. She is chief of staff to Hillary Clinton. And is it — is it a common — is it common knowledge that — of anyone in the State Department, when the chief of staff to the secretary calls that — is the perception that she is speaking on behalf of the secretary herself? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1549 | Not necessarily. But is the perception that it’s pretty darn important, based on your response earlier? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1550 | The secretary has said nobody — in front of the Senate, nobody is more committed to getting this right. If the intent is to get it right and get to the truth, then why this concerted effort to shield the interaction of Congressman Chaffetz from you? That’s what I’m not figuring out. If we want to get to the truth, shouldn’t you and Mr. Chaffetz be able to have a dialogue and conversation without some baby sitter from the State Department, some lawyer there monitoring, taking notes, calling back, doing all things that this individual did on that congressional visit? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1551 | And didn’t you say — excuse me — Mr. — didn’t you say, Mr. Hicks, in my first round, that this was the first and only time this had ever happened, where someone from the State Department accompanied a congressional visit, and you were instructed specifically by the State Department, do not talk to Congressman Chaffetz or anyone on the committee’s delegation who is there without this lawyer being present? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1552 | And shortly after the one time when you did have a chance to interact with Mr. Chaffetz and the lawyer was not president — was not present, you got a phone call from Cheryl Mills.’ | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1553 | And on that phone call, what did she say? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1554 | Were you in a classified briefing at the time and were pulled out of that briefing to talk to Ms. Mills? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1555 | What were you pulled out of the briefing for? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1556 | But in close proximity to the time you had the briefing, the one time you were apart from the minder from State Department, you get — you received a call from Ms. Mills? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1557 | Mr. Hicks, you and I have known each other throughout the Middle East for a number of years, but in all my years of traveling in the Middle East, any time I was head of a congressional delegation, I had a one-on-one with the ambassador, often in an automobile going to see a head of state or something else. Over the years that you’ve watched great ambassadors, have you ever failed to see the head of a delegation coming, get a one-on-one? Isn’t that part of sort of the ceremony of that relationship in how you treat the head of a congressional delegation — not just this is an exception, but isn’t it always a one-on-one meeting at some point during a leadership meeting? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1558 | So they were telling you a non-Senate-confirmed, a political appointee of the secretary of state, her right-hand person was telling you to breach protocol? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1559 | So it was, in fact, people sent by the State Department told you to breach protocol and not provide anything, even if requested by my personal emissary, Mr. Chaffetz, on the co-del, told you not to — not to talk to him privately, even if he asked? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1560 | Mr. Hicks, I was just listening to your testimony, and it’s — during your interview with the committee you were asked point blank — and that — certainly that was closer to the time that this happened — whether anyone at the department instructed you to withhold information from Representative Chaffetz at any time during that trip. You were asked, and I quote, “Did you receive any direction about information that Congressman Chaffetz shouldn’t be given from Washington?” And you replied, no, I did not. Is that — is that still your testimony? I’m not — this is your sworn testimony. I’m just looking at the testimony. You don’t remember that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1561 | So in other words, you did say that you were told to make sure that other State Department officials were present. Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1562 | Now, Mr. Hicks, you said that four military personnel were told not to board that plane, and that this call — you don’t know where it came from. That’s what you said a few minutes ago. And so you did not know that it came from Special Operations Command Africa? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1563 | On October st, , the secretary of state convened an accountability review board led by Thomas Pickering, ambassador, Admiral Michael Mullen to investigate the attacks in Benghazi. After interviewing more than people, viewing hours of videotape and reviewing thousands of pages of documents, the ARB issued a very thorough report in December setting forth the results of its review. Mr. Hicks, did you meet with the ARB as part of that investigation? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1564 | And Mr. Nordstrom, did you meet with the ARB as a part of the investigation? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1565 | It is my understanding that a cable went out to every employee at the State Department informing them of how to contact the ARB if they wanted to bring information forward. Mr. Thompson, did you receive that notice? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1566 | And did you contact the ARB and request to meet with them? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1567 | And so, did you end up meeting with the ARB as part of their review? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1568 | Did you — did anyone try to stop you from meeting with the ARB? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1569 | Mr. Nordstrom, it’s pretty clear to me from the October hearing that there were a number of security recom-mendations that were — that you wanted to see done on the ground. Did — at any time during your service there, did you ever get everything that you wanted? Were the recommendations that you were making for-ward, did they — were you actually able to implement those security recommendations? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1570 | Mr. Hicks, is it fair to say that the people on the ground trying to make the security decisions, that they were not able to get the resources, they weren’t able to fortify the facility, they didn’t have the personnel that they requested — is that fair to say? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1571 | When I saw Secretary Clinton, four and a half months after the attack in Benghazi, testify before the United States Congress that she didn’t make the security decisions, you made the security decisions, Mr. Nordstrom, you’re the regional security officer on the ground, you are the chief security person, you’re the ones that made the security decisions. True or false? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1572 | So true or false: The security decisions on the ground in Libya were made by you. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1573 | Mr. Hicks, when you heard and saw that, did you have a reaction to it? What’s your personal opinion? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1574 | Mr. Nordstrom, you testified in October there were -and-some security instances in Libya the months prior to the attack. Is that correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1575 | Repeated attempts to breach the facility there. You repeatedly asked for additional security personnel and it was denied. Correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1576 | Not only denied, but it was reduced, correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1577 | And then four and a half months after it all happens, the secretary of state says: You were responsible for the security situation in Libya. That’s what we have. That is exactly what we have. You repeatedly asked, send us some more of the good guys. They said, we can’t do it. In fact, we’re going to take some of them away. You guys are on your own. They made that decision in Washington. In fact, Mr. Nordstrom, the hearing ended in October. The hearing — the only hearing we had last fall before an election — hearing ended with you referring to the folks in Washington, your superiors, who wouldn’t give you what you needed — you referring to them as the Taliban. Is that correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1578 | Mr. Thompson, is it your decision who you talked to, and did we ever — any of my people ever tell you not to talk to the Democrat minority? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1579 | OK, Mr. Hicks, have we ever suggested that you not talk to the minority, any of their people? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1580 | Mr. Nordstrom, has anyone on my staff or any of my members ever asked you not to speak to them. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1581 | I’d like to go back to Mr. Chaffetz’s — or other people’s questioning about Cheryl Mills’ phone call. And reading the transcripts of it, Mr. Hicks, you told our investigators that she did not seem happy when she heard that no other State Department official was in the classified briefing. Is that true? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1582 | Was she unhappy that no other State Department official was included, just that State Department official? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1583 | And you also said that she never criticized you. And according to your interview transcript you said she never gave you any direct criticism. Do you stand by that statement today? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1584 | Going to the diplomatic post in Benghazi, as I understand it, the British ambassador’s convoy was attacked. A gentleman was killed. And they decided to pull out of Benghazi. Is that correct? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1585 | My question is, did the British ambassador close the post in Benghazi and leave? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1586 | Claiming my time — I will yield if somebody wants me to yield, but I wanted to ask, when we continued to stay there, do you think that was a wise decision for us to continue to stay in Benghazi after the English had closed their post and left? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1587 | Why was it important for us to stay in Benghazi? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1588 | And so he shared your position that staying there was incredibly important. | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1589 | And according this report, the team could not travel to Benghazi for some time due to the security situation on the ground. Is that true? Were all of our people out of Benghazi, and were we not letting anyone in Benghazi? What exactly was happening then, Mr. Hicks? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1590 | So when the FBI went to Benghazi, it was when the Libyan government felt that it was secure enough for them to go there. Is that a fair statement? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1591 | If I understand your testimony correctly, Mr. Hicks — and I want to be fair about it. So if I mischaracterize anything, you need to correct me. If I understand your testimony in part, the ambassador was interested in going to Benghazi because of interests Secretary Clinton had in Benghazi. Is that fair? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1592 | And if I’m unfair in my characterization, you need to correct me. I thought I understood your testimony to be that Secretary Clinton alone was able to improve facilities that were below specs. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1593 | And now to my third point, to complete the circle, who is Cheryl Mills? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1594 | We’re going to be winding down; there’s a vote call. But I want to ask each of you: You’re whistle-blowers. You’re the kind of people that give us information we wouldn’t otherwise have. Do you believe what you’re doing today is what we need to keep doing? In other words, do we need other whistle-blowers to come forward, other fact witnesses who know what we don’t currently know? And I’m not asking you to ask if this was a great process or you enjoyed it, but was it worthwhile, in your opinion, as people who have now gone through this process? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1595 | Mr. Nordstrom, I just need to follow up on a conversation we had earlier dealing with the cable that you said March the th, You had mentioned that you drafted that cable requesting additional personnel for both the embassy in Tripoli and in Benghazi because you were very much short, and that as time was expiring, they were — as SST team were leaving, you knew you were not going to have enough people. You mentioned you drafted the cable. Your intention was and your assumption was the executive leadership, including the undersecretary all the way to the secretary would see that cable or at least be briefed on that cable and your request for that security. There’s been a lot of discussion about the official response that came back on April the th. Who do you think saw or the intention, or at least reflected the opinion of when that cable came back to you? When that cable response came back to you, who was the assumption that was absolutely responding to you? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1596 | Of that cable that came back. It is an established fact that there is a video of the attack — there are clear video of the attackers the night. The FBI has done an extensive investigation. We’re now months past that time. Are any of you aware of anyone who has been held to account for the murders that happened in Libya, anyone detained, anyone arrested, anyone captured — are you aware of anything that has happened to any of the attackers to hold them to account? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1597 | So at this point, no one is aware of anyone who’s been held to account in any way for the — for the murder of four Americans? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1598 | And talking about the — on Page you talk about the rating level assigned for threat categories for our various posts. And there are four of them: critical, high, medium and low. And we have posts that — where we had security concerns, overseas diplomatic posts, at the time of Benghazi. There were posts rated as either high or critical, not a huge number, but Two of them — two of the posts were Benghazi and Tripoli. Are you aware of that, Mr. Thompson? Mr. Nordstrom, you put it in there. So it’s not like they had this incredible array of posts that were on this high alert. Is that correct? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1599 | Up on Page , when I had my time before, I said Embassy Tripoli — this is from the report — did not demonstrate strong and sustained advocacy with Washington for increased security for Special Mission Benghazi. And yet we’ve heard your predecessor, Mr. Hicks, pleaded for additional help. You pleaded for it. It’s documented, and you didn’t get it. You actually got a reduction. Is that correct, as was pointed out? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1600 | Finally, for the ARB, you put in here, to ignore the role of senior department leadership played before or during and after the September th attack sends a clear message to all State Department employees. It looks like they’re whitewashing the folks at the higher pay grades and levels, and you all are taking the blame. Is that a fair assessment? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1601 | Mr. Thompson? And I still can’t believe that you were never interviewed — and you had one of the most strategic positions — by the ARB. And that is true? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/8/13 |
| 1602 | Mr. Keil, at the current time, isn’t it true that both the facilities’ sufficiency and the sufficiency of diplomatic security rise to Undersecretary Kennedy? Effectively, he is the undersecretary for diplomatic security at this time, under the current structure. Isn’t that true? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1603 | So he is, in fact, in a position where he — the pyramid rises to him. Your recommendation and the recommendation years ago is that he be relieved of diplomatic security and that be placed in a separate undersecretary position. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1604 | Wouldn’t that create, by definition, a situation in which somebody’d be responsible for the hardware, the facilities, including Inman compliance, and somebody else would be responsible for the bodies and the support. Have you considered that, and how would we or the Foreign Affairs Committee structure that, briefly? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1605 | And wasn’t the failure in Benghazi both a failure to have the facilities sufficient and a failure to have sufficient physical security in the — in the way of armed personnel? Weren’t those both failures that rose to one undersecretary? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1606 | And Admiral, I think I heard you correctly clearly saying that you had limitations in what the ARB mandate was, including that your limitations are — you can’t really, under the ARB, look at policy deficiencies and, by definition, you were mandated to look at the lowest level of operational failure, not the highest level of policy failure. Is that true? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1607 | Well, the decision to extend the facility for another year with limited protection and not meeting Inman or close- to-Inman standards was a decision made by Undersecretary Kennedy. So did you consider that policy error, the error to be there with insufficient physical and human resources, as a policy decision or only that someone lower was responsible? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1608 | So whoever is responsible for not having enough security personnel is the person who — (inaudible) — | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1609 | And when I heard you, you said that the — both of you said that the administration, the secretary and so on made your job easy because you had full access to a hundred witnesses, and the attempt was to have full transparency. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1610 | Do you think that Congress should have that same option? In other words, since the State Department has not made one of those witnesses you interviewed first available — meaning people in Benghazi who were in fact witnesses, none have been made available. As a matter of fact, even the names have been to the greatest extent possible withheld from this committee. Do you believe that’s appropriate, or do you believe that we should have access to fact witnesses as we review the process? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1611 | Admiral, if something like the Cole attack occurred again today and Congress said we wanted to speak to people who were on the deck of that ship, today, would you believe that we should have a right to speak to those people in order to understand the facts on the ground that day? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1612 | Admiral Mullen, in your review did you have access to all military information data and people necessary to evaluate the military — the military’s response? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1613 | And I understand from your interview transcript that you conducted this examination not once but twice, is that correct? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1614 | So just to be clear. You have years of experience in the military, and achieved the highest ranks. You have access to all the information and personnel you thought were necessary to investigate the interagency response on the night of the attacks. And you personally reviewed everything twice. Do I have that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1615 | You told the committee during your interview — and I quote — “I concluded after a detailed understanding of what had happened that night that from outside Libya, that we’d done everything possible that we could.” Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1616 | Can you explain, from your perspective, what it means for the military to have done, quote, “everything possible,” end of quote. What I’m getting at is, did the military really try everything? And I ask this for the families who want to know that the country their loved ones served did everything they could do for them. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1617 | So, Admiral, what do you say in response to those members who continue to this day to imply that the military somehow fell down on the job? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1618 | Ambassador Pickering, I see you shaking your head. Would you comment? I have about a minute left. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1619 | Unfortunately — and the ranking member mentioned this — in my district and the vast majority of Americans feel that your report was a whitewash. He said whitewash or cover-up. But that’s what people feel. And they feel their government let them down. They feel that American public servants were lost there. And now the review is — doesn’t really address anything. Nobody’s been fired. Nobody’s been dismissed. No one’s been arrested for the murders. I can’t tell you how frustrating this is. Do you understand where the American public is coming from, Admiral Mullen? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1620 | Then, again, investigating people above — it’s all below the lower level, of which nobody — a couple of people temporarily moved, all with pay, into other positions. You didn’t interview the secretary of state. She appointed four out of the five members, is that correct, of the board? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1621 | Again, you didn’t investigate if — OK, you didn’t go to Clinton. How about the deputy secretary, William Burns? Was he interviewed? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1622 | Finally, when Secretary Clinton testified, she said, I talked to the president at the end of the day, but I’ve been in constant communication with the national security adviser. I guess it was Tom Donilon at the time, the staff told me. Did you interview Tom Donilon? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1623 | You agreed to volunteer months of your time to serve on this ARB. So Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering, can each of you explain why you agreed to serve on the board? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1624 | You know, the ARB staff — comments were made by the Republican staff report. They said, and I quote, Undersecretary for Management Patrick Kennedy supervised the selection of the Benghazi ARB staff. This placed the staff in a position in which their duties required them to evaluate the performance of supervisors, colleagues and friends, close quote. Ambassador Pickering, how do you respond to the notion that the selection of staff created inappropriate conflict of interest? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1625 | Ambassador, the chairman’s report also raises questions about your recommendation of board member Catherine Bertini. Do you in any way believe that your recommendation of Catherine Bertini created a conflict of interest, and can you explain who she is and why you recommended her as a board member? | Rep. John Tierney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1626 | Wouldn’t you agree that in fact your makeup was a makeup of people like Admiral Mullen, who was responsible for the policy ultimately just before he left as chairman of the Joint Chiefs that had no response to this / attack? And of course you had years of viewing things through an ambassador’s eyes. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1627 | But wouldn’t you agree there was no accountability? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1628 | I’d like to ask Ambassador Pickering or Admiral Mullen, how did you come to that conclusion? Were there specific documents that led you to that statement? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1629 | Your report says on page four that, quote, systematic failures in leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a special mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack. What were the systematic failures and leadership that you’re talking about in that statement? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1630 | I had to slip out briefly to another committee and maybe you’ve already answered this but were you surprised or shocked that he or any of these other three people — the top four that have been removed, that they weren’t — that no one was fired? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1631 | So you don’t fire them in the way that they would be fired in the private sector? | Rep. John Duncan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1632 | Isn’t it true in the military you’d get an adverse OER, you’d never be promoted again in all likelihood and your career would be over? And in an up or out basis you have a limited time before you’re going to be forced out and if you’re a second first lieutenant, you’re going to be forced out before you’re eligible for retirement. So in the military, isn’t there a level of ultimate accountability in which your career is over and you know it at that moment? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1633 | Now, Admiral Mullen, in your interview with the committee you said that during an unfolding crisis like this, the president is likely to tell the military leaders to, quote, “do anything possible to respond.” And this is basically the direction we need to start moving assets forward and formulating a response. Is that basically your testimony? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1634 | Did it happen in this case? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1635 | Ambassador Pickering, the committee had the opportunity to interview — our committee had the opportunity to interview Jake Sullivan, the former director of policy planning at the State Department. And he told us — this is a rather lengthy quote, but he told us that Secretary Clinton and other senior officials were heavily engaged on the night of the attacks. And let me read you what he said exactly, and this is a quote: “Secretary Clinton was receiving reports of what was happening and she made a series of phone calls as a result of that and gave direction to Pat Kennedy, to diplomatic security, to Becciones (sp) to do everything possible with respect to our own resources and with respect to Libyan resources to try to respond to this situation. She was deeply engaged. She not only was receiving regular reports and updates but she was proactively reaching out. She spoke with Director Petraeus. She spoke with the national security advisor on more than one occasion. She participated in the secure video teleconference system and she made other phone calls that night. And from the time she first learned of it, Secretary Clinton was the — this was the only thing that she was focused on.” So Ambassador Pickering, are Mr. Sullivan’s statements consistent with what you found regarding interagency response? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1636 | And were State Department officials immediately engaged as the attacks unfolded? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1637 | In your opinion, did they do everything that they could to — they could that night? | Rep. Stephen Lynch | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1638 | In your interview with the committee staff — transcribed interview — the committee asked you the ARB is supposed to be set up as an independent review board. Did you have any questions about the independence of the board? Your response: from my perspective, the most important descriptive characteristic of it was that it would be independent. Is that all accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1639 | In that same interview with committee staff, you were asked did you update the State Department in the course of the ARB. You replied, quote, “Shortly after we interviewed Ms. Lamb,” Charlene Lamb, “I initiated a call to Ms. Mills to give her a heads-up because at this point Ms. Lamb was on the list to come over here to testify.” Now, the over here to testify, is that in reference to when Ms. Lamb testified in front of this committee? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1640 | In October? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1641 | And this Ms. Mills you refer to here, is this the same Ms. Mills who is Cheryl Mills, chief of staff and counselor to the secretary of State? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1642 | And this is the same Ms. Mills that Greg Hicks testified when he was in front of the committee last spring that when she calls, you take her call; it’s a call you don’t always want to get but it’s one you always take? That’s the same Cheryl Mills we’re talking about? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1643 | Later in that same response to the committee’s question about you updating the State Department in the course of the ARB, you said this: “So essentially, I gave Ms. Mills” — Cheryl Mills, chief of staff, counselor to the secretary of State — “a heads up. I thought that her appearance, Charlene Lamb, could be a very difficult appearance for the State Department.” | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1644 | If this is so independent, why are you giving the State Department a heads up about a witness coming in front of this committee? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1645 | All right, so you had a phone call with Ms. Mills? Is that what we’re talking about? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1646 | The ARB was formed on October rd, correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1647 | REP. JORDAN: All right. Charlene Lamb came in front of this committee October th, seven days later. ADM. MULLEN: Correct. Right. REP. JORDAN: So why was she — why was she the — one of the first people you interviewed? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1648 | How did you know she was on the list? Who told you she was testifying in front of Congress? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1649 | So what day did you interview — what day did you interview Charlene Lamb, do you know? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1650 | And then when did you talk to Cheryl Mills, right after that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1651 | You know what else happened between October rd and October th? Congressman Chaffetz, sitting in the chair, went to Libya. And on that trip, for the first time, under what Greg Hicks testified in front of this committee last spring, the State Department, Cheryl Mills, sent a staff lawyer on that trip. And Greg Hicks testified, the first time in all his years in diplomatic service where that lawyer was instructed to be in every single meeting Jason Chaffetz had with Greg Hicks. That also happened. Did you and Cheryl Mills talk about that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1652 | That also had — and Greg Hicks also testified that when there was a meeting at a classified level that this staff lawyer was not eligible to attend, he got a phone call quickly thereafter from Cheryl Mills saying, why in the world did you let this meeting take place, where this lawyer couldn’t be in that meeting? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1653 | And this is the same Cheryl Mills in that same time frame you’re giving a heads up to, and yet we’re supposed to believe this report is independent? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1654 | Let me ask you one last question, because my time is up. Did Cheryl Mills — two last questions, if I could, Mr. Chairman. Did Cheryl Mills get to see this report before it went public? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1655 | So both Cheryl Mills and Hillary Clinton got to see this report before it went public? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1656 | So if an inspector general — if you learned that an inspector general in the course of an investigation informed his agency leadership that a witness scheduled to testify before Congress would reflect poorly on the agency, would you have concerns about an inspector general doing the same thing you did? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1657 | I’m old enough to remember Lebanon, where our embassy was bombed not once, but twice. I lost a good friend in that embassy bombing in the early ‘s. And then, of course, we also lost a Marine amphibious unit; well over lives were lost. I don’t remember, Mr. Pickering, an ARB at that time. Was there an ARB? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1658 | Admiral Mullen, speaking of which, in an entirely partisan report leaked to the press, not shared with this side of the committee — which should give you a big fat hint as to what the intent is — you were the subject of an allegation. Follow up on the questioning just now, where, quote, “Mullen put Cheryl Mills on notice in advance of her interview that the board’s questions could be difficult for the State Department,” under the title that you gave Ms. Mills an inappropriate heads-up prior to her ARB interview. I want to give you an opportunity to respond to that allegation. | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1659 | You don’t think that you made a — gave an inappropriate heads-up to Ms. Mills? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1660 | Did you give an inappropriate heads-up to Charlene Lamb? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1661 | Ambassador Pickering, did you want to comment on that? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1662 | Mr. — Admiral Mullen, one of the — (chuckles) — one of the things that’s seemingly been disproved time and time again — but it keeps up coming up, as recently as our hearing on Benghazi yesterday at the Foreign Affairs Committee — and that is the canard that there was an order to stand down, that somebody gave a command that the military was not to respond. Could you put that allegation to rest? Did that in fact happen, or did it not? | Rep. Gerry Connolly | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1663 | Stevens, Smith, Woods and Doherty — God bless them. That’s what this is all about. Admiral Mullen, I’d like to direct my questions to you. Within the Department of Defense, was there an after-action review or report that was done, and did you read it? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1664 | Did you — did the ARB ever talk to Lieutenant Colonel Steven Gibson? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1665 | Did you or anybody in the ARB speak with anybody from the Office of Security Cooperation located at the embassy? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1666 | But not within the Office of Security Cooperation. What about — who is Colonel George Bristol? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1667 | He is the commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara, directly responsible for the Office of Security Cooperation, and was not interviewed by the ARB. Did you ever speak with Read Admiral Richard Landolt, director of operations for AFRICOM? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1668 | And nobody within the ARB did, as well? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1669 | Rear Admiral Brian Losey, do you know who he is? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1670 | He was the commander of Special Operations Command at the time of the Benghazi attack. Did you or the ARB interview him? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1671 | Did you speak Vice Admiral Charles Joe Leidig, deputy to the commander for military operations there at AFRICOM? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1672 | But all of these people that I name off, directly involved in the operations that night. And one of the concerns is you didn’t read an after-action report or review — we don’t even know if there’s one that’s been done. All these people are directly involved, but they were not engaged in this. What time did you — what time — | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1673 | I — what time did the Department of Defense ask Libya for permission for flight clearance? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1674 | The question is, did the Department of Defense ever ask Libya for permission for flight clearance? I believe the answer is no. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1675 | We already had permission to fly — the answer is no, correct? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1676 | Let me keep moving. When specifically did the United States military reach out to our NATO partners, given their close proximity? When did that happen? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1677 | Specifically, when did the United States’ jet tankers — whatever you need to do; a show of force — when were they called up? When were they put on alert? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1678 | In Cairo, hours earlier, the demonstrators had breached a wall, got over a -foot wall. They had torn down the American flag. They put up an al-Qaeda-type flag. It was Libya, in — after the revolution, on / We had been bombed twice prior. The British ambassador had the assassination attempt. And nobody is leaning forward? There’s nobody that’s ready to go? Were the — were the closest assets truly in — truly in Djibouti? Is that where the closest assets were? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1679 | Europe actually had more assets that were closer than Djibouti, correct? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1680 | And that’s what we fundamentally do not — do not understand. Did you talk to anybody who did want to move forward? Was there anybody that you came across that did want to engage — | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1681 | Mr. Issa stated on national radio, you still have to say why weren’t there aircraft and capability headed towards them at flank speed, and the next time this happens, can we count on this president or secretary to actually care about people in harm’s way as they are being attacked by al Quaida elements. There are some things wrong with this statement, and I don’t know where to start, but how about this. Do you agree the president of the United States and secretary of state, and I quote, do not care about people in harm’s way? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1682 | With respect to flying jets over Benghazi, page of our report includes an excerpt from your interview transcript where you explain that these planes would have needed refueling maybe twice en route. Is that correct? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1683 | After conducting your own independent review of the military assets, did you reach the same conclusion as Admiral Dempsey — as General Dempsey? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1684 | In fact, on page of our report we quote from your interview transcript. There’s no one I’ve ever met in military that wouldn’t want to get help there instantly. The physics of it, the reality of it, it just wasn’t going to happen for to hours, and I validated that in my review when I went to the Pentagon to look at every single asset that was postured in theater, including those jets in Aviano. Is that correct? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1685 | So Admiral Mullen, both former Secretary Gates and former Secretary Panetta raised other risk-based concerns about sending aircraft to fly over Benghazi on the night of the attack. Are you familiar with their concerns and do you agree with them? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1686 | Mr. Chaffetz asked you about a number of people that you said you didn’t interview. Were you able to give a comment on that? I mean, how did you choose who you interviewed? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1687 | Mr. Sullivan, the ARB report discussed stovepipe to discussions by the State Department regarding decisions on policy and security. My question to you is, what can be done to ensure these security discussions are not stovepiped and that the individuals making the decisions have access to the necessary security information? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1688 | Mr. Keil, the best practice, this panel found that it’s common across many industries to have a hot wash or after-action debriefing of key participants in a critical event. What’s the purpose of a hot wash? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1689 | Does State Department have a hot wash? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1690 | REP. WALBERG: So there’s no lessons-learned process at the Department of State. MR. KEIL: We did not find a lessons-learned process, no. | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1691 | In your opinion, what should the department do to create an effective lessons-learned process? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1692 | Any indication that that’s being done? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1693 | Admiral Mullen, again with all due respect, and this is a rhetorical question, you’ve answered it already. But I just wanted to ask this question to bring the context back again. And that question is, why should we not conclude that a heads-up, as you indicated, is not a desire to coach a witness or an action, especially in the context of an independent panel such as the ARB? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1694 | Ambassador Pickering, why did the board decide not to administer oaths to those testifying before the board? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1695 | So this was consistent with the practice of previous ARBs? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1696 | Why were interviews then not recorded or transcribed? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1697 | Could you see a benefit in adopting this practice, especially in the context that this panel has found it almost impossible to get full information on making decisions on our own, regardless of what the other side of the dais says? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1698 | What do you mean by that? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1699 | Ambassador Pickering, it’s my understanding that Secretary Clinton immediately adopted all recommen-dations in the ARB report and that the State Department is making progress on all of them. Is that true? | Rep. Matt Cartwright | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1700 | REP. CARTWRIGHT: And Ambassador Pickering, I gather you believe that, if implemented, your recom-mendations will make U.S. facilities abroad and the people that serve in them safer. MR. PICKERING: Yes, we believe that is the case, Mr. Cartwright. REP. CARTWRIGHT: Would you take a few moments and explain to us how the recommendations will make us safer? | Rep. Matt Cartwright | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1701 | Would you agree with had an over dependence on Libyan security that night? And the security team that was local, that was not sufficient for the task and that we have an over dependence on them at that point? Anyone can answer. | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1702 | Would you agree we did not have a sufficient number of our own armed security forces on the ground? We had a larger number before, DOD personnel that were there. They were obviously removed, their task, as it was done, they would normalize — as I’ve heard several folks say, both Charlene Lamb and Ambassador Kennedy said they wanted to normalize. That we did not have a sufficient number of armed security there that night? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1703 | Were DOD personnel there in August? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1704 | Did they travel with the ambassador when he went to Benghazi or would they have traveled with him? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1705 | Right, because they didn’t have other folks over there to be able to travel. Those individuals had already left? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1706 | And over the period of time — and they were there for many, many months — over that period of time, the vast majority of their mission was training. | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1707 | Did we have adequate diplomatic security there that night? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1708 | The facility: Did it meet the minimum standards set by — the minimum standards after the ‘, the facility in Benghazi? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1709 | Do you know how many posts that we had worldwide at that time? Obviously, that’s changed dramatically, as it should. How many posts did we have worldwide at that time that didn’t meet that minimum standard? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1710 | A third of our posts did not meet the standards at that time? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1711 | So -or-so posts worldwide, you’re saying a third of those didn’t meet that standard that was set in ? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1712 | What about the high-risk posts? How many posts would you consider were at high-risk, high threat at that time? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1713 | Is there any special chain of authority to have actual personnel there or any differences in high-risk, high- threat? Who makes the decision of putting personnel there and what the security is there? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1714 | So that’d be Charlene Lamb, Patrick Kennedy. Would that go up to the secretary of state’s office, who would have to sign off on that? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1715 | Did you discover if there was a contingency plan? Obviously, we’re in a high-risk location. Libya’s in a civil war or just coming out of that. Did you see that there was a contingency plan for a response in case there was an emergency? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1716 | There’s a relatively small number that are high-risk locations. Should those locations have a contingency? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1717 | So if I can ask specifically — Ambassador Pickering, you talked about the fact that the State Department immediately accepted those recommendations, and they’re in the process of implementing them. How about those recommendations you had for Congress — so I think it’s recommendation number Have we moved at all on the recommendations that you had for Congress, to make sure that we’re protecting our facilities across the world? | Rep. Mark Pocan | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1718 | What did your best management panel recommend to ensure that the State Department would actually implement the recommendations set forth in your report and by the Benghazi ARB? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1719 | Mr. Keil, would you agree with that? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1720 | So let’s go back on — so will regular best management panel evaluations be conducted to ensure that the recommendations set forth in your report, and that the ARB recommendations, will be followed? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1721 | So — and I guess what I’m coming back to is accountability, right? And part of that accountability could be part of Congress’ duty, would it not? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1722 | You know, so from the standpoint of the records that we’ve been talking about with this ARB, the State Department is withholding those interview summaries that have come about because there’s been no transcription — but you know, there has been a recorded log. In order for Congress to do its job we should have access to those, should we not? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1723 | How do you feel about that, Mr. Sullivan? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1724 | How about that, Admiral Mullen? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1725 | First, as to the allegation that the four-man team in Tripoli was ordered to stand down, there was no such order. The team was directed to provide security and medical assistance in Tripoli. Is that correct? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1726 | With respect to the allegation that the military could have flown aircraft over Benghazi in a matter of hours, in fact they would have needed tankers to refuel them, and those tankers were many more hours away. Is that correct? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1727 | In terms of the allegations by unidentified person who claims to be a special operator that a European Command Special Forces team could have prevented the attacks in Benghazi, that is also incorrect, according to your review and the review of General Dempsey. | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1728 | The line of questioning (approached ?) here, for those of us in the military — that we would consider for a second not doing anything we possibly could — just stirs us to our bones, because that’s not who we are. We don’t leave anybody behind. Did you say that? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1729 | Now, what you do you say to those such as my very passionate colleague from Utah who continue to question the integrity, the professionalism and the motives of our military commanders and our men and women in uniform? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1730 | Can you say that the military has learned some valuable lessons from that day and is doing a better job now of considering what we should do in the future in terms of our force posture? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1731 | Admiral, you’re aware of the commandant’s initiative in Sigonella and its response capability, are you not? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1732 | And that would be an example of a direct response where the Marines have taken existing assets, repositioned them for a very different response? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1733 | But your findings, the board that said the key driver behind the weak security platform was the decisions to treat the Benghazi as a temporary residential facility, even though it was a full-time office facility. Is it not correct that Undersecretary Kennedy made that decision? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1734 | At the time of that decision that was made, was it in conformance with what we call the overseas security policy board standards? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1735 | Ambassador Pickering, did you interview Mr. Kennedy? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1736 | Did you interview Mr. Kennedy? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1737 | Did you keep a transcript of that interview? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1738 | You have a record of that interview. What is the record of that interview? Is that notes? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1739 | Is that notes? What is the record of that interview? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1740 | Do you expect that that record will be shared with Congress? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1741 | Now when he — when you asked him questions about this, what were his responses when you asked him about the failure to have a risk mitigation plan or any comprehensive security views, and all of those other things which you identified? When you asked him those questions, what were his responses? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1742 | Do you really believe that his responsibility is only to make a real estate decision, and he’s placing this down on people below him? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1743 | May I ask, you said that he believed, but do you believe that he had a responsibility to look into those factors? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1744 | What was his responsibility then with respect to all of these kinds of shortcomings? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1745 | When you asked him what conversations he had with the secretary of state with regard to the security at Benghazi, what did he tell you? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1746 | Why not? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1747 | I am asking why he’s not being held to the same degree of responsibility in a place in which you just identify yourself that the security reviews were so deficient in so many ways. | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1748 | Ambassador Pickering, there were — you identified separate circumstances of aspects in which there were threats and other kinds of very serious things, and he says he monitors it every day. Now what is the discrepancy? Why wouldn’t that — in his attention, why would this not be brought to the attention where he makes a decision or, as he says, he discusses with the secretary of State the circumstances of that — of Benghazi? | Rep. Pat Meehan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1749 | The majority has used in every way they can the presence of Hillary Clinton to somehow point to an (elevator ?) that links up with her name or with her. For example, in an earlier hearing they pointed out that she signed a cable — (laughs) — and the truth came out, it’s a stamp that’s on every cable of the secretary. So we take everything there with a grain of salt. But this is an opportunity to clarify this issue. We recognize — at least I recognize that not every important matter, even one as important as this, would necessarily involve agency heads, but again, her name has been raised over and over again. So I have to ask you, if you received any evidence that led you to believe that the secretary should be interviewed, or what did — what is it about your investigation that led you to believe that she should not be interviewed, although apparently her name does appear in the report a fair number of times? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1750 | And why was that? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1751 | Now, are these levels — let me ask Admiral Mullen. Are these security matters matters that you would not expect to go to the agency head but to be resolved by security officials? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1752 | I understand you didn’t interview Secretary Clinton. Did you submit written questions to her for her response? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1753 | Was Secretary Clinton aware of the attacks on western targets in Benghazi leading up to September , ? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1754 | She was aware of the attacks on western targets. Was she aware that the British ambassador was almost assassinated in Benghazi in the weeks and months leading up to September , ? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1755 | Was she aware of the request for additional security at the Benghazi facility? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1756 | Was she aware of a specific request from the ambassador himself for improved security at that facility? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1757 | My question was, was she aware of that? Was the secretary of state aware of it? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1758 | So you can understand — with all due respect to my colleagues who don’t want to mention the secretary of state’s name, you can understand my question. Did she personally review the security at Benghazi? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1759 | Did she personally consider closing the facility in Benghazi, again, given the fact that a panel exactly like the one you co-chaired recommended — recommended the secretary of state personally review it? My question to you is, did she? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1760 | But my question, Admiral, is you never interviewed the secretary of state about whether she — whether she accepted and performed a responsibility given to her by a previous Accountability Review Board. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1761 | I want to read you a quote, and I want to ask you if you know the author of that quote. OK? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1762 | According to an ARB just like yours from , she should personally review it. Did you ask her whether she was familiar with that previous ARB recommendation? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1763 | I will read you another quote. “Over the last several months, there was a review board headed by two distinguished Americans, Mike Mullen and Tom Pickering, who investigated every element on this” — with “this” being Benghazi. Do you know the author of that quote? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1764 | Barack Obama. Did you interview him and ask whether he made any calls to any of our allies in the region and said, can you help us, our guys are under attack? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1765 | Admiral, my colleague Jason Chaffetz asked you about Cheryl Mills, and a conversation you had with her. And I noted, two different times, you’ve said you wanted to give her a heads-up. And make no mistake, she’s the lawyer for Hillary Clinton. She’s the counsel for the State Department. You wanted to give her a heads-up. A heads-up about what? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1766 | Were you concerned that she would tell the truth or not tell the truth? When you say not be a good witness, what was your concern? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1767 | Were you concerned that she would tell the truth or not tell the truth? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1768 | Did you think she was just not going to be an effective witness, or — | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1769 | Well, Admiral, wasn’t she a fact witness? I mean, the facts pick the witnesses. I mean, the State Department doesn’t pick witnesses; the facts pick the witnesses. She was a fact witness, right? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1770 | REP. CUMMINGS: This is a question — and the reason why I wanted to hear your answer is this has — as I’m just listening to you, this is has nothing to do with honesty and integrity with regard to what the witness would say. It — ADM. MULLEN: No. REP. CUMMINGS: Nothing like that. It’s — what — I mean, what does it have to do with? In other words, is there somebody — for example, is there’s somebody who don’t — my not know the facts, may not understand. I mean, you spoke — | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1771 | REP. CUMMINGS: In that case, would you — you wanted the best information to come to the ARB. Is that — ADM. MULLEN: At that point, sure. REP. CUMMINGS: To the Congress. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1772 | So I would like to ask you, Ambassador Pickering, since you have spent a majority of your years in the State Department, and serving our country many times overseas, do you believe that because the department stamped the secretary’s name on this cable that she personally approved it? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1773 | And how many cables a year are sent out, would you say? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1774 | And what does the State Department manual say about this? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1775 | Could you mention for the panel the four top recommendations, in your opinion, of the ARB to make our personnel and our professionals and our public servants safer overseas? | Rep. Carolyn Maloney | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1776 | The brevity as well as the incongruity of some statements in the ARB’s report begs the question, what was Ambassador Stevens doing in Benghazi? And I apologize for asking this, but it begs to be asked. So let me read a statement from the report: “The board found that Ambassador Stevens made the decision to travel to Benghazi independently of Washington.” Now, let me read you the testimony of Mr. Hicks when he was here in front of this very committee. I asked him, “Did you tell the Accountability Review Board about Secretary Clinton’s interest in establishing a permanent presence in Benghazi, because ostensibly wasn’t that the reason the ambassador was going to Benghazi?” Mr. Hicks said this, “Yes, I did tell the Accountability Review Board that Secretary Clinton wanted the post made permanent. Ambassador Pickering looked surprised. He looked both ways to the members of the board, saying, does the seventh floor know about this? And another factor,” Hicks went on to say, “was our understanding that Secretary Clinton intended to visit Tripoli in December.” I asked him, “So Pickering was surprised that this was Ambassador Stevens’ mission to establish a permanent facility there? Is that your impression?” He said yes. Were you surprised by his statement? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1777 | So why wasn’t that included in the ARB report that Secretary Clinton had directed him to go there? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1778 | So you disagree with this — do you disagree with his testimony in front of your board? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1779 | Can that report be made available to all the members here? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1780 | Are you at liberty to say how many of those witnesses or survivors were CIA operatives? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1781 | Can you say if any of them were? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1782 | You said you had unfettered access to State Department employees. Does that also include to the CIA employees? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1783 | How many people were evacuated from Benghazi immediately following the attacks? You mentioned an airplane that took people out of there. | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1784 | So maybe people? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1785 | How many of those were State Department employees and how many were military? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1786 | Do you have a comprehensive inventory of U.S. weapons or small arms that were there or at the annex before and after the attack? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1787 | Is it true that after the attack those facilities were left unsecured for quite some time? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1788 | Can you give us a list of what was evacuated? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1789 | Are you aware of any arms that, not by accident, but by intention were being transferred to Turkey or Syria from Libya? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1790 | Can you give us — can you make any statements that give us confidence that that was not occurring? | Rep. Thomas Massie | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1791 | I just want to ask you all because, again, you’ve all been entrusted with these responsibilities for much longer than I. Understanding a division of the government here, executive, legislative, judicial, trying to serve that public trust, Mr. Keil, would you conclude that we could serve that public trust best if this committee could have access to as much information as possible and then dispose of this issue as quickly and thoroughly as possible? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1792 | Mr. Sullivan? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1793 | Admiral Mullen? | Rep. Rob Woodall | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1794 | Ambassador Pickering, isn’t it the case that in many parts of the world, State Department officials don’t have the best of choices from which to operate a diplomatic post? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1795 | And whose responsibility was that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1796 | Can you tell us in practical terms how your recommendations will help the State Department going forward strike the balance between important policy imperatives and the fact that there are not always a lot of good choices from which to operate? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1797 | Mr. Sullivan, a key to this seems to be risk mitigation. Can you explain how your best-practices panel addressed this issue and explain how a department-wide risk management model would help? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1798 | You say intuition? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1799 | And Ambassador Pickering, I want to address this question to you, and if you would put a slide up on the screen so that we can know what we’re talking about there. If I could ask committee to do that. But in that you were copied on a memo, that Cohen memo because you were the undersecretary for political affairs, and it talked about the issue, and I quote: The issue of the DS, or diplomatic security, reporting to the secretary of State was controversial with the corporate board. What is the corporate board? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1800 | OK, were you a member of that corporate board? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1801 | So why was this controversial with that corporate board? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1802 | But you would support that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1803 | When we’re talking about the lives of Americans, tradeoff is not a good word. Would you agree with that? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1804 | You had an ARB that was extensive, so this can be to you, Ambassador, and to you, Admiral Mullen. Why was this particular issue not brought up in the ARB when it was clearly recommended when we had a tragedy in east Africa before? Why would you not have addressed this as an issue? | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1805 | So for the record today, each of you, are you for this or against it, this recommendation? For the record. I want both of you to tell me where you are, on the record. | Rep. Mark Meadows | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1806 | Ambassador Pickering, in your deposition you said that no other ARB was so extensive and far- reaching in its findings of personal responsibility or personal accountability, or made such far-reaching recommendations at such high levels in the State Department. Is that correct? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1807 | You further said that you were able to arrive at that conclusion because you had your staff review all of the other ARBs that were reported on, to compare how they did their work and what they reported. Is that true? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1808 | Then can you explain how your review of previous ARBs led you to conclude that your ARB was one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1809 | I also understand that a principal reason for doing the review of recommendations is that you felt that previous ARBs had made good recommendations but that the State Department sometimes fell short in implementing them. Is that correct? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1810 | Then could you tell us what steps that you took with this ARB to ensure that the recommendations you made would, in fact, be implemented? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1811 | Then have you been able to follow your recommendations and see how they are being implemented? And, if so, what have you found? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1812 | One senior State Department official interviewed by the committee said that while serving in Libya, he saw evidence that the ARB recommendations were being implemented. He said, and I quote, when I was charged in Tripoli for six months, for example, there was a huge number of security upgrades that are under way, many of them, you know, attributable, either directly or indirectly, to ARB. Are you encouraged by this comment? | Rep. Danny Davis | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1813 | REPRESENTATIVE KERRY BENTIVOLIO (R-MI): Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Gentlemen, thank you very much for your distinguished service. I certainly appreciate it. I’m going to be real quick. I have a lot of questions, but only five minutes to ask them. Admiral, I especially took note of your distinguished career and noticed that you were the captain of several ships or Navy vessels. Correct? ADM. MULLEN: Correct. REP. BENTIVOLIO: And on those boats, vessels, ships -ADM. MULLEN: Ships. REP. BENTIVOLIO: Ships, thank you. I’m an old Army guy. ADM. MULLEN: (Laughs.) REP. BENTIVOLIO: That you probably created a culture on that ship that had a high degree — or those ships — that had a high degree of morale, a culture of safety, risk management, as we were speaking about, and maintaining a high state of discipline and readiness. Is that correct? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1814 | But there’s — let me get back to this risk management. It seems to me, from what I’ve been hearing all day, there was a lack of it in — well, in the State Department. Did you find that also to be true? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1815 | So you’re familiar with the military risk- management matrix, correct? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1816 | We start at — the very top would be extremely high risk, right? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1817 | The part I’m talking about — and I think we touched on this in earlier questioning — you developed or the military tries to develop a culture around risk management. And I think that’s what you’re trying to improve when you talk about discussing this at the Pentagon, right? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1818 | But I seem to have found absent in the leadership of the State Department. And I was just reading — and just to prove your point in how we try to create a culture of safety and evaluating risks at all levels, I have a copy from the manual that is often used in training a first line of leaders — E-s, sergeants. I think — what do you call them in the Navy, E-s? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1819 | REP. BENTIVOLIO: Petty officers. Thank you. Petty officer. You have the same — similar classes where they learn leadership skills -ADM. MULLEN: Yes. REP. BENTIVOLIO: — including risk-management analysis. Correct? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1820 | Mr. Keil, Mr. Sullivan, thank you. And you brought up risk management as well. Are you familiar with — well, it says here — let me read this — leaders and individuals at all levels are responsible and accountable for managing risk. They must ensure that hazards and associated risks are identified and controlled during planning, preparation, execution and operations. Are you familiar with that? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1821 | Are you familiar with the matrix that I’m talking about, referring to? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1822 | If I — if you were going to Libya, how would you evaluate on that matrix? What would be the level of risk — high, extremely high, medium, or low? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1823 | Extremely high. Would you not try to address those things to lower that risk, including worst-case scenarios? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1824 | And because of that absence of culture, the captain of the ship, so to speak, probably wouldn’t get a very good rating. Is that correct? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1825 | And who is the captain of the Department of State at the time? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1826 | And name, please? | Rep. Kerry Bentivolio | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1827 | Ambassador Pickering, do you agree that you downplayed Undersecretary Kennedy’s role? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1828 | And Admiral Mullen, would you answer the same question? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1829 | Ambassador Pickering, did the Accountability Review Board review the December memorandum approved by Undersecretary Kennedy? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1830 | Ambassador Pickering, can you explain what role Undersecretary Kennedy had in that memo and why you did not conclude that he was responsible for the specific measures at the temporary facility? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1831 | Admiral Mullen, do you agree with that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1832 | The report states, and this is — I’ll close with this — “The decision to end the SST mission in Libya in July was made by Ambassador Kennedy albeit based upon the recommendation from Charlene Lamb.” Do you all have a comment on that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1833 | There was the discussion about giving the heads up to Cheryl Mills. So what was the purpose of doing that? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1834 | And I understand as a CNO, and I was in the Navy when you were CNO, and I appreciate that. But I guess, you know, you’re on this ARB. I just — what is it — like, what interest do you have in who the State Department puts up or not? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1835 | Ambassador Pickering, this — it was mentioned previously, but this ARB recommendation about the secretary of state personally reviewing the security situation in these outposts and closing some if there is not adequate security. And this is after the East Africa bombings. Was that something, because I know you were high in the State Department, was that something that you remember and did you think that that recommendation made sense? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1836 | And so the issue with not submitting interrogatories to Secretary Clinton or not interviewing her about, you know, what determinations did she make with respect to Benghazi, what was the reason for not doing that? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1837 | And so I just want — my final question would be, you know, as you sit here today — and it would be both Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering — are you satisfied with the United States government’s response to what happened in Benghazi writ large? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1838 | But what I’m saying is, the response since you’ve done the report, are you satisfied with the action that the government’s taken? And then just as somebody — and I know this is outside the purview of your report, but just as an American and certainly Admiral Mullen as a distinguished military officer, you know, are you satisfied with what we’ve done to bring the folks who actually did this to justice? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1839 | There’s many lingering questions on Benghazi. One I get asked quite frequently — and I want to get your perspective, Ambassador and Admiral, on this particular issue — and that is the claim by the State Department, the secretary of State, the intelligence community as to the fact that this attack was the result of a YouTube video. What is your perspective as to why that was propagated for so long? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1840 | But yet, you know, to the American people the credibility of the administration, the State Department and the intelligence community was diminished because they continued to propagate that. Admiral, do you agree? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1841 | But let’s get back to something that is more germane to today’s hearing. Raymond Maxwell is one of the people selected for accountability. Can you tell me what Raymond Maxwell did to contribute to the inade-quate security posture in Benghazi? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1842 | And did you look at the testimony of his supervisor, Beth Jones, where she said it’s been determined that there was no intelligence that could have told us that this attack was underway? It wasn’t material. | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1843 | OK, so was Maxwell’s finding for accountability directly related to the account on Benghazi, or was the accountability unrelated to the attack? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1844 | I just want to make one thing clear in a question. Following up on Dr. Desjarlais. You held him accountable because he was derelict in focusing on his responsibility. However, people above him and below him were acutely aware that there had been a series of attacks, including the two on the British ambassador and the like. So the actual attacks and the actual risk was not a question, but only the classified information. I just want to make sure that’s correct. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1845 | So he’s part of the culture of not caring enough, but in fact people above him and below him, including Undersecretary Kennedy, were acutely aware of the growing danger and risk actually occurring in Benghazi — | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1846 | You did as the accountability review board admit last December that there was no protest prior to the attacks, correct? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1847 | Is it true that there really were video and audio feeds from Benghazi as the attacks unfolded? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1848 | And so, did the DS agent have opportunity to communicate what he was seeing on the film to you? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1849 | So that gets it into the chain of command. So that information could have been or should have been available to the president, to the secretary of defense, the secretary of state. Is that correct? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1850 | So we still don’t know why Susan Rice went on the Sunday talk shows when they had the information that this wasn’t due to a spontaneous protest and instead said it was. | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1851 | Was it an organized terrorist group that attacked? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1852 | Is it true that a former Gitmo detainee who knew Ambassador Stevens claimed responsibility for the attack after it happened? Is that true? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1853 | Is it true that there’s documentation that the Muslim Brotherhood and operatives from Egypt were involved in the attack? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1854 | If we — is it true that they were seeking to loot surface-to-air missiles that were gathered up at the annex? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1855 | Is it possible that they were trying to acquire classified communications codes? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1856 | Is it true that they were planning to kidnap the ambassador and it went wrong? | Rep. Cynthia Lummis | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1857 | Facilities drives what building you’re in and then diplomatic security is told to make sure that they make it safe. Isn’t the functional structure at the Department of State one in which instead of having everybody being able to shut something down for safety, virtually nobody in some situations can independently shut it down other than the secretary of State herself? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1858 | Admiral Mullen, we learned earlier that in the very first week of the ARB being formed that you gave Cheryl Mills a heads-up because you felt Charlene Lamb who was coming to testify in front of this committee was, quote, and as a response to Mr. DeSantis’ question, “a weak witness.” So my question is real simple. Why should you care? Why does it matter? If she was a strong — weak, strong witness, short witness, tall witness, male witness, female witness, why in the heck does it matter? Your job is to figure out what took place at the State Department not to decide what kind of representative the State Department sends in front of a congressional committee. So why in the heck did you care? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1859 | If she was a star witness, if she was going to convey a good light for the State Department, would you have called up Cheryl Mills and say, hey, Charlene Lamb’s going to knock it out of the park. You know what? Make sure you coach her and get her ready and send her — she’s going to be — she’s going to be stellar. Would you have called Cheryl Mills then? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1860 | So you wouldn’t’ve — so the only reason you called was because she was going to be a weak witness and convey a bad light on the State Department. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1861 | Isn’t it true that you were selected, you were notified by Cheryl Mills that you were going to serve on the ARB? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1862 | I just have to ask as a follow-up to that, you testified that Charlene — you — Charlene Lamb you thought was honest. You’re not questioning her integrity, so why — what made her a weak witness? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1863 | So she’s honest. She’s full of integrity, but that made her a weak witness? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1864 | Now, I need to ask Mr. Sullivan, because part of the reason that you’re — you and Mr. Keil are here is because we saw in Al Jazeera, of all places, the independent panel on best practices. You convened this panel at the recommendation of the ARB. You started this panel back in April, correct, Mr. Sullivan? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1865 | When did you complete your work? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1866 | Who specifically — I want a name — did you give this report to? The report is dated — August th, , this report is dated then. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1867 | Who did you hand this to? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1868 | Has it gone to the Department of State? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1869 | One of my fundamental challenges and problems is the United States Congress doesn’t have this report. It’s been almost a month; we don’t have this report. And yet the first time it comes out, to the best of my knowledge, is on Al Jazeera? That’s where we’ve got to get this stuff? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1870 | Do you know how it happened? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1871 | Well, who’s going to investigate how Al Jazeera gets a copy of it before the State Department or the United States Congress gets to it? Where did it go? You — you’re the head of — you used to be the head of the Secret Service. You know how this stuff works. How did this happen? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1872 | Now, let me ask you, Admiral Mullen. There’s been a number of questions about this heads up, and it sounded like it was more just general advice as to who could best present testimony. But going back to — now back to the ARB, did you all take it easy on Charlene Lamb? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1873 | Did you give her a pass? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1874 | Would you agree with that, Admiral (sic) Pickering? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1875 | Admiral Mullen, I’m trying to put myself in the shoes of our military, diplomatic and intelligence officials who were trying to deal with this in a very few days. I noted the ARB looked specifically at Benghazi. But can you tell us anything about how our military would have dealt with this entire week of incidents? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1876 | Ambassador Pickering, what about from the State Department’s global perspective? How do you begin to even process all of this incoming information? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 9/19/13 |
| 1877 | And I want to start with assuming that the changes that you outlined today had been in place on September or even September of , would the U.S. preparations for and the response to the Benghazi attack differed? […] so all the changes that you’ve made in preparedness, lessons learned, if those had been in place today, would the response have been different in ? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1878 | And building on that, would a different or more robust mix of forces been available to the Department of Defense once the attack commenced? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1879 | And could the forces have responded faster? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1880 | Of the changes that you’ve discussed here today, is there one or two that is of most significance that you would like to highlight again? I mean, I know you pointed out a long list of changes. But can we talk about — (inaudible) — and talk about one or two that are of most significance? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1881 | And in , is it a fair assessment that we were only postured to be reactive, and now these changes allow for us to be proactive? Is that a fair statement? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1882 | You’ve described a sort of DOD-to-State-Department regularized process by which you sort of assess what the threats are out there. Can you describe sort of the structure of it? | Rep. Niki Tsongas | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1883 | Where does it reside? | Rep. Niki Tsongas | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1884 | How is it implemented? | Rep. Niki Tsongas | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1885 | Would you say the State Department could report a similar sort of structure change so that they have the same feeling that this information is flowing back and forth as you’re describing from the DOD’s point of view? | Rep. Niki Tsongas | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1886 | And if there’s a disagreement between the two departments, what’s the dispute resolution mechanism, knowing that timing is very important? | Rep. Niki Tsongas | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1887 | Do you believe that the ambassador was the target or do you believe that the special mission was the target? […] General, do you believe that the ambassador was the target or do you believe the mission was the target? | Rep. Austin Scott | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1888 | This was — the ambassador had not been to that facility in approximately a year if I’m reading the reports right. Is that correct? When was the last time he had been in this — | Rep. Austin Scott | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1889 | I’ll — I guess with one last question — what about the human intelligence on the ground in these other countries? Have we been able to — I know obviously we’ve got a lot of technology and we can pick up on a lot of things through technology. But what about our human intelligence capabilities? Can you speak to that? | Rep. Austin Scott | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1890 | I wonder with the greater coordination between the Department of Defense and the State Department and if you could talk a little bit too more about the interagency coordination process between DOD and the Department of State and perhaps some of the lessons learned such as the risk assessment. Have you been able to sort of share some of that knowledge, some of that experience with the folks in the Department of State? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1891 | I guess my question is, are you aware of any requirement to have a carrier presence in the Mediterranean | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1892 | and what that requirement might be? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1893 | Regarding the host nation in this case, it seemed like the host nation was wholly inadequate at providing security for our diplomats. Would you agree with that assessment? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1894 | In these cases, and certainly there are other cases around the world, is it your — is it your assessment that we are currently postured with American forces to provide that security when the host nation can’t provide it? […] Are we currently postured for the protection of those embassies? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1895 | Well, sir, there are currently gaps, and I guess my next question is, where those gaps exist, is there a response that would withdraw our diplomatic folks in those — in those areas where those gaps exist? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1896 | So in an unclassified setting obviously we can’t talk about what the carrier requirement might be in the Mediterranean. Can you say if we were adhering to whatever requirement there might be? […] Were we, at that time, adhering to the requirement for the carrier presence in the Mediterranean, whatever that requirement might be? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1897 | We were adhering to that? Is that correct? | Rep. Jim Bridenstine | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1898 | of the embassies we have around the world, about a third of them are in a similar vulnerable setting, as was Benghazi, where they are interim missions. They are not full — full-out embassies. And that we could potentially have same — similar issues in about a third of these sites. Can you comment on that? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1899 | So Admiral Mullen said to General Ham that he was inclined to extend the Security Support Team mission, and Ambassador Stevens wanted that mission extended for both security and training purposes. But the State Department official said, quote, “didn’t want to be embarrassed by having DOD continue to provide security,” unquote. Now, have we gotten to the point where we have addressed someone in State Department’s purview that is reluctant to rely on DOD support because it doesn’t feel right or — | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1900 | I’m wondering if DOD can trump State if they believe that the security risk is great. | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1901 | One military official was quoted in the press, saying that DOD has shifted from being reactive to anticipating and being more proactive against the crisis. Based on what you’re saying, you would concur with that. | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1902 | Part of the response to Benghazi is to improve intelligence collection. How much progress has the department made in hiring Arabic speakers and others that would improve our human intelligence capabilities? | Rep. Jackie Speier | D | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1903 | So, a Benghazi-like incident starts to occur in Country X today. Who makes the decision to put response forces on a heightened alert? […] Is it the combatant command or the joint staff that says, OK, there may be a problem here, we need to put these particular forces on a heightened alert? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1904 | And so something starts to happen. Then who decides whether to send those forces into a particular situation? Can the combatant commander — particularly if there’s an embassy under attack, is it the combatant commander on his own? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1905 | Can he only send those forces in response to a request from the State Department or some other government agency? How does that work exactly? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1906 | So the president would have to — Benghazi happens again just like it — you know, essentially, except it happens today. And the president would have to decide to send some military forces into Libya, into Benghazi to assist or to evacuate Americans. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1907 | I think the question that keeps coming back, though, is does DOD have the ability to supersede State De-partment when there’s a specific threat to an embassy or, like in Benghazi, to that outpost? Do we have the ability — does DOD have the ability to supersede and say, it’s just not safe to have our people here? […] I mean, it’s — because typically we’ll have a small presence of DOD personnel there, so those personnel are at risk just like Department of State personnel, but DOD’s responsibility obviously should primarily be to its personnel, and if they’re put in a position because of a decision by the ambassador, does DOD have the ability to overrule that? | Rep. Rich Nugent | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1908 | I’m glad to hear that there’s an expanded role for the Marines as they relate because we were told, you know, lastly, they’re basically there to protect documents and destroy documents, not in protecting people. And I think that was kind of reversed from where it should be, and I’m glad to see that that has been reversed. Am I correct on that? | Rep. Rich Nugent | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1909 | Was there a risk assessment done by the State Department before the attack when these requests were made for increased security or an evaluation of the increased threats? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1910 | That may be something we should ask the State Department to see if they did that? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1911 | Is there a protocol more in place today of handling a request for increased security that go through the State Department that will incorporate DOD’s input to it? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1912 | So at this point if there’s a risk, both departments would be involved, both State and DOD, and maybe that wasn’t the case before? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1913 | Is there an after-action review that we may be able to see at some point in a better setting? […] I’m guess what I’m asking is, in the proper setting would we have access to some of those reviews, especially the most early reviews? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1914 | Was there an after-action review done by the people involved with the incident, say within hours or a week? | Rep. Brad Wenstrup | R | House Armed Services 9/19/13 |
| 1915 | Our committee has in our possession some , pages of intelligence community cables and assessments highlighting the the deteriorating security environment in Benghazi prior to the September th, , attack. Are you familiar with the IC’s extensive threat reporting on Benghazi before the attack? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1916 | Are you familiar with the attempted murder of the British ambassador in June by Islamic militants in Benghazi? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1917 | Are you aware that the British pulled out all diplomatic officials out of Benghazi in response to that attack? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1918 | The committee has documentation that the intelligence community was actively tracking known terrorists in Benghazi prior to the attack. Were you aware of that? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1919 | We have received testimony from several security officers who were stationed in Benghazi that security upgrades were made at the CIA annex in response to threat conditions. Were you aware of that? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1920 | The committee has informed — the CIA officials on the ground in Libya had concerns about co-locating with the State Department at the temporary mission facility, given the physical security gaps at the facility and the threat environment at Benghazi. Are you familiar with that? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1921 | So you were not familiar that that — some of those assessments happened in August? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1922 | Were you aware that the State Department officials had a discussion with CIA officers about overnighting at the annex the week of the attack due to the threat and physical security concerns at the temporary mission facility? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1923 | Were you aware that the terrorist attack in Benghazi on September th, , involved military-style movements, blocking maneuvers, RPGs and accurate mortar fire that required extensive training and pre-positioning? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1924 | In your role as CIA deputy director, did you value the opinion of your chiefs of station? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1925 | So help me understand — help our investigators understand, if you will — knowing all of the information, you could possibly come to the conclusion that this was — that this coordinated assault on September th that killed four Americans was anything other than a terrorist attack. | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1926 | On November th, , when you appeared before this committee with Director Clapper and Director Olsen to discuss the Benghazi attacks, I asked at that time why their talking points had been changed to remove any references to al-Qaida. Director Clapper answered for the panel that he did not know. I’m curious that you were sitting on the same panel — certainly heard the question, but you didn’t say anything. Can you tell me why? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1927 | So you just said earlier there was no coordination with you and the White House on what those talking points would look like. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1928 | Can you just go down the list of names? So one of the questions I think the investigators had is the list of names at the time you were drafting it would indicate that you were, at least in some context or concerns or would have to run it through these individuals — can you walk through that list and tell us who those individuals were at the time you were editing these talking points? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1929 | And so during any of those conversations with anyone on that list, no one, including the spokesperson for the National Security Council, indicated that there needed to be changes for any other — for any reason whatsoever? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1930 | Did anyone tell you that the talking points were going to be used for Susan Rice […] then the ambassador to the United Nations? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1931 | Did anyone tell you that — in the subsequent days, on September th, once you realized that there was a fairly extensive description of why the conclusion was that it was not a protest on the th — did that information ever make it into the hands of the individuals who would have provided those talking points to Susan Rice? […] On September th, your chief of station sent a very detailed communication to you and your staff indicating all of the reasons he believed that this was an extremist attack that was — had some level of preplanning. Did that information ever make it to the individuals on the list? Did they ever hear about this conversation from you or from the agency? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1932 | And so with your — all of your training, all of your experience, your gut reaction, did you believe that was the right decision? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1933 | Knowing what you know now, would you have been surprised that many of the eyewitnesses that we’ve talked to said they were surprised by the narrative on Sunday the th? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1934 | And you can imagine how that creates confusion in the investigators and why some might draw that conclusion in the height of the political campaign that maybe something doesn’t look right here, given the folks on the ground and the testimony of those on the ground were completely different from what the analytical product was, including on the th, which was a very detailed email highlighting the differences of opinion on this particular case from the folks who were on the ground during the event. | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1935 | At any time did you have any verbal conversation with anybody at the White House about what the nature of those talking points were and what they needed to look like? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1936 | At any time did you have any conversation with anybody at the White House — and I mean anybody — that had anything to do with preparing Susan Rice for going out and being the face for America on that — September th? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1937 | And no one asked you to prepare talking points for her? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1938 | No one asked the agency — either through the director or yourself — to prepare any documents for her? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1939 | Was she briefed by the agency or had information or materials available from — all of the materials we discussed, did she have any of those materials before she went out — | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1940 | Just the talking points? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1941 | Would that have included the September th analysis from your chief of station on the ground? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1942 | And why not? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1943 | Don’t you think that was an important document to get in the hands of someone who was going to brief the country on what was actually happening on the ground? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1944 | The detailed email that you got from the chief of station on September th, did not include any reference to terrorist attack, that terminology, or did it? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1945 | And if that terminology was not used, would it be because other terms like extremist or militant were used in its place? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1946 | But if the — if the chief of station’s own report did not include the term terrorist or terrorist attack, it wasn’t because he necessarily concluded that wasn’t the case, but that other words are often used as a proxy? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1947 | And similarly, do you recall whether there was any — whether there were — the chief of station was willing at that time to ascribe this to al-Qaida, per se? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1948 | So in this detailed memorandum, the station chief could not discount the possibility even then that the video played a role in the attacks on the facilities. | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1949 | Now, a couple of the reasons that the chief of station cited for believing there was no spontaneous demonstration were that he discounted certain signals intelligence; is that right? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1950 | And that signals intelligence indicated that there was a demonstration initially at the consulate. | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1951 | And even if you discounted that particular signals intelligence, was that the only signals intelligence and it was pointing in the direction indicating that there had been a protest? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1952 | So when the chief of station gave as another reason why he believed there had been no protest, that there were a couple press reports indicating there had been no protest, those were nonetheless in contrast to other press reports indicating that there had been a protest. | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1953 | And of course, at this point we know there wasn’t a protest, so it’s not, anymore, about what actually happened; it’s about what we knew at the time; right? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1954 | So the analysts, perhaps unlike the chief of station, would have the SIGINT, the complete press reports, the other intelligence products to make their assessments, whereas the chief of station might have some of that but not necessarily the whole collection of intelligence. | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1955 | Is that part of the reason why, when you got his email on the th (sic), that you went back to him to say, can you give us more substantiation because this is inconsistent with some of the other reporting we’re getting? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1956 | With all your years in the CIA, who is the one person that you would count on the most to get your information from anything that happened in country where he was the station chief? […] Who would you go to to get the most accurate information if you wanted to find out about an incident that happened in country? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1957 | Not to the people that were on the ground? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1958 | So the analyst, that’s not there, he is the most important? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1959 | This analyst, was he the gentleman that was at the roundtable with Director Petraeus on the th? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1960 | So your analyst, the one that knew what was going on, that you took their analysis from, used the word “al-Qaida,” right? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1961 | So this analyst that you’re counting on originally used the word “attack,” correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1962 | And it says then that you — that it was changed to demonstrations. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1963 | You know, were they demonstrating RPGs, mortars, heavy machine guns? Is that what they were demonstrating? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1964 | But you’re relying on this lady’s analysis. Is that not correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1965 | Now, were these — you know, I mean, I’m having a hard time why you would want to say what four Americans did, the place, you know, set on fire, that it’s a demonstration rather than an attack when RPGs, heavy machine guns, mortars and others were used. How can you call that a demonstration? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1966 | So you — but my point is, you’re not counting on the analyst and what she analyzed. You were counting on what other people said was wrong. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1967 | So it was her. So she thought they needed to change it, not somebody else. She figured — | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1968 | When is the first time you heard from the chief of station in Tripoli that this was a planned, coordinated attack? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1969 | Now I got — I have a letter from the Department of Defense that said it has responded to six congressional investigations in this — in this case; has participated in congressional hearings, briefings and interviews; and dedicated thousands of man-hours to this task, costing the taxpayers millions of dollars. The CIA has responded in a similar magnitude. How much money do you feel that the CIA has spent on this issue right now? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1970 | Can you tell us what kind of threat terrorist groups like al-Qaida and Answar al-Shara (ph) — Shira (ph) — still pose to Americans and the world as you see it right now? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1971 | And do you think the fact of whether or not in the beginning it was — it was inspired by the news media from the protest or whether it was a planned attack — at this point, how — would that make any difference on the focus of finding terrorists or dealing with the situation as it occurred in Benghazi? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1972 | Now, can you please discuss — I think it’s important — the long-standing security expectation and procedures that CIA stations and bases have, particularly in remote and dangerous parts of the world? Does the CIA expect that military assets will be able to provide immediate protection, to matter — no matter where they are in the world? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1973 | Did the CIA feel abandoned by the U.S. military in this situation? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1974 | Then could you explain what the security is, who these people are | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1975 | (Then could you explain what the security is, who these people are) and how many — if you can; if it’s not classified — Americans were saved in this Benghazi situation because of their training and expertise and courage? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1976 | What did you — what have we learned as far as the asking for simple, direct talking points to help us deal with the issue and not give out classified information? […] How would you — how would handle this in the future if we make a request to help us deal with that issue of talking points? | Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1977 | I want to try to understand better the deputies’ meeting on the th and your subsequent edits to the — to the talking points. Were you all having daily deputies’ meetings at this time? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1978 | So twice a day, on the th, on the th, on the th, you would have these videoconference meetings in which you participated as the deputy for the CIA. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1979 | And I presume there would be a deputy from State and Defense as well as members of the White House National Security Council Staff. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1980 | On the — as best you remember, the deputies’ meetings, the two deputies’ meetings on the th, I presume Benghazi had to be a major issue that you all discussed. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1981 | So even on the th, you — the basic tenor of the meetings was we got the Americans out, so we’re not going to worry about Libya anymore. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1982 | And on the two meetings on the th, do you remember talking points that were coming up there? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1983 | As I go and look at the emails, as :, :, at the night of the th, it looks like FBI had signed off. They had been — the talking points had been edited to reflect the State Department concerns, although it doesn’t say they’ve signed off. So I’m not clear why you — did you have conversations after : at night from the State Department that said, we’re still not happy? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1984 | What time was your deputies meeting the next morning? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1985 | And did you have conversations with State Department folks or emails from State Department folks that morning before the deputies’ meeting that said, we’re still not happy with these talking points? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1986 | MR. MORELL: No, sir. But as I said earlier, my executive assistant told me that State De-partment was not happy with the talking points. REP. THORNBERRY: And that — the night of the th or the morning of the th? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1987 | MR. MORELL: The morning of the th. REP. THORNBERRY: OK, as you’re going to the — or as you’re preparing for the deputies’ — MR. MORELL: As I arrived at work. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1988 | And even though the FBI is OK with them, you take out words because you’re afraid they’ll damage the FBI investigation. You take out everything that’s even related to warnings, and a bunch of other stuff too. To me it seems like you’re more interested in protecting the State Department than the State Department is, and more interested in protecting the FBI than the FBI is. And Director Petraeus is concerned because he wanted some more information about warnings in there. So I don’t — that doesn’t make sense to me. Can you explain the motivation? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1989 | Let me ask you one other — about one other sentence. It says: “The wide availability of weapons and experienced fighters in Libya almost certainly contributed to the lethality of the attacks.” That doesn’t have anything to do with warnings. It’s just a statement of facts. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1990 | The changes in the talking points, do any — did you make any changes for political reasons? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1991 | Did you know whether or not there were protests when you edited the talking points? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1992 | Does one assessment from any chief of station, regardless how qualified that person is, trump all other assessments? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1993 | As I recall in the meeting of February the th, two days after this tragedy took place, when General Petraeus was in our committee for a classified roundtable briefing, you were not there. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1994 | But you were briefed up on what happened and what was said? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1995 | Someone on our committee specifically asked him — they said, how in the world could this happen? Do people just drive around the streets with this type of weaponry in the car? And he stated, well, yes, they do, and they look for opportunities. Was he making this stuff up, or is this — in your view, was this assessment that he gave to us the best assessment, given what he knew at the time? | Rep. Mike Thompson | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1996 | Mr. Morell, remind me again why the State Department was upset with the talking points. | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1997 | And you went in — I was going to ask another question, but you talked about deleting the line from the talking points about the — notifying the embassy at Cairo of social media reports calling for demonstrations? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1998 | But you don’t see any relevance to that and the cable going to Cairo and the fact that this was all being blamed on a video — the protest was because of the video? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 1999 | MR. MORELL: […] I did not see the Central Intelligence Agency sending a warning cable to Cairo saying that there’s a potential violent demonstration coming against the embassy as relevant to what happened in Benghazi. REP. MILLER: Even though the demonstration that was coming was over the YouTube video? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2000 | Why was Ambassador Rice chosen to go on the Sunday talk shows? Do you have any idea? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2001 | What was your reaction when you saw her explanation about what happened? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2002 | You’ve never seen it since? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2003 | And what was your reaction when you finally did? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2004 | You said on — I think it was September th — then analysts said it was a protest based on a — and it was based on a number of press and intel reports. Can you give us any — how many? I mean, was it numerous reports, was it — | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2005 | And how much were press, and how much were — | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2006 | And when you finally read Ambassador Rice’s Sunday morning talk show transcripts or however you found out, finally about it, did you complain to the White House at all about what she was saying, or were you comfortable with what she said? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2007 | REP. MILLER: You also stated that you noted there was a conflict between the COS and the analysts. MR. MORELL: Yes, sir. REP. MILLER: And once you noticed that, you immediately addressed it, and your — the way you addressed it was appropriate. How quick […] ? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2008 | (REP. MILLER: You also stated that you noted there was a conflict between the COS and the analysts. MR. MORELL: Yes, sir. REP. MILLER: And once you noticed that, you immediately addressed it, and your — the way you addressed it was appropriate. How quick,) and what do you consider appropriate? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2009 | So would you consider a shift from a protest to a coordinated attack a large shift? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2010 | Could it have been a terrorist attack that erupted into a protest? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2011 | Why was there no attempt, after Ambassador Rice went on five or six Sunday morning talk shows, to ever correct the record, that in fact it was more an attack than it was a protest? | Rep. Jeff Miller | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2012 | What are the key lessons that the CIA has learned from this tragic incident? | Rep. Jan Schakowsky | D | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2013 | Any sense whatsoever that your analysts were impacted or influenced by their own personal political views about what should be said? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2014 | Would the analysts have been able to tell that the press reports were or were not a daisy chain of one person reporting it and then a series of subsequent press reports and so that your sheer volume looked like a big deal but it was one person’s misinformation? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2015 | So the weight — as Mr. Miller talked about — the weight of evidence to change had over the station chief — the emails that I’ve read, he was — he’s more direct than what you said in terms of it being an attack. The weight of evidence in this instance was unable to overcome the other biases in terms of prior decision making and the weight of press reports. Is that a fair — is that a fair statement? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2016 | When — all right, when you got the information — and I think you said from your assistant — that someone at State Department was pushing back on the talking points, Ms. Nilan (ph) said that leadership is concerned about the warning language — she said, my building leadership. Who’s she talking about? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2017 | Where is she in the food chain? How much further up to the top of the building does it get? Any idea? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2018 | I’m not sure how that falls into the conspiracy, but would you speak to us about what role, if any, the discussions about your post- government service — distinguished government service, by the way — played on your — in the job that you now have in supervisory — whatever — (inaudible). Do you have some comments about that for us? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2019 | So my first discussions with Beacon Global Strategies about going to work for them began in November, some four months after I left the job. REP. CONAWAY: November of? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2020 | I’ve got an email chain here that’s dated / at : a.m. And it says — it appears to be from Matt Olsen to a Michael J. M. Is that you? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2021 | These are the points that OD — ONDI (ph) — (inaudible) — sent to Ruppersberger yesterday afternoon, based on his request, which would have been on the th — after the th. At what point in time did the talking points actually come? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2022 | So the reference to ODNI is really the NCTC set? | Rep. Mike Conaway | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2023 | So I would ask you questions, and you could answer whatever else you want to — at what time were you told that General Petraeus was under investigation? Were you aware of it on the day that the talking points were being prepared? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2024 | And also, how did that influence his decision on the talking points? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2025 | So no one told you anything? Nobody — John Brennan never said anything to you? Nobody in the White House ever said anything to you at all? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2026 | You had no knowledge of it whatsoever? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2027 | When you accompanied Susan Rice to Senator McCain, Senator Ayotte and also Senator Graham — is it customary for a CIA official to accompany a presidential nominee? […] Is it customary for that to be done? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2028 | MR. MORELL: She had not been nominated yet. She was going up there to explain why she said what she said on the Sundays shows. I asked to go with her — REP. KING: Who asked you? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2029 | (REP. KING: Who asked you?) MR. MORELL: The White House. REP. KING: Who at the White House? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2030 | REP. KING: OK. When you accompanied Susan Rice to Senator McCain, Senator Ayotte and also Senator Graham […] You were going up there with Susan Rice to brief these senators on what happened, and on the key fact, you were wrong, and you had to correct it within five hours. MR. MORELL: I asked — I was asked a question: Who took al- Qaida out of the talking points? And I got it wrong; I said the FBI, when, in fact, the CIA was the one to take it out of the talking points. What I was thinking at the time was about another change that the FBI had asked for. The FBI made another change, because it did not want to be too definitive about who conducted the attack. So I got it mixed up, and I corrected the record as soon as I found out. Within several — REP. KING: They called the FBI, and the FBI protested very vigorously. MR. MORELL: So nobody from the FBI ever called me to complain. REP. KING: Did they call anybody in the CIA? | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2031 | Why didn’t you check with the — how come you checked it? I mean, if you had two months to prepare, and you lose — how come, suddenly, within four hours, you decide you had to — (inaudible) — this — | Rep. Peter King | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2032 | Mr. Morell, would you — can you speculate — or how do you feel — the reasons why we have not been able to bring the perpetrators to justice? | Rep. Frank Lobiondo | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2033 | Mr. Morell, just to follow up on Mr. LoBiondo’s question, the reason that these — the per-petrators have not been brought to justice yet is because they’re not labeled al-Qaida by the United States government — official United States government. Isn’t that right? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2034 | But the CIA — you know this — the CIA did consider them to be al-Qaida, didn’t they? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2035 | REP. NUNES: […] You participated — in your testimony, you participated in a deputies’ committee on September th. You don’t mention it, but you also participated in a deputies’ call on the th. MR. MORELL: Correct. REP. NUNES: On both of these, you discussed the Benghazi attacks. Is that correct? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2036 | Who else participated in that call of the deputies? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2037 | Maybe more specific, is it — was anyone from Tripoli on those calls on the — (inaudible) — | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2038 | So Mr. Morell, in our — in our investigation that we’ve been — that’s been going on for a long time, the first evidence that we have — I mentioned of this mysterious intel product that is actually — you brought it up on the th. […] — maybe this — maybe this will spur your recollection, because I know it was a long time ago — that you got an update from — on the call from the chief of station and the charge. You got an update. Mr. McDonough led the call. You got a quick update and then Mr. McDonough turned to you and you talked about this new stream of — this new product. Is that — […] Is that right? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2039 | So did you — did the Deputy National Security Advisor Denis McDonough, who is now the White House chief of staff, did he know about that product before you mentioned it? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2040 | Had you conspired beforehand? […] To talk about this — that the protest had led to the attack. | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2041 | OK, so you had never — you had not talked to Denis McDonough. He didn’t — you were not — he was not prompting you to announce that this — | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2042 | But I thought it was all the ICE community had signed off on the product. | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2043 | OK, but what — what were you guys talking about then on the deputies committee meeting that occurred on the th and the th? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2044 | But in all the — were you ever involved in any discussions with Tripoli? […] On the th and the th? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2045 | And wouldn’t they have said that this wasn’t a — | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2046 | REP. BACHMANN: […] The evidence overwhelmingly pointed to an attack, an attack that was al- — or — al-Qaida or jihadist-related. MR. MORELL: It wasn’t just one piece of SIGINT, ma’am. There was also reporting from the station — REP. BACHMANN: More than one SIGNIT (sic)? […] Was there more than one SIGNIT? […] SIGNIT? | Rep. Michele Bachmann | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2047 | And the issue of whether not this was politically or is being politically driven, I would ask why was the CIA public affairs and congressional affairs officers so intimately involved in the drafting of these talking points without having subject matter experts present? | Rep. Joe Heck | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2048 | Well, I guess the question — the follow-on is why wasn’t there a subject matter expert looped in at that point in time, knowing the very request was for this committee to be able to go out and give some type of informed view of what had happened? | Rep. Joe Heck | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2049 | So you can see why it doesn’t — the information doesn’t necessarily point to giving us the best possible information, but it being filtered as to protect the Department of State. | Rep. Joe Heck | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2050 | MR. MORELL: I made the decision to take the warning language out long before I ever edited the talking points — the day before. REP. HECK: I understand, but did the Department of State know that you were going to take that out? | Rep. Joe Heck | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2051 | I wanted to ask you — so Mr. Heck hinted at this — why did this go to the interagency review process at all? We ask the CIA for information all the time, every day, multiple occasions, probably much to — much to folks’ annoyance over there. We’re always asking for information. You are all often great to provide it. Why did this go to the interagency process? Why is Ben Rhodes, a political appointee, involved at all? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2052 | You said that you — this committee was not intentionally misled. I think you also used the word “deliberately.” Do you think we were inadvertently misled? […] My question is, were we misled? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2053 | REP. ROONEY: […] you said you were in Amman on that day, September th. MR. MORREL: Yes. REP. ROONEY: Were you at our embassy, or where were you, if you can say, at that point? | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2054 | OK. So when you talk about how you relied on your analysts to give you whatever best information you could garner from Benghazi immediately after, as opposed to necessarily the station chief on an equal footing, say this event happened in Amman, while you were there, and there’s a station chief there. As you were seeing it, would you call Washington and ask an analyst back in Washington what is happening in Amman, even though you’re there and a station chief is there? | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2055 | Do you think that’s the way to go? | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2056 | You also talked about the military that showed up the next day at the annex. Who is the military that — and did they — | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2057 | Can I ask you a question with regard to — and this is a little bit outside of your lane, but when we’re talking about the annex and your personnel that were there, what Americans can expect in the future should something like this happen and to try to avoid it? | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2058 | But the one question that I continue to have, and the one question that we need to know moving forward so we can keep our agents safe and embassies safe, is that how did they know at the time that Ambassador Stevens was killed — the administration, the secretary of state, you — how did they know when it was going to end such that there wouldn’t be enough time to get a military response there? It ended at dawn, and they were hoping that it would end at dawn, the people that were in the annex, but we had no — absolutely no idea that that would be the case. What if it went on for eight to to more hours? […] how did they know when it was going to end? | Rep. Thomas Rooney | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2059 | We have heard for some time about the involvement of the National Security Council staff in day-to-day running of military operations, intelligence operations around the world. Secretary Gates talks about this very explicitly in his memoirs, and his anger at the micromanagement coming from the same staffers at the White House, and talks about Secretary Clinton’s view of the same thing, and others have written about that frustration. You’ve served as deputy director of the CIA, acting director of the CIA. Did you experience such frustrations as Secretary Gates and Clinton and others? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2060 | But did you — did you experience or have knowledge of National Security Council staffers directly calling chiefs of station around the world and being down into the day-to-day involvement? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2061 | CIA years, right? | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2062 | Would you say that the CIA is more independent today than it was when you entered, or less, from a micromanagement, political pressure — and I don’t mean be Republican, be Democrat. I mean the influence of the bosses at the White House. | Rep. Mac Thornberry | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2063 | When you were with President Bush in Florida and you immediately came up with the conclusion that this was Osama bin-Laden, al-Qaida, what — I mean, and I don’t want you to — I mean I’m not asking you to go back through your thought process, but what gave you the ability to know that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2064 | You were aware of the attack on the British ambassador, the Red Cross — […] the two or three bombings that were at the facility. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2065 | REP. WESTMORELAND: When — between February and the attack — between February of ‘ and the attack, we have approximately , pages of intelligence reporting that came out of the CIA. […] And this was September the th, the th anniversary of / Was it not in your thought process then of having seen or been aware of these , pages of intelligence, especially the July th assessment that the CIA put out about al-Qaida becoming stronger in Libya? Did you not go through that thought process and come up with, immediately in your mind, that — who was capable of doing this? Who would want to do it on the / anniversary, especially with your knowledge with all those intelligence reports? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2066 | So your thought process never said it could be al-Qaida? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2067 | So they said it was involved in the attack. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2068 | But you took it out of the talking points. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2069 | Who did? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2070 | MR. MORELL: So the way — the only way, sir — the only way we knew that some of the people who were involved in the attack that night were associated with al-Qaida was from classified sources. REP. WESTMORELAND: Did those classified sources tell you that it was a demonstration? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2071 | And before Mr. Nunes, just want to clarify, how does the term “al-Qaida,” how would that disclose classified sources, number one? […] How does mentioning “al-Qaida” disclose classified sources? | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2072 | And then secondly, OK, if we could get there, you also take out “Islamic extremists.” | Rep. Mike Rogers | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2073 | Mr. Morell, I want to go back to the intelligence product that you referenced on the morning of the th. What — specifically, who were the analysts that came up with that product? […] but who were the analysts? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2074 | So CIA only, or were there — | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2075 | So you’re telling me that’s like DIA-approved and ODNI — | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2076 | (but who were the analysts?) […] Is there a lot of them? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2077 | So here’s another problem with this as it relates to the personnel. So the CIA personnel, they have the right to make a complaint with the OIG. […] Right? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2078 | There were OIG complaints filed as it related to the Benghazi attacks, weren’t there? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2079 | You’re not aware that there were — that there were complaints filed as — to the OIG? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2080 | Well, I assume you have the assignment — I asked these questions just for the record, but did you ever ask CIA Inspector General David Buckley not to conduct an investigation? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2081 | Did you ever talk to David Buckley at all about such an investigation? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2082 | Did you ever talk to David Petraeus about this OIG investigation? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2083 | I mean, there were four murdered Americans. I would think when CIA’s own personnel file complaints, the OIG should follow up and do an investigation. Should they? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2084 | So why didn’t they? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2085 | We know the RSO on the ground — the chief (of ?) base, the political officers, the GRS officers, the — again, the Tripoli chief — all of them on the ground said the same thing, but I thought I just heard you say, Mr. Morell, that the information taken from the eyewitnesses on the ground wasn’t given to your analysts, that they looked at the press reports, the intelligence products, SIGNIT (sic), HUMINT. Is that true? They were separated? | Rep. Michele Bachmann | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2086 | Is it no wonder that the American people are absolutely upset about this, because how in-teresting that at the U.N. the number-one agenda item of the OIC, the organization of Islamic cooperative (sic), their number-one agenda item was to criminalize any speech in any country that somehow insults the Prophet Muhammad. Why is that the false narrative that our president and secretary of state continue to put forward was parallel to the agenda of the OIC? | Rep. Michele Bachmann | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2087 | I’m going back again to this intelligence report that you used on September th — or that you had in your possession on September th, called “Extremists Capitalized on Benghazi Protests.” That’s the one you used, correct? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2088 | But you failed to mention there were two other CIA pieces that were produced on the th. Both mention the, quote, “recently released inflammatory video,” unquote. Were you aware of these two products that were published on September th? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2089 | So if the reference to Benghazi protests wasn’t related to the video, what type of protest did your analysts believe it was in reference to? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2090 | But why do your analysts ignore — if they went along with the protests, the Cairo protest, al-Libi protest, that’s fine if we’re — if we’re taking you at your word. Why do they ignore the other two pieces that talk about the video and they don’t include that in this analysis? | Rep. Devin Nunes | R | House Intelligence 4/2/14 |
| 2091 | General Lovell, you were not on this or the Armed Services Committee’s primary list of people that were in-terviewed in this process, and yet you came forward here today, came forward to the committee. Could you explain to us why you believe it was necessary to come forward to offer us your testimony? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2092 | Do you believe it is appropriate for us to interview other officers and enlisted personnel that served with you in Stuttgart that day as part of our discovery of what they believe could have been done, not just in what military people call the two shop, but also in the three shop and so on? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2093 | The — one of the questions, as we fan out here, but one of the questions that I have for you is your primary job is, in fact, knowing the risk, knowing who the bad guys are and where they are and knowing what might face them. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2094 | So your expertise is not in the operational response of what (refuelers ?) were aware and could have reacted within a certain amount of time. That’s correct. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2095 | However, you were intimately familiar with the risk of extremist groups in Egypt, Libya, and throughout the North Africa, and, for that matter, all of Africa. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2096 | Now, African Command basically doesn’t have any jets. It doesn’t have any conventional divisions. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2097 | So you leverage all the other commands when you need physical boots on the ground. Is that right? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2098 | Is it fair to say that counterterrorism, looking for and being aware and working with the governments in Africa, with or without, if necessary, to combat terrorism, and, in fact, to make sure that governments are stable and able to support our missions — USAID and, you know, the aid missions and the embassies — is that really, to a great extent, why there’s a unique command with a four-star general in charge of it that focuses on this continent of a billion people, larger than North America? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2099 | Did you know of, anticipate, or do you believe that the attack in Egypt was based on seeing a YouTube video? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2100 | So that never came to you, even though intelligence and what may have caused something would have been right up your, if you will, two alley. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2101 | And in the hours that ensued after the attack on our consulate compound in Benghazi, did you hear YouTube video? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2102 | What time did you first hear that there was a video, roughly? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2103 | Before : in the morning. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2104 | You heard about this early on, and you — as the deputy and the highest-ranking person that moment, working these issues, you dismissed the idea that this attack was, in fact, a demonstration that went awry and was based on a YouTube video out of Los Angeles. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2105 | Do you agree with Senator Graham that Gadhafi was a threat to our national security? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2106 | And I think you a little bit earlier agreed with me that there are things that we need to do to be supportive of the government. What would those things be, Doctor? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2107 | Senator John McCain stated, and I quote, “Gadhafi” — “If Gadhafi stays, it is then a direct threat to our national security.” Dr. Gartenstein-Ross, what’s your view? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2108 | (Senator John McCain stated, and I quote, “Gadhafi” — “If Gadhafi stays, it is then a direct threat to our national security.” Dr. Gartenstein-Ross, what’s your view?) And did you agree with Senators McCain and Graham? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2109 | So, therefore, you disagreed with the senators. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2110 | And what do you think we should be doing? What steps should the United States be taking to improve the situation in Libya? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2111 | Would you agree to provide the committee additional suggestions of the people that from your recollection are — outside of this hearing so that it not be public, the people you believe would be most helpful to gain knowledge directly of the facts on the ground on that day? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2112 | Of the lists of people that we have already interviewed, I’m sure you’re familiar with those titles. Would they be people that would be able to render an opinion like you were able to — and I’m not saying you would come up with the same conclusion but would have the same type of information to render an opinion? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2113 | GEN. LOVELL: Sir, I know each of those gentlemen and served — REP. CUMMINGS: And what do you think of them? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2114 | And so would they be in a position to render an opinion as — | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2115 | The State Department would also have known pretty instantaneously that there was a pretty serious incident going on in Benghazi. I’ve seen videos of it. Some of that’s transmitted into the State Department and other locations. So we had a pretty good idea of what was going on there. You did. Would you say the State Department should have or could have? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2116 | The attacks started at :, which was : in the afternoon here, approximately six-hour difference, I think — that about correct? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2117 | The appropriate people and the highest-level people should have been alerted that something serious was going on at one of our posts, is that correct? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2118 | I — would you say that was a pretty good assumption, that they were not — it was not possible to save them because they were probably killed within an hour or two? The U.S. really doesn’t have the capability of responding there — now, not that we shouldn’t have had on the ground the capability to respond to some kind of attack. Would that be a correct assumption? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2119 | Well, and I know we have over a hundred posts, and there were about listed on, you know, sort of the endangered or high-risk lists. And Benghazi was one of them, isn’t that correct? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2120 | I believe we had enough time to save the two former Navy SEALs that were trying to protect the post. That — they were killed at approximately : a.m. It started at : That’s a good six hours. […] I believe we could have saved those two if someone had taken action. Is that — do you think we have the ability to do that? […] Did the United States of America have the ability to protect its — again, the people at that post within six hours? […] Do you — can you tell the committee if you think we had the capability of saving them at that time, once again? […] I was told even before this that if we had an incident that we could go in and rescue or save or resolve a situation. And do you believe we had that capability? | Rep. John Mica | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2121 | General, let me pick up on that. You were not in the operational chain of command, is that correct, at the time of the tragedy? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2122 | So you weren’t making decisions. | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2123 | First, two Marine fast platoons in Rota, Spain were ordered to prepare to deploy, one bound for Benghazi and one destined for Tripoli. Second, a special operations unit assigned to the European Command known as Commanders in Extremis Force, CIF, training in Croatia was ordered to move to a U.S. naval air station in Italy and await further instructions. And third, a special operations unit in the United States also dispatched to the region. These orders were issued approximately two to four hours after the initial attack. Is it your contention that we could have done this sooner or should have done more of it? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2124 | (First, two Marine fast platoons in Rota, Spain were ordered to prepare to deploy, one bound for Benghazi and one destined for Tripoli. Second, a special operations unit assigned to the European Command known as Commanders in Extremis Force, CIF, training in Croatia was ordered to move to a U.S. naval air station in Italy and await further instructions. And third, a special operations unit in the United States also dispatched to the region. These orders were issued approximately two to four hours after the initial attack. Is it your contention that we could have done this sooner or should have done more of it?) Or do you deny this happened? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2125 | I want to read you the conclusion of the chairman of the committee, the Republican chairman, Buck McKeon, who conducted formal briefings and oversaw that report. He said, quote, “I’m pretty well satisfied that, given where the troops were, how quickly the thing all happened and how quickly it dissipated, we probably couldn’t have done much more than we did.” Do you take issue with the chairman of the Armed Services Committee in that conclusion? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2126 | I’m sure you can appreciate, General, there might be some who, for various and sundry reasons, would like to distort your testimony and suggest that you’re testifying that we could have, should have done a lot more than we did because we had capabilities we simply didn’t utilize. That is not your testimony. | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2127 | Mr. Gartenstein-Ross, if I understood your testimony, Libya is a mess. I mean, it’s a very unstable, violent environment. There is no central government control. And that’s the environment in which we’re trying to work and in which we were working at the time of the tragedy in Benghazi. Is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2128 | And no amount of U.S. troops, security forces, even at the time of the tragedy in Benghazi, was going to change that environment. Is that correct? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2129 | I went to Tripoli — not Benghazi, and the airport at the time was — security at the airport was controlled by a militia, not by the government. I don’t know if that’s changed. Has it? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2130 | it’s obviously painful transparent symbolism of the lack of any central authority. And I see you shaking your head, Ms. Schake, as well. Do you want to comment? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2131 | The fact of the matter is, at the time of the tragedy and even to this day Libya is a very unstable situation post-revolution. And the object is to do the best we can to try to change that dynamic, to create a more stable government that can provide security not only for us and our diplomats but also for its own people. Fair statement, Dr. Wehrey? | Rep. Gerald Connolly | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2132 | Thank you for your service to your country, and General, God bless you. Thank you for your service, over years. What was — on September th, , what was your rank and title? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2133 | Where were you the night of September th — September th and th? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2134 | GEN. LOVELL: I was at my home until I was recalled to the JOC, Joint Operations Center. REP. CHAFFETZ: Joint Operations Center in Germany. GEN. LOVELL: Yes, sir. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2135 | So you were in the room. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2136 | You were able to see, hear, feel, understand what was going on in that room. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2137 | Were you ever interviewed by the Accountability Review Board, the ARB? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2138 | CIA station chief — your prime responsibility was to try to, as you say in the last sentence of your testimony, that the attacks — the AFRICOM J- was focused on attribution, that attacks became attributable very soon after the event. What do you believe they were attributable to? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2139 | Al-Qaida? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2140 | GEN. LOVELL: It was — we felt it was Ansar al-Sharia. REP. CHAFFETZ: Which is affiliated with al-Qaida? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2141 | AQIM, were they involved? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2142 | How quickly did you come to the conclusion that you believed there were al-Qaida affiliates or al-Qaida themselves involved and engaged in this attack? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2143 | Was it a video? […] Was it a video that sparked a protest? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2144 | The CIA station chief is quoted as saying, quote, not — “not an escalation of protest,” end quote. Would you agree or disagree with the CIA station chief’s analysis? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2145 | Beth Jones at the State Department in an email that went to, among others, Hillary Clinton’s chief of staff, says that she told the Libyan ambassador — this is September th, : p.m. — “I told him that the group that conducted the attack, Ansar al-Sharia, is affiliated with Islamic extremists,” end quote. Would you agree or disagree with that statement? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2146 | What was going on in the room, General? Our people are under attack. There are people dying. What is the military doing? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2147 | Were they moving to the sound of the guns? Were they doing what they were trained to do, or were they sitting around waiting for the State Department and Hilary Clinton to call them up and say, do something? What did they actually do? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2148 | Did we do enough, General? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2149 | What was the mood in the room? What was the feeling? Was it to save our people? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2150 | GEN. LOVELL: It was desperation there to be able to — REP. CHAFFETZ: It was what? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2151 | GEN. LOVELL: It was desperation there to gain situational awareness and to be able to do something to save people’s lives — REP. CHAFFETZ: But did they actually do it? Did they actually do it? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2152 | The other force they talk about is coming from the United States of America. We had assets there in Europe. Did they actually go to the sound of the guns? Did they actually go into Benghazi? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2153 | Why not? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2154 | Did they ever tell you to go save the people in Benghazi? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2155 | We didn’t run to the sound of the guns. They were issuing press releases. We had Americans dying. We had dead people. We had wounded people. And our military didn’t try to engage in that fight. Would you disagree with that? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2156 | GEN. LOVELL: Four individuals died. Sir, we obviously did not respond in time to get there. REP. CHAFFETZ: Could we have? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2157 | Senator McCain, who I think should be quoted here — he was the Republican standard-bearer in the last — or in the presidential election of , and he is a leader on foreign policy — he said in , some critics still argue that we should be cautious about helping the Libyan opposition, warning that we do not know enough about them or that their victory could pave the way for an al-Qaida takeover. Those arguments, he said, were hollow. Dr. Gartenstein-Ross, how do you respond to Senator McCain’s argument? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2158 | Doctor, it seems that McCain was saying — Senator McCain was saying that if we did not intervene, the war might have dragged on even longer and that al-Qaida would have been strengthened. Now, do you agree that that was a risk? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2159 | Were these rebels generally seen as pro-Western? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2160 | (Were these rebels generally seen as pro-Western?) Why do you think Senator McCain praised them so powerfully? | Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2161 | You had two statements in your testimony that I think are most telling. The first is, always move to the sound of the guns. That means something to you, doesn’t it, General? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2162 | It means something to anyone who’s ever worn the uniform of our country, doesn’t it? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2163 | You take seriously the airmen who’ve been under your command, the soldiers, the sailors, the airmen who you’ve had a chance to be a officer for. You take that seriously. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2164 | And you couldn’t do that on September th because, you say in your testimony, we were, quote, waiting for a request for assistance from the State Department. You couldn’t react normally, customarily the way the military always react. In this situation, you couldn’t do what the military always does. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2165 | And you’ve been in the military years, deployed all over the planet, all over the world. Has that ever — has there ever been a situation prior to this where you couldn’t react in the normal, customary way that the military reacts? […] First time in your years — rising to the rank of general — first time in your years you couldn’t do what the military always does: run to the sound of the guns. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2166 | And why was that the case? What had the State Department done in your time at African command — what had they done? What was the culture? What was the climate? What had happened where you couldn’t do what you normally do? […] But what specifically? […] What specifically did the State Department — what had they done or what prevented you from doing that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2167 | So previously in your time dealing with Libya, when there was a situation, the State Department said, OK, let’s do this. Now suddenly they’re hesitating and not giving you any guidance at all. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2168 | Who at the State Department did you and your — and the officers directly above you, who did you directly interface with? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2169 | Anyone else at the State Department you interacted with? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2170 | And this is Andrew Shapiro who was senior adviser to Secretary of State Clinton, assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs, is that correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2171 | Currently, Andrew Shapiro who’s part of Beacon Global Strategies, correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2172 | Did the general urge the State Department to take a specific action? Did you and/or the general urge the State Department to take specific action on the night of September th when you knew a terrorist attack had taken place on our people at our facility in Benghazi? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2173 | And you don’t know if the general urged — | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2174 | But the general, just like you, is trained in a culture that says when you have seamen, airmen, soldiers under attack, you respond, right? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2175 | Was Libya different in State Department interface with AFRICOM than the rest of Africa? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2176 | And if so, how? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2177 | Dr. Wehrey, you testified previously that overwhelmingly the country’s political leaders are rejecting violence for political means and that they’re committed to some sort of a democratic path forward and that they will come greater cooperation with the U.S. Can you explain in more detail what their willingness is or how that willingness to cooperate with the U.S. is manifesting itself? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2178 | (Dr. Wehrey, you testified previously that overwhelmingly the country’s political leaders are rejecting violence for political means and that they’re committed to some sort of a democratic path forward and that they will come greater cooperation with the U.S. Can you explain in more detail what their willingness is or how that willingness to cooperate with the U.S. is manifesting itself?) And what can we do? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2179 | REP. DUCKWORTH: Can you speak about their police forces? You said needing help to train their military. Are they asking for help to train their police forces as well, from the U.S. or any other allies? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2180 | Are there additional risks to consider as we support Libya’s effort towards this transition? For example, are there risks from a program for demobilization, disarmament and reintegration of the militia members? You talked about combating terrorism. You know, as the United States helped Libya move forward, I also want to make sure that we minimize risk to our nation and to our citizens as well. So are there any risks that we should be sort of keeping an eye on as we try to help them move forward? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2181 | You mentioned in your written testimony that AFRICOM’s ability to mobilize and employ combat power with, quote, “limited boots on the ground,” and in the implied timeframe, was commendable. What do you mean by the implied timeframe? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2182 | So the effectiveness, could you elaborate, of this policy? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2183 | So am I to understand, then, that the effectiveness was compromised, that it wasn’t complete, that it wasn’t as full as possible, that it wasn’t satisfactory, without having this boots on the ground available to you? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2184 | When did AFRICOM start becoming aware of political turmoil in Libya? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2185 | When you began monitoring it. When was that? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2186 | Did AFRICOM have any role in the decision-making process, direct decision-making process, to intervene into Libya? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2187 | And what was that role? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2188 | What was AFRICOM’s role during Odyssey Dawn? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2189 | What about Unified Protector? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2190 | Dr. Gartenstein-Ross, some have praised the NATO intervention as a model intervention. But your testimony points to consequences of the intervention. What are some of the most pronounced consequences of this Libyan intervention? | Rep. Tim Walberg | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2191 | So I want to ask the panel — and I’ll start with Dr. Wehrey — in your testimony, you discussed at length the challenges that outside assistance, including from countries like the United States, Turkey, Britain, Morocco and Italy face in terms of providing training assistance in the developing — development of an effective Libyan army. Can you elaborate on what your recommendations to this committee would be? […] General, or the other panelists, would you propose specific actionable reforms that this committee could recommend? | Rep. Matt Cartwright | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2192 | Do you feel like the United States was doing everything it could do to protect the people, its facilities abroad, that the United States was doing everything it could do to protect our people and our facilities abroad based on what you saw that night? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2193 | Do you — do you believe that night and even during that night did you believe that this was a protest rooted in an Internet video? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2194 | Did you have any sort of sense that night based on what you were hearing, the communication between State and DOD and what was happening on the ground, trying to gather information, that there was a steadiness and a strength through that evening in trying to make the decisions? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2195 | And so was there ongoing communication and coordination? Were you spending time waiting on the State Department to try to get you information of what to do? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2196 | But you feel like there were clear lines in communication and the steadiness of leadership that was happening that night so there was a consistent, here’s who’s in the lead, here’s what we’re going to do in a plan that was unfolding? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2197 | Were you getting it from the United States in the room they were planning and strategizing? Were you getting clear communication and leadership from Washington, from the United States, on what to do next? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2198 | Does anyone know if we brought the people to justice that did this in our embassy and our facilities? Is anyone aware of justice that’s been carried out? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2199 | What were you tracking that evening? Were you watching video? Were you tracking phone calls? How are you gathering information through the course of the evening? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2200 | So you’re talking the email traffic and such or when they were trying to email, get information — | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2201 | So then there’s phone conversations happening at different points, where the individuals on the ground are in phone communication with other individuals. Were you getting any information about that as well? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2202 | Were you aware there was closed-circuit TV that was also on the compound itself, video feed? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2203 | Did you get from State — or let me say it this way — did you know who from State would call you if they wanted to take action? Was there a clear line of communication — OK, the military is getting into a position of readiness; who are you waiting for from State to call you? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2204 | So there was a clear line of communication. You knew who would make the call and where that would come from as far as — | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2205 | Did we have Americans back that night? […] United States military always watches for other Americans and their back. Did we have their back that night? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2206 | Based on the situation in Libya now or two years ago, would you consider the security situation normal for one of our facilities? Was this a normal security situation? Prior — obviously, to — when the attack is going on, that’s not normal. Prior to that attack, was this a normal environment for our personnel? […] Does anyone else have a comment on that? Was this a normal security environment? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2207 | If you went to Libya right now, would you be OK if one of the local militias guarded your front door? Would anyone be open to that? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2208 | But was it — was it a normal security environment that we would run it with one of the local militias? I’d — I understand the local security is typically provided. In Libya at that point, were we in a normal environment that we would have one of the local militias? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2209 | Would you trust their loyalty at that time to provide your security for your front door? | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2210 | Could you vet the militia at that time, based on where — | Rep. James Lankford | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2211 | I wanted to talk to you a little bit about the DOD timeline of Benghazi-related events. It says it wasn’t until : a.m. that AFRICOM ordered a C- in Germany to prepare to deploy to Libya to evacuate the Americans wounded in the attack. And furthermore, the timeline says it wasn’t until : p.m., over eight hours later, that the plane took off from Germany for Libya. Can you explain why that took so long? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2212 | General, are you familiar with the term “the golden hour”? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2213 | Can you tell us what that means to military personnel who’ve been wounded? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2214 | And if I’m correct, the survival rate — if they do not die on the battlefield, the chance of survival is about percent if they’re reached within that golden hour? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2215 | Were there indeed assets in the region that could have been deployed sooner, in your opinion? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2216 | In your opinion, if you were given the green light to pick up the phone and make the call to get someone there to help bleeding Americans, how long would it have taken? Could — having that opportunity to just make the call, how quickly could someone have gotten there, in your opinion? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2217 | Do you believe it is much quicker than it was? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2218 | So one thing — our soldiers — we talked about this earlier in today’s hearing that, you know, you’re taught to run towards the gun. All the military people that I know want to run towards danger, not away from it, but they were not able to do so. Why was that? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2219 | I know General Ham was in Washington that night, which left his deputy commander as the senior-most officer at AFRICOM. Was he consulting with the State Department about what he should do in response to the attack in Benghazi? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2220 | So in your opinion, what was the holdup? You testified earlier that the CIA knew, the military knew, the State Department knew that this was a terrorist attack, yet somebody was holding this process back. Who was it? | Rep. Scott DesJarlais | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2221 | Now we go to DOD, military. What evidence did you have that this was an escalation of a protest, rooted in spontaneity, that got out of control and resulted in the murder of our four fellow Americans? Did the military have any evidence supporting the video narrative? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2222 | But as an American citizen — I’m not, you know, I’m not asking you to give away any secrets of speak — as an American citizen, does it trouble you that we can’t respond in a timely manner to threats to an American em-bassy anywhere in the world? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2223 | You talk about you fight (your way to the train ?), the brave men and women did in running toward the sound of the guns. You also say that outside of Libya there were discussions going on about how to respond to the attack and that these folks also fought the way they were trained. Are you referring to the AFRICOM headquarters with that comment? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2224 | So you wrote the disposition to interagency influences have the military structure and the spirit of expeditionary government support waiting for a request for assistance from the State Department. That kind of sounds like (bureaucratese ?) as saying that the military that night, it was not its own master as far as taking steps to go to the rescue of the Americans in Benghazi, but were waiting for directions from the State Department. Would that be a fair assessment? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2225 | And I know General Ham was in Washington that night and left his deputy commander, his senior-most officer at AFRICOM. Was he consulting the State Department about what to do during the attacks at Benghazi? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2226 | In your testimony, you talked about in the Arab Spring how we are — we should be focusing on helping these countries out. You look at the track record that we have under the Obama administration with nation-building. You look at Iraq, a lot of blood, a lot of treasure shed in Iraq, yet we see al-Qaida flags flying in Fallujah, we’ve seen instability all throughout that region. You look at the civil war going on in Syria. Obviously, I mean, it’s hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys without a playbook, but we draw a red line and step back from it. We can even go over into Crimea and see some problems. Are we sure we’re — we really want to be involved in that based on our track record there? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2227 | The U.S. intervention in Libya was constrained by White House’s strict prohibition of boots on the ground. Do you think that limited boots on the ground and that policy might have been one of the driving forces in the fact that we didn’t send a response there to Benghazi? | Rep. Blake Farenthold | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2228 | General Lovell, you were the deputy commander of Operation Odyssey Guard which you describe as the missions to help the State Department reestablish the embassy in Tripoli, Libya. Can you describe what the mission involved? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2229 | How would that differ in a normal protocol under military jurisdiction? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2230 | Yeah, do the teams join the chain of command any? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2231 | In your testimony that the State Department was in the lead, as we just confirmed, for the effort to get back Libya on its feet, one of the things this committee has encountered in its investigation of the State Department’s conduct in Libya is the overwhelming focus on normalization, whether it be the attempt to reduce security personnel at the diplomatic facilities or so-called normal levels or attempt to view the government of Libya as normal host-nation partners capable of providing meaningful protection like my colleague from Texas just talked about. Did you encounter this normalization philosophy in your dealings with the State Department during Operation Odyssey Guard? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2232 | Could you elaborate a little bit on that? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2233 | Did you consider it hostile? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2234 | Well, you complement — you make this worse because we had an email in regards to what al-Qaida was looking to do: number one, take out the British embassy, the consulate, the International Red Cross and then Benghazi — the consulate. They accomplished that, to your intelligence. So wouldn’t we have heightened the awareness of — that we were in a fractionalized, hostile — more hostile environment? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2235 | You — are you aware of any other operation that was this disjointed in your — in your — in your career? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2236 | So, I mean, you just made the comment just earlier that, you know, the best forces — to put our forces there in a fragmented aspect, that’s the best deterrent. So without those, aren’t you inviting an attack? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2237 | What was AFRICOM’s role in Libya after Odyssey Guard ended? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2238 | Did Libya receive any sort of heightened monitoring after Odyssey Guard ended? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2239 | General, can you explain the significance of the fact that J- shop at AFRICOM wasn’t just the intelligence shop but intelligence and knowledge development shops? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2240 | And so in that — in that position, you were able to observe the interplay between the military and the State Department as it relates to those issues, correct? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2241 | I mean, once the first word of — that we have — we have problems at this annex, it could have lasted hours, , hours. So the idea that somehow, looking back in hindsight and saying, oh, well, you know, we didn’t marshal forces; we wouldn’t have gotten there in time — that just doesn’t satisfy me. I mean, am I wrong in that? | Rep. Ron Desantis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2242 | General, as the shop, you weren’t doing operational, so I don’t want to get into the operational side, but from an intelligence standpoint, you earlier said that you knew — and I’ll paraphrase — from the get-go that this was not a video gone — you know, inciting some kind of a demonstration but in fact a terrorist attack. That’s correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2243 | And when you knew it, the deputy, the vice admiral — did he know it? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2244 | And to your knowledge, did General Carter Ham then know it back on stateside? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2245 | And from your experience, long time in the military, it is reasonable to assume that the secretary of defense also would have known what each of you in the chain of command knew, since he was standing by General Ham? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2246 | So would it — is there any conceivable way at : in the morning Libyan-Stuttgart time, any conceivable way that anyone could reasonably be promoting the YouTube video from the White House or from anywhere in the know in government? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2247 | So for someone to do that at : in the morning Stuttgart time, they would have to either not know what you, your boss and your boss’ boss knew and presumably people above him; or they would have to be working contrary to what was known? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2248 | You said we didn’t know how long this would last, “this” meaning the attacks on // We didn’t know how long this would last when we became aware of the distress, nor did we completely understand what we had in front of us, be it a kidnapping, rescue/recovery or a protracted hostile engagement. Can you elaborate on that? What was it like watching from Stuttgart, watching what was happening in Benghazi? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2249 | And at what point did you know that no assets were going to be sent to Benghazi that night? No special ops, no units — | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2250 | And who was making the decisions not to go in, not to respond? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2251 | So normally those kinds of decisions would be made after the military conferred with civilian leadership in Washington. […] And that would be the normal chain of discussion. | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2252 | Did you assume that those discussions were going on, those discussions between the military chain of command, the State Department, the Defense Department and the White House? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2253 | In your military experience, what would have been a more normal response in the middle of the night, a.m. Stuttgart time, when you knew you had an ambassador down, and later in the night you knew you had personnel on the CIA annex roof and there was an exchange of fire? What would you have expected in your military experience to happen? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2254 | And when did it become apparent to you there would be no “go”? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2255 | And how many of you were together in Stuttgart watching this unfold — | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2256 | What would you say to the mother of one of the people that was killed? Did we — did the military, the Pentagon, the United States of America do everything it could to save those people? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2257 | Could we have done more? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2258 | Secretary Hillary Clinton whispered evidently, according to one of the mothers, whispered in the ear that it was the video that had done this. Is that true? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2259 | When did you think it was over? When were our Americans in harm’s way — when were they safe? […] When did you think the fight was over? […] That night, though, September th, while we still had people in Benghazi — when were they — when was the fight over? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2260 | Your opinion, your vantage point there in Libya — was al-Qaida on the run? […] What was — what was going on with al-Qaida September th, September th and the months leading up to that? Were they on the run? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2261 | Are they growing in strength, shrinking in strength? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2262 | My understanding is that your shop, J-, AFRICOM — on September th, hours — hours before the Ben Rhodes email, they actually produced a document to my ranking member and other people on this committee. The front of this email is stamped “secret,” but the second page I believe is — should be — is not classified. It’s not stamped with anything. In deference I’m not putting it out there, but what I do hope this committee does, what I do hope the American people can see for themselves is what the military intelligence thought was happening there in Libya and clearly they put this out saying — it says multiple times — I’ve read it myself — it says al-Qaida. It says Ansar al Sharia. It says AQIM. And that this was sent to the State Department as the best intelligence that you had — to the State Department as to what happened in the attack and what the attack profile might look like if we wanted to counter. Do you have knowledge of this document? Are you familiar with this document? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2263 | And would — as I described it, would that be an accurate representation? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2264 | First, Chairman McKeon found that our military, including General Ham, General Dempsey and others, au-thorized two Marine FAST platoons in Rota, Spain to prepare to deploy. Do you agree that this did, in fact, occur? Did that happen? Do you know? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2265 | Second, Chairman McKeon found that a Special Operations unit assigned to the European Command known as Commander’s Inter-extremist (sic/means In-extremis) Force, CIF, which was training in Croatia, was ordered to move to a U.S. naval air station in Sigonella, Italy. Do you dispute that? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2266 | And third, Chairman McKeon found that a Special Operations unit in the United States was also dispatched to the region. Do you — you don’t dispute that, do you? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2267 | So I’m afraid I just don’t understand why you are testifying here today under oath that the United States military did not try to help the night of the attacks. And how do you explain that? And if I’m misstating you, correct me. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2268 | GEN. LOVELL: Yes, I did not say that they did not try — REP. CUMMINGS: OK, so — GEN. LOVELL: — the evening of those attacks. REP. CUMMINGS: So what did you say? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2269 | And so we all agree that we have liked the military to — all of us would have liked the military to have responded more quickly. And changes have been made to allow the military to respond faster. But the facts are that the military did mobilize forces. It did act and it did try. So will you concede that point, now that you have been presented with the actual evidence? I mean, so you agree that they did try. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2270 | And the CIF, the Commander’s In-Extremis Force, again, begs the question. This fight started at : p.m. The general has just said it was six-something in the morning before they were able to get out of Benghazi. It was so bad in Tripoli that they had to evacuate the embassy in Tripoli and go to another secure facility. So, again, did they try to do what they were ordered to do? I think the general is absolutely right. Were they ordered to engage in the fight in Benghazi? The answer is unfortunately no. That’s the question. That’s the concern. General, do you have any comments about what I said? Is there anything that you would disagree with, take issue with, or want to further comment on? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2271 | What about the idea that the FAST team’s getting ready to deploy? People are dead. We’re taking fire. We’re in a fight. Why did the FAST team have to change clothes out of their military uniforms and into civilian clothes? Do you have any knowledge about that? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2272 | Well, what do you think about it? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2273 | Why do they wear a uniform? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2274 | The outrage here is we got a fight, we’ve got Americans dying and somebody at the State Department, it looks like, wanted them to change their clothes because they didn’t want them going in there with the American flag, they didn’t want them going in there wearing the American uniform. They wear them to carry ammunition, to carry weapons, they do it so they know who’s on whose side. And it took them almost an hour later to get in to engage them because they wanted them to look better. That’s the outrage. General, do you have any other personal comment? You’ve been in the military for more than years. Why? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2275 | How? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2276 | Have you ever seen that happen before? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2277 | How does that make you feel? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2278 | And they were going to Tripoli, correct? They weren’t going to Benghazi. | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2279 | They were headed where? | Rep. Jason Chaffetz | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2280 | Reclaiming my time, General, I have one last question. It’s about a gentleman named Andrew Shapiro. This is someone who is a former assistant secretary of state, former Senate staffer to former Secretary Clinton, played a prominent role in coming out to AFRICOM and providing guidance on what the military would do with respect to Libya. Did Mr. Shapiro’s prominence seem odd to you given your military experience? | Rep. Cynthia Lumis | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2281 | General Lovell, in your testimony you described a new normal in Libya was a formerly intact country now fractured and divided along many lines. Was there anything normal about the so- called new normal in Libya after Gadhafi? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2282 | And could you elaborate on that? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2283 | But particularly after the fall of Gadhafi, it becomes more chaotic. Would you agree? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2284 | Now, in your role as intelligence, could you highlight what you knew beforehand about eastern Libya? What were your predisposed as far as following intelligence? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2285 | But in that portion, would you consider maybe a hot bed? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2286 | So a normal CEO or somebody that’s receiving this intelligence has got to put a higher priority on that, right? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2287 | Do you believe that this event was totally preventable in Benghazi? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2288 | Given the information that should have been normally going up the chain for somebody to make a decision, this was preventable. | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2289 | Are you familiar with the term “malpractice?” | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2290 | And what happens is is when an executive who’s in charge of facilitating knows that the — (inaudible) — standards of the consulate do not meet those qualifications, that they’re on a hot bed of activity, they knew something was coming along those lines, that you should have prevented this. Would you consider this malpractice? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2291 | MS. SCHAKE: […] while I absolutely agree with you that the State Department should have been paying more attention to the growing jihadist threat and the growing militancy of militia in Benghazi, I would not want to take away from an American ambassador the ability to assess risk as accomplishing his mission or putting himself in harm’s way, which I think Chris Stevens did a lot of in Benghazi to tragic effect. REP. GOSAR: But doesn’t he also have the impugned liability to those that are surrounding him as well? | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2292 | But given the circumstances of what we’ve seen played out by the information, there was definite neglect. | Rep. Paul Gosar | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2293 | If I understand you correctly, on / — leading up to it with the normalization policy, but on /, with the assets that were available in and out of Libya, you had a State Department to a certain extent under Mr. Shapiro, under somebody who had special authority for one country in Africa; the Near East — the rest of it was run by other people. You had one country, Libya, that was being run by a different group of people — and you mentioned this earlier — and they determined whether or not you got to go. Is that correct? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2294 | If Assistant Secretary — deputy assistant secretary, I guess he is — Shapiro — Andrew Shapiro — if he had called the deputy combatant commander and said, we need you to put all assets on the target, would you have been taking action at that command in concert with the European Command to begin moving assets toward Benghazi sooner? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2295 | and within the joint interagency arrangement — you saw before, during and after //, the decision on movement, if I understand you correctly, did not belong to the Department of Defense; it belonged to the Department of State. | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2296 | So, in your opinion, the vice admiral, General Ham, yourself — nobody out of Stuttgart had the authority to unilaterally launch combatant aircraft or personnel? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2297 | Basically put a suit and tie on, dress nice and hide your weapons to go in as Marines, to take a little liberty with the order that was given to get out of your uniforms before going into Tripoli — that was a State Department decision? That would not, to your knowledge, have been a combatant commander decision? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2298 | In your opinion — now I’ll have you take off your — the September th hat — as a retired, long-serving military officer who saw the relationship and the arrangements that existed for Africa at the African Command relative to how decisions were made to go or not to go in support of Americans in harm’s way, would you insist on material changes in how we do business so that there could be faster response in the future? | Rep. Darrell Issa | R | House Oversight 5/1/14 |
| 2299 | In fact, the board in East Africa urged the secretary of state to, quote, “take a personal and active role in carrying out the responsibility of ensuring the security of U.S. diplomatic personnel abroad,” and it was essential to convey to the entire department that security is one of its highest priorities. Assistant Secretary Starr, are you familiar with the East Africa recommendations? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2300 | And do you agree with the report? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2301 | Are you aware that after the Benghazi ARB, then- secretary gave her personal assurance, as well, that she put overall responsibility for implementing all of the ARB recommendations in the hands of the deputy secretary? Are you familiar with that? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2302 | And that was, in fact, in her letter to — in December of ‘ to, at the time, the Honorable John Kerry, chairman of Foreign Relations. She indicated that the deputy secretary would be overseeing the implementation of the ARB. Are you familiar with her letter? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2303 | And then, are you familiar with the fact that — that when Secretary Kerry became the secretary of state, he initially kept it at the deputy secretary level, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2304 | Today, however, overall responsibility for oversight and implementation of all of the recommendations is with an office known as Management Policy Right-Sizing Innovation. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2305 | And so, I’d like to just point out, for those who might not be familiar, and you, too, are an assistant secretary reporting to the undersecretary of management, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2306 | And so, with respect — and you say that they are tracking the implementation. However, that is the office that is day in and day out going in and trying to ensure that all of those recommendations are being followed. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2307 | And so, at this point, the ARB recommendations, well, it’s really not at the secretary of state level, it’s not at the deputy secretary of state level, the second level, it’s not with an undersecretary, but the tracking is happening at the fourth tier. Is that correct? The tracking and making sure that day in and day out is at the fourth tier. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2308 | And the deputy secretary, are you familiar with the inspector general’s report, sir? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2309 | And the inspector general, who issued the report in , also believed that at the highest levels in the department, those are the individuals that must be personally responsible for overseeing those recom-mendations. Isn’t that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2310 | And, in fact, indicated in the I.G. report that that’s how lasting change and cultural change would happen, is if implementation were at the highest levels of the department. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2311 | I’d like to ask Mr. Keil, if I might, your best practices panel indicated that where a security function is placed in a department is a statement of how that organization values security and its personnel. Do you recall that finding, Mr. Keil? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2312 | And can you please explain with respect to recommendation number one, which has not been implemented by the department, can you please talk about the importance of that recommendation of elevating the importance, actually, of Mr. Starr’s position, to a higher level? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2313 | So, can you please talk about the importance of that recommendation and what you understand as to why the department is not elevating the importance of security within the organization at the current time? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2314 | And, in your view, the best practices panel, when they looked at the organization of the department, it was clearly your view that overall responsibility for security from a visual standpoint, which is important in large organizations, was too low on the org chart? Am I right? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2315 | And while it might not just be where it’s placed on the org chart visually, it has to do with command and control, does it not? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2316 | And, in fact, when you are a lower level on an organization chart, that requires you to then move up within the organization to get approval for things that you’d like to do. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2317 | I’d like to just briefly wrap up with Mr. Sullivan. And with respect to — you’ve led a large federal agency, the Secret Service, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2318 | And you understand the span of control, and so with respect to the need to lead lasting cultural change in an organization, which is what I believe this panel is going to try to lead and to do, where does that need to start? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2319 | And when you start at the top, which would be the secretary of state, if you want to emphasize within your entire organization the importance, and in this place, of security, the deputy secretary or the undersecretary, which are considered principals in a department, is that correct? And that’s the highest levels? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2320 | And with respect, do you have any other comments you’d like to make with respect to Mr. Keil’s assessment? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2321 | How do you identify the high-risk posts, first of all? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2322 | And then, second of all, once you identify one, what do you do? How do you then try to enhance security and make sure that people are — are protected? […] once you identify them, how do you try to better protect them? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2323 | And if you could tie that back into sort of what played out in Benghazi. I don’t think there was any question that people view that as a high-risk post. What should have happened as a result of that identification that didn’t? […] So — so as a result of the ARB on this specific instance, what do you think you learned specifically about Benghazi? What should have been — what should have done there that wasn’t? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2324 | Now, what — so what is different about that communications level as a result of the ARB and some of the other studies that we’ve done? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2325 | And we’ve actually, in the last year, pulled out of posts as the result of that process, correct? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2326 | Starr, you said in your just recent testimony that there was no immediate tactical warning. That’s the same (ph) that the ARB had found about the incident before Benghazi, is that correct? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2327 | And it is also the case that in your experience that it’s often not the case that there’s an immediate tactical warning. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2328 | VPs (inaudible) if you don’t have the threat analysis right, ranking them, all the various things you’ve talked about is — is meaningless if you don’t have the threat analysis, correct, that is if you don’t have the right intelligence and have it in the right place. Would you agree with that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2329 | Indeed, there were some incidents that were referred to by Mr. Sullivan a bit ago in and around from March of up and through the death of the four Americans, where there was an incredibly deteriorating situation in and around Benghazi. Would you agree with that as well? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2330 | And in fact, find — in fact, the finding number said careful attention should be paid to that kind of thing when the situation deteriorates. And your July th fact sheet, your only response to that particular finding was that the department has addressed this recommendation. Can you tell me what that is? What it is you’ve done to address this recommendation? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2331 | I don’t want to interrupt, but can you — if you can tell me if this is different pre-Benghazi as opposed to post-Benghazi, this process, I’d appreciate that as you go through. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2332 | And after all the incidents in the previous years that were accounted so elegantly this morning, you weren’t doing that before the incidents of September th, , or before the ARB’s findings? Is that right? The State Department wasn’t doing that, is that what I understand from your testimony? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2333 | And can you tell me if any of these changes would have made an impact on the lives of those four Americans in Benghazi had we been doing those before that date? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2334 | One of the findings of the best practices panel that now dates just a bit over a year ago was that the State Department had not interviewed the D.S. agents who survived the attack at Benghazi special mission, as of that date. Is that still the case? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2335 | So the State Department now — so was the panel incorrect, or did you conduct these interviews after the panel’s report, the independent panel’s report? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2336 | It may have been important to know what the folks on the ground saw that night, right, in order to implement these security considerations. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2337 | The same for the folks who were there TDY, who weren’t there that night but had been there previously as the Department of State interviewed those — all of those persons at this point? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2338 | When those interviews were conducted by the Department of State, were they conducted individually or in groups? When the interviews were conducted by the Department of State, were they conducted individually or were they group interviews? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2339 | So they were — the interviews were conducted by the Department of State individually? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2340 | Mr. Cummings’ reference to State Department’s inspector general’s report, one of the things that it said is — it indicated that at least two secretaries of state have asked the question about whether the ARB was a sufficient process, that is, is it capable of handling investigations of the complexity of the one that we see here? Do you think that the ARB itself is sufficient to make this transition from facts known about an incident to conducting good security policy moving forward? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2341 | Are you prepared to testify today that you’ll help us continue to make sure that the ARB does, in fact, have the ability to make sure that the leaders of organizations are held accountable for any errors that they may have made? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2342 | So you think it’s important that the ARB have the capacity — at least recommend some type of disciplinary action against senior leaders in various agencies that they’re reviewing? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2343 | Do you know if the ARB had the opportunity to interview the CIA employees and contractors who were on the ground that night, who might know something about the security at the SMC as well as the other facilities in Benghazi that evening? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2344 | Do you know if they have had the opportunity to interview the DIA people who might have known something about the intelligence and the security situation on the ground that night? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2345 | I also wondered if you had all had a chance to review any of the intelligence that had been gathered as a result of the capture of Abu Khatallah, who would know a fair thing about what was going on that night on the ground as well. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2346 | And so I’m interested in whether you all have all had the chance to incorporate that into your ideas about implementing the ARB. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2347 | The — how is the department tracking its compliance with the Benghazi ARB recommendations? Can you tell me briefly? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2348 | And so you said that there were seven ARB recommendations that have not been completed. Is that right? Is that what you said? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2349 | And do you have a timeline on those? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2350 | STARR: […] So that’s the type of recommendation that’s going to actually be open for a long time. CUMMINGS: So — but all of them aren’t like that, are they, of the seven? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2351 | So can you — of those seven, the things that you know can be done in a definite amount of time, can you give us a timetable on those so that we can — at least while we are a committee, can hold the department ac-countable? Is that a reasonable request? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2352 | If there are crucial things that we’ve been looking at, recommendations from that you are working on, would you add those — the significant ones — going back to Ms. Brooks now — that you haven’t been able to complete that you’re working on so that we can have a timetable on that? […] So will you come back to us? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2353 | How much time you need to give us what I just asked for? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2354 | days? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2355 | The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence came to a similar conclusion in its bipartisan report. It said, and I quote, “There were tripwires designed to prompt a reduction in personnel for the suspension of operations at the mission facility in Benghazi, and although there is evidence that some of them had been crossed, opera-tions continued with minimal change,” end of quote. As a result, the ARB recommended that the State Department, quote, “revise its guidance to posts and require key offices to perform in-depth status checks of post-tripwires,” end of quote. Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2356 | As I understand it, the purpose of this entity is to review tripwires, when they are triggered, to help ensure that posts and the relevant, regional bureaus respond quickly to deteriorating security environments. Mr. Starr, is — who’s on that community? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2357 | Can you give us an example that has actually happened with regard to that, what you just said? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2358 | And just a little side note here, three days after the attack, we had been calling the embassy. We were told that the — it was a temporary mission facility, and now it’s being called a special mission compound. Was there any reason for the terminology continuing to evolve into something? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2359 | Do you call it a temporary mission facility or do you… | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2360 | Anyway, they had hired the Blue Mountain, I believe — is that correct — to do the screening of any visitors and the perimeter protection? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2361 | That was the host country security, was the th brigade. […] You had mentioned the th, February th, the Martyr’s Brigade, I believe is what it was called. And we have been told that was basically the host company security. Is that true or not? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2362 | But the Blue Mountain was unarmed, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2363 | Who’s responsible for vetting these contractors, like Blue Mountain, that’s gonna be used at some of these facilities? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2364 | So were these just the lowest — was this the lowest price bidder? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2365 | Are you aware that two contracts that these people had in Tripoli were canceled and that the RSO at the — at the temporary mission facility had recommended that they not be used? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2366 | You were once a RSO, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2367 | In your distinguished career, do you ever remember recommending that a service not be used, that you were familiar with anywhere, and then them being hired over your protest or your recommendation? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2368 | But you would have at some point recommended somebody or maybe not recommended anybody. I mean, was it your job to look at the performance of these people, that you were aware of? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2369 | Is there an individual that would be at the post that would be responsible for ensuring that the th Brigade was responsible and dependable? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2370 | STARR: […] one of the things that an RSO would do at that point, if he was faced with limited choices, was try to train them as best he could to try to make the best of whatever situation he was handed. WESTMORELAND: He would have to train the February Brigade or? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2371 | Now, let’s say that — and they were hired to — in case there was an attack inside the compound — to respond. Who would have had the contact information and who would have been responsible on the post for contacting the — this protective brigade of martyrs? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2372 | STARR: […] there were personnel on the compound. They had telephone communication with their own groups. The agent that was in the… WESTMORELAND: With their own groups? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2373 | The Foreign Affairs Handbook defines trip wires as events that activate, initiate or set in motion post plans to prevent harm to the post, its personnel, the U.S. citizen community or other U.S. national interests. The handbook also notes that when a trip wire event occurs, it requires that an action be taken. Are you familiar with — with that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2374 | It’s my understanding that the trip wires are preplanned, preapproved measures that should be taken in light of a security-related incident or threat. Is that true? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2375 | Has the State Department emphasized to posts the purpose of having trip wires? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2376 | When a trip wire is breached, meaning something bad has happened, that breech is the trigger to take specific action, is it not? […] Take action, rather than just requiring that they set around and reevaluate the situation? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2377 | Well, would you consider a hole being blown in the perimeter wall of the temporary mission facility, would you consider that a trip wire? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2378 | And that event would have probably — should have caused some action or discussion, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2379 | Would an attack on another diplomat’s coming into Benghazi that caused that country to pull out, would that have been a trip wire? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2380 | And so, those were two trip wires that you would consider significant, would you not? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2381 | And what was done with the security after those two trip wires were tripped? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2382 | We want to protect our people as best we can. But we want them to be effective. That’s why they’re there. So if you could each share briefly your thoughts on are we striking the right balance? Or has the Benghazi effect meant that we are undermining the ability of our people to do their work? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2383 | And you get that feedback, and are there any — any situations where you feel the pressure has been such to be so risk avoidant that we’re not allowing our people to do their job? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2384 | Are there any places around the world today where you feel we’re continuing to place an over-reliance on local militias for security of our facilities? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2385 | Mr. Keil, how many years experience do you have in the security field? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2386 | And how many years did you serve at the State Department in that — in that same area? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2387 | Did you get good evaluations, high — high reviews, strong reviews? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2388 | So good, in fact, I looked at your resume, that you actually were put on the security detail to protect the secretary of State. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2389 | And then your most recent service in the public sector was as assistant secretary at Homeland Security. Is that right? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2390 | And that’s an appointment from the Obama administration? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2391 | You trust the agents in the field, Mr. Keil? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2392 | Their assessment, their instincts, they’re the guys on the ground, putting their — putting their lives on the line just like you did. So when they make a recommendation to the State Department, you take that seriously? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2393 | And are you familiar with the fact that the guys on the ground in Benghazi repeatedly asked for additional security and were repeatedly denied? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2394 | And it was worse than that, wasn’t it, Mr. Keil? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2395 | Yeah, because they asked for, not only — the said we need more. But what they had was actually reduced. Is that accurate? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2396 | And my guess is at every facility, the security people would say, “We could use a few more folks here. We’d like a few more.” My guess is that that happens. But wasn’t the situation in Libya and Benghazi somewhat unique? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2397 | If you were an agent on the ground in Benghazi at the time, Mr. Keil, would you be — would you have been lobbying for more help to come to Benghazi? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2398 | Flip it around. You’re the guy at the desk in Washington. You get the request from these guys on the grounds for more help. Would you have fought to make that request happen? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2399 | Oh, so you had that job? […] Before — before Benghazi, you had that job? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2400 | And you would have went to bat for these folks? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2401 | Mr. Keil, what’s the Overseas Security Policy Board? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2402 | So these were — these were standards developed interagency? So they were the State Department standards, is that correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2403 | And this resulted from the embassy bombing in Beirut where people were killed, Americans. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2404 | And were the standards followed at the Benghazi facility? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2405 | So the standards weren’t followed? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2406 | Now my understanding is there’s a waiver process that you have to follow if, in fact, you’re going to deviate from the standards. Was the waiver process followed? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2407 | So they didn’t follow standards or the waiver? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2408 | Mr. Keil, what’s your — what’s your overall impression of the ARB report? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2409 | You don’t think it was independent at all? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2410 | But here’s — there was one good thing that came out of the ARB in my judgment, at least one good thing: they created the Best Practices Panel that you and Mr. Sullivan sat on, right? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2411 | And you guys made a whole bunch of recommendations. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2412 | How many recommendations again? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2413 | recommendations, and some of them are more important than others, is that right? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2414 | And the most important one is which one? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2415 | And is that the first recommendation you listed in your report? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2416 | Most of the others hinge on the implementation of that recommendation. | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2417 | It’s designed to give accountability and responsibility to one particular person at the State Department, is that correct? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2418 | And is this the first time that this recommendation’s been put forward, Mr. Keil? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2419 | I mean, has the State Department said they’re going to implement this at all? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2420 | Talking about the security accountability framework within the Department of State, the Best Practices Panel, which was led by Mr. Sullivan, determined, quote, “clearly defined accountability and responsibility for security at every level is fundamental for effective security management within an organization,” and the panel rec-ommended the development of an accountability framework. Is that correct, Mr. Sullivan? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2421 | In response to that recommendation, the department created a security accountability framework that the department explained clearly defined key actors, their roles and responsibilities and governance mechanisms. Mr. Starr, I’d like to begin with you. Can you please describe the responsibilities at each of the various lead-ership levels? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2422 | So, those expectations have been communicated, then, on down the security framework, is that correct? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2423 | And State Department employees have a clear understanding of what the chain of command, so to speak, is for security decisions and security decision-making? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2424 | If I can go back for just a second to the number one recommendation about creating a different position that would be in charge of security, explain some of the thought-making process that went into the ultimate decision to not accept that recommendation and to essentially make you responsible for security. | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2425 | Mr. Sullivan, do you think that the new framework that the Department of State has adopted clearly defines accountability and responsibility for security? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2426 | Why is it valuable for security officers to spend longer durations at posts? And what’s the benefit to developing an understanding of the local environment? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2427 | And has the department been able to achieve those requirements in its actual practice? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2428 | And, are there any other incentives that the department can provide or can think to provide for personnel to undertake those longer assignments? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2429 | Mr. Starr, the Overseas Security Policy Board sets the physical security standards that must be met. And it’s also my understanding that they’re either temporary, interim or permanent, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2430 | And overseas diplomatic facilities can be further classified as residential, office or other categories as well? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2431 | And how was Benghazi classified in ? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2432 | And what — was that classification found in the OSPB’s standards? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2433 | Are there any OSPB standards for a temporary office facility? There’s not, right? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2434 | But the office in the residential do not require a higher level — level of security if they’re in that category? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2435 | The Benghazi facility was being used at both, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2436 | And so, in this — in the dual case where it’s being used as a residential and an office, what standards apply? The higher standards, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2437 | OK, and so, those OSPB standards should have applied to the Benghazi facility? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2438 | Your policy is that any time a facility is being used for more than one purpose, whatever type of facility has the higher — or the — the highest level of physical security standards, those standards should be applied? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2439 | OK, but that didn’t happen in Benghazi? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2440 | Looking ahead, when you talk about in this era of expeditionary diplomacy, is it possible for the State Department to open a temporary residential facility? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2441 | Were Marine security guard detachments ever deployed to the Benghazi compound? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2442 | And Marine security guard detachments are never deployed to temporary facilities, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2443 | OK, so the increase in Marine security guard detachments as a result of the ARB recommendation , therefore, would not have actually helped in Benghazi, correct? I mean, if it’s a temporary facility, and they can’t be deployed, then it won’t help? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2444 | OK, so we’ve also already established here today that there’s currently posts that are considered high risk, high threat. How many have benefited, of those , from the Marine security guard personnel? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2445 | OK, is it your intent to get to a place where you have these Marine security detachments at all of the high risk, high threat locations, posts? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2446 | How — at the — at the ones that currently do not have the Marine security detachment, how exactly does the department plan to augment security at these high risk, high threat without highly trained Marine security guards? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2447 | If an ambassador at a high risk, high threat post picks up the phone and calls the seventh floor of the State Department today, asking for additional security, physical or personnel, who ultimately makes the decision to grant or deny that request? […] But ultimately, I just — I’m asking who makes that decision? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2448 | What — what’s the lowest level it can be approved? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2449 | And if an ambassador sends a cable, would it be the same, rather than picking up the phone, it would be the exact same? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2450 | And would it — would the decision-making process change if it were — if it were not a high risk, high threat post? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2451 | And was Benghazi considered high risk, high threat or critical threat? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2452 | Well, who denied the additional diplomatic security personnel requested in Benghazi by those who were working and living there and in Tripoli? Who was the person that denied that? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2453 | Well, what I’m trying to get at, is that same person who was also responsible for ensuring the physical security in Benghazi, is that the same person that’s vested with that responsibility today? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2454 | OK, if a D.S. agent at the post writes back to headquarters requesting additional physical security upgrades or increased personnel performing security duties, who is responsible for making the decision to deny or grant that request from a D.S. agent? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2455 | And — and is it affected by whether you’ve categorized this as a high risk, high threat? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2456 | And — and what I’m getting at is, is the department now today, in light of what happened in Benghazi, prepared to pay better attention when the folks on the ground are saying, we need help? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2457 | So, if you don’t have — if you have a post that does not have a detail because they’re not — they’re not at a temporary facility, for example, can you talk about other details that can be there? Are there other military options that can be assigned to those temporary details? You talk about the mobile security teams, Marine augmentation units. Are there other options if there are — if Marines can’t actually be assigned there full-time? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2458 | On that night, the ARB, in various reports, including Armed Services Committee, has stated that there was no way that those F-s, that those military — U.S. military forces could have made it there in time to save our Americans’ lives. What have we done since to make sure that, in the future, they can be present in time to save American lives? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2459 | As these special dates come up, September th, these anniversaries — or as you hear more chatter that is going on and you think there might be the potential for greater risk, what tripwires are in place? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2460 | What processes are in place for you to call the DOD and say, hey, maybe you need to help us and reposition some forces so that if we do have another Benghazi, we can call — and that those F-s can be there in time in the future so that we don’t lose American lives? What process is happening between DOD and the Department of State at this point? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2461 | And in the last minute that I have left, can you talk about at what level at the State Department does that request for DOD have to take place? For example, in the case of Tripoli recently, where you said that they had them on a one-hour leash to respond, does that come from you or can it come from lower? If an ambassador determines that, through his risk analysis assessment with his diplomatic security team that’s there, that he needs this, how far does he have to go before you can have something like a fast team, that’s ready to come in or something along those lines? How high up through the State Department bureaucracy does he have to go? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2462 | Mr. Keil, what’s a special mission compound? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2463 | So what does it mean if something is simply then redefined? What does it — what does it mean if something is said, is said, well, we’re just going to declare this as something other than that which is to be regulated. That means have you no regulations, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2464 | Mr. Sullivan, you mentioned in your opening statement one of the regrets that you have as a member of the panel is that the Department of State didn’t adopt your recommendations as it relates to waivers. What is your recommendation as it relates to waivers? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2465 | So, you’re saying you need an orderly process by which things are waived, not declarations on the part of the Department of State, that it’s all waived, is that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2466 | Now, I understand that threat information may be a term of art, but to Mr. Westmoreland’s point earlier, certainly a bomb blowing up on the side of a wall, the whole — the whole litany of events that took place beginning March th, , until the first time there was a communication from Ambassador Stevens, those — isn’t that enough information? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2467 | So you’re not saying nobody was aware of the nature of the threat? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2468 | Is a threat a term of art? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2469 | STARR: […] I think the distinction is — that I was trying to make was that there was no specific threat information that had been developed by the intelligence community to state that we were going to have an attack. ROSKAM: In other words, these people are coming over the hill top at this moment in time? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2470 | Now, go to the ARB. The ARB says one thing two times about Ambassador Stevens. And it’s worth noting. They said this about him: “His status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy and his ex-pertise on Benghazi in particular caused Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments.” They said that on page of the report. They cut and pasted — they liked it so much, they put it on page of the report. And yet ignoring the ambassador, who by their own admission is the expert in the area, and ignoring his requests for support, that’s not giving unusual deference to his judgments, is it, Mr. Secretary? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2471 | So, here’s the question: If Madam — if Madeleine Albright signed off on certain recommendations, if the best practices panel makes certain recommendations, why is it that the State Department is clinging to this legacy of power that has failed? Why are you grasping on it so much? Why not walk away from it? And nobody here is criticizing a very tough job. But the nature of the job, Mr. Secretary, means that this, to Mr. Cummings point, needs to be the trans-formational moment. And why not be the transformational moment to say, we’re not just gonna choose to redefine things and we’re gonna revisit how we do these waivers and we’re gonna do everything we can in cooperation with Congress to honor Chris Stevens’ legacy, to honor the legacy of those who suffered, who you served with and you know? But why cling to this old thing that just isn’t working? Are you the only one that doesn’t see it? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2472 | And you’re not offering anything as it relates to fundamental change. Because, based on what the rules are right now, Mr. Secretary, you have the authority, you have the capacity and you’ve got the flexibility to do the Benghazi structure again. Am I wrong? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2473 | Who is responsible is fourth down on the food chain. | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2474 | Mr. Secretary, I want to read something to you. “We are disturbed at the inadequacy of resources to provide security against terrorist attacks. We are disturbed at the relative low priority accorded security concerns. And we praise the ambassador for seeking security enhancements long before the attack.” Do you know what that comes from, Mr. Secretary, what I just read? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2475 | Mr. Secretary, I’m going to read you another one. This goes to Mr. Cummings point, which I thought was a wonderful point. “Diplomatic petitions should be made to all governments with whom we have relations to remind them of their obligation to provide security for our embassy.” Who in Libya were we to call? Who? Mr. Cummings’ point is a wonderful point. It was so good the ARB made the recommendation. Make sure the host company — country is aware of its obligations. Who did we call in Libya? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2476 | What — was there a government […] in Libya for us to contact? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2477 | So back to the The secretary of State should personally review the security situation of diplomatic facilities closing those which are highly vulnerable and threatened. Why do you think the ARB went out of its way to use the word “personally”? […] Why did they think it was important that the secretary of State, himself or herself, personally review? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2478 | Is the answer privileged? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2479 | STARR: […] Where I have concerns about the safety and security of our personnel, and if I believe that we are not doing the things that we need to do, then it is my responsibility to bring it to the secretary. GOWDY: And I appreciate that, Mr. Secretary. Was it done on September th of ? Was it done prior to Benghazi? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2480 | Well, your answer is — is — mirrors what the — ARB further said, which is, “First and foremost, the secretary of State should take a personal and active role in carrying out the responsibility of ensuring the security of U.S. diplomatic personnel.” Is that being done now? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2481 | And was it being done prior to your tenure? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2482 | Is the personal review ongoing? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2483 | Is that ARB recommendation still accepted, I guess, is — is my question? Does the State Department still accept these recommendations from the ARB? And is it being done? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2484 | What is it about that recommendation that is so talismanic that it couldn’t have been made prior to the attack in Benghazi? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2485 | The risk management being, we’re going to weigh the risk of being somewhere with the benefits of being somewhere. We know the risk of being in Benghazi. Can you tell us what our policy was in Libya that overcame those risks? In other words, why were we there? […] What policy were we pursuing in Libya that was so great that it overcame all of the tripwires and all of the risk? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi, 9/17/14 |
| 2486 | I don’t think we should move on until we understand why we were told special precautions had been taken prior to the anniversary of / What precautions were taken? Where? By whom? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2487 | Why were we told that Benghazi facility was secure? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2488 | Why were we told there was a strong security presence in Benghazi when we now know that was false, and it wasn’t true at the time it was said? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2489 | As the inspector general, Mr. Linick, and all inspector generals for all agencies, would it be correct to say that, generally, you are charged with ensuring that, in this case, that the State Department is effectively managed and accountable for its decisions? Is that what inspector generals do? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2490 | And you conduct audits. We’ve heard you talk about audits, evaluations. The way that inspector generals do that is they conduct audits, evaluations, inspections. And you’ve just mentioned some of those, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2491 | And so you’re like the internal watchdog or internal police department for an agency, and for the State Department specifically? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2492 | But you are not appointed by the secretary of state, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2493 | when were you appointed? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2494 | So that means that, actually, you have complete independence, don’t you, from the State Department and the decisions that they make? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2495 | And in your finding that you undertook of the ARB, it’s my understanding that you felt — and this is quoting — your most important finding was that “the oversight of the ARB recommendations must be at the highest levels within the department,” is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2496 | And at what highest level were you referring to? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2497 | And in your opinion, is that where this — the implementation of the ARB recommendations stands at this point? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2498 | And so the recommendation — so — and that recommendation was made by the IG that, in fact, the foreign affairs manual should specifically state to other employees of the department that these recommendations would be undertaken by the — at a minimum — secretary of state, or the highest levels, the principles like the deputy secretary. Correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2499 | so you’ve stated that, in fact, they have provided that to you yesterday. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2500 | When the inspector general makes recommendations and brings forth their findings, they’re in several categories, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2501 | Unresolved, closed, resolved. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2502 | Can you share with us — can you share with us what unresolved means? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2503 | Can I just ask — and sorry to interrupt — approximately how many open and unresolved recommendations are there? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2504 | Is that common practice, that you always do compliance reviews of your recommendations? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2505 | do you also — when you go back and do the compliance review, do you also look into recommendations that have been closed? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2506 | Are you aware as to whether or not prior inspector generals actually did ever what you’re doing with respect to compliance reviews when it comes to physical security of our embassies? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2507 | But is it fair to say a number of the recommendations that were in the Benghazi ARB were also in the Nairobi ARB? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2508 | So there have obviously been previous ARBs, where recommendations were made, where the State Department closed or agreed with the recommendations, but yet we still had the same problem…in | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2509 | And so with respect to the closed — and there are a number of closed recommendations — what — what do you expect to happen — what does closed mean? You’ve talked about open and unresolved. What do closed recommendations mean? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2510 | And in fact, when would you have received the — when would you have made the decision that something was closed or not closed? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2511 | But in fact, as late as June of , in fact, you just mentioned physical security deficiencies, exceptions in waivers, stovepiping and vetting of local guards are still unresolved, and so are not closed. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2512 | The best practices panel’s most important recommendation — you’re familiar with the best practices panel, which happened after the ARB, are you not? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2513 | In fact, it, too, indicated that elevating the importance of security and making diplomatic security an equal partner was its most important recommendation. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2514 | yet we learned at that time, at our last hearing, that the State Department rejected that recommendation. Has there been a change from our last hearing to today? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2515 | Do you know, with respect to this exact recommendation — and that is the fact that we believe and that panels have made the recommendation that, in fact, all of the implementation of the various recommendations of the ARB should be made at one of the highest levels. These are the principals, is that correct, the principals, under the secretary of state | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2516 | And in fact, the oversight right now on the implementation is being made in the office of management policy and right sizing. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2517 | And so tracking just means, Is it being done? Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2518 | And do you know who at the State Department, at the time that they rejected that recommendation — and that recommendation was rejected — do you know who at the State Department made that decision to reject that recommendation? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2519 | And Mr. Starr, do you know who made that recommendation — who made that decision at the time? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2520 | Two of the past ARB recommendations that remain open, if I’m not mistaken, are from the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam ARBs. And in those ARBs, they recommended that physical security upgrades be made immediately, and that State work to obtain sufficient funding for building programs because that was a need that was identified. And as a result of those recommendations, the capital security cost-sharing program was initiated to pay for the cost of building new embassies and consulates. Is that correct? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2521 | With funding constraints and other challenges delaying efforts to better secure its facilities, how is the State Department addressing the need to provide necessary security at this point? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2522 | Could you estimate how many facilities you’re talking about that you have to deal with in terms of assessing the physical security of those buildings? Ballpark figure? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2523 | That’s quite an undertaking then, to consistently be upgrading their security. Would that be a fair statement? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2524 | Now, the Benghazi ARB found that the State Department must work with Congress to restore the capital security cost-sharing program at its full capacity. Can you talk a little bit about the history of the funding and why Congress needed to restore to the full level the capital security cost-sharing? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2525 | During our previous hearing, a number of members had questions about the diplomatic facility in Benghazi, whether it was a special mission compound or a temporary mission facility, and whether the term used meant less stringent physical security standards applied to that facility. That issue was investigated by the ARB and numerous congressional committees over the past two years. And at our last hearing, you addressed this concern explaining, and I’m going to quote from your testimony, “whether it’s temporary or interim or permanent, that we should be applying the same security standards that the OSPB has put in place.” Is that still your understanding of how the department is applying these standards today? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2526 | I just want to point out that Mr. Linick in his written testimony noted in a March audit on physical security funding that diplomatic security and the Overseas Building Operations Bureau have differing interpretations of what the required physical security standards are for those overseas facilities. And the same IG reports notes that in January of , the department clarified that a single standard applies to all facilities. In June , the department further clarified that the OSPB standard set forth the minimum requirements. Has there been better communication now between the department and the Diplomatic Security and Overseas Building Operations, and finally, sort of an agreed upon standard for what those physical standards should be? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2527 | Mr. Starr, just a point of clarification. When they use the term “closed” on the recommendations, that does not mean they are completed, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2528 | So “closed” does not mean the recommendation has fully been implemented, right? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2529 | You were the diplomatic security at the State Department from through your retirement in , is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2530 | And from then, you went to head of security for the United Nations? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2531 | And at the U.N., you were the undersecretary for safety and security, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2532 | It is true your Office of Diplomatic Security, or the DS, and the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, or the OBO, are the two offices within the State Department that have the primary duty to ensure the safety and security of these overseas facilities? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2533 | According to the foreign affairs manual, your office is expressly charged with responsibility for ensuring that all new construction and major renovations comply with physical security standards, even though the OBO does the actual construction. Is that true? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2534 | And under which undersecretary is the DS? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2535 | And then undersecretary for management, Mr. Kennedy, has been in the position since November of , I believe. Is that correct? You don’t know? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2536 | Has Mr. Kennedy with the State Department, as far as you know, from the early ‘s. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2537 | In fact, when the East African embassies were bombed in , Mr. Kennedy was in your position, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2538 | And although you returned to the State Department after the Benghazi attacks, you are aware that virtually each and every finding and resulting recommendation in the Benghazi ARB centered on the special mission compound or facility being a high- threat post sorely lacking in personal — personnel and physical security. Is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2539 | Are you aware that your own inspector general, Mr. Linick, since Benghazi, has conducted three reviews or audits of physical security issues at overseas posts, particularly in these high-threat posts? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2540 | Are you also aware that the IG issued two other reports, one that looked at how you manage your local guard program and another that looks at how you manage your marine security? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2541 | Let’s take a look at the IG report issued in June of that looked at how you comply with the physical security standards at five specific overseas posts that are considered high threat. Do you recall that report? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2542 | As I understand it, that report only looked at embassies or consulates that were constructed after the year , is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2543 | So all built after the East African embassy bombings in , where an ARB was sharply critical of the then existing physical security standards. Is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2544 | That means that they all build after Congress passed the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act, as it’s known, and gave the State Department a whole lot of money to improve those — physical security overseas, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2545 | So in this report, the IG team looked at physical security at the five posts that had a high threat level. And the audit team looked at things such as the height of the perimeter walls, the outside boundary, how far the buildings were from those outside walls, looked at the anti-ram barriers, the procedural — other barriers or resistant doors, whether the local guards, which we have talked about prior, were properly inspecting, whether there were safe havens inside the building and the like, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2546 | Did any of them comply with all the security standards that were reviewed? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2547 | I understand. But your answer was no, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2548 | Now the overseas post in question. Once the problems were identified, took some sort of action to correct all the deficiencies, but you said they were very small deficiencies. Is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2549 | So at least at some of these posts, those problems have been fixed, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2550 | Are they fixed? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2551 | Did the inspector general ask that you issue a directive to all your posts worldwide to see whether other posts have the same problems? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2552 | OK. Did you agree to do this? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2553 | Mr. Linick, I want to follow up on another review of the physical security-related posts overseas. I understand that your office hired an outside company to review how the State Department processes these requests and prioritizes requests for these physical security upgrades…When the auditors looked at this, did they find a comprehensive list of all these reports of the deficiencies? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2554 | So they didn’t find a list of what may have been called in or asked for. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2555 | Were the auditors able to review a list of these funding requests or lists of which requests were denied or granted? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2556 | So there was no list. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2557 | From DS, no list? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2558 | OBO, no list? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2559 | Is it true that the auditors found that the DS and the OBO do not coordinate with each other to determine which requests should be given priority? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2560 | So the fact that Mr. Starr and OBO get together once a week or once a month, or whatever it is, they’ve still not come up with any of these lists that could be combined to be looked at? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2561 | Do you know of any comprehensive lists that may have put into long-term planning for the future security of — of the requests that’s been made from these posts? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2562 | And I was just wondering if you gentlemen could outline — (inaudible) taking as one example, the embassy bombings in Africa, what improvements were made as a result of the study of that problem? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2563 | You know, how much more money was spent? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2564 | How were facilities upgraded? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2565 | You know, what has been done, first of all, prior to Benghazi to actually improve security at our overseas facilities? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2566 | Now, when you’re determining what security to provide, when you go to these temporary mission facilities or to the annexes or consulates, and specific to Libya and specific to the two facilities that were attacked, how would have they fallen under the new rules after some of these other attacks in terms of understanding how to properly provide security for two facilities like the ones that were in Benghazi, which were not traditional embassies, or even consulates, for that matter? Is this something that had been contemplated previously? And if so, what was the discussion about how to properly provide security for these different types of facilities? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2567 | In a world full of incredibly dangerous places, how do you decide how to properly allocate the resources between a Benghazi and a Cairo and a Peshawar and Sanaa and Yemen and all of those different places, what role — Congress, as you said, has been generous after some of these previous attacks, but there’s still finite resources, number one. How do you make those decisions when there are so many places to protect? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2568 | There are many, many members of the State Department out in other countries who feel that their hands are being tied. In fact, I’ve heard this complaint now from a large number of State Department people, referring to it as “the Benghazi effect,” that they can no longer do their job because we’ve gone back the other way and tried to be too cautious. So those are two, you know, very difficult issues, resources and then the conflict between a — you know, a member of the State Department out in a foreign country, in a dangerous place, trying to do his or her job, versus needing (ph) the security. How did those two things get balanced throughout the State Department and throughout all of your security (inaudible) | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2569 | Can I just quickly follow up on that last point, and then I’ll be done, because I think — I think the problem and the issue when you say, take it up to that higher level, but once you’ve taken it up to that higher level, isn’t that person further away from the specific understanding of a given country or a given area? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2570 | And in some ways, if you’re going up to someone who’s at that deputy level, they are more distant from the problem, and in some ways, probably less qualified to make the call on whether or not, you know, a given action is proper for the security environment. Isn’t that one of the reasons why the State Department’s been reluctant to implement that specific recommendation? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2571 | I’m just saying that this is — these people put their lives on the line. Doesn’t matter whether you’re Republican, Democrat, who you are, what side you come from. The simple test should be are the policies and actions we’re putting in place making people safe. You’d agree? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2572 | Former secretary of state Madeleine Albright said this after a — it was a cyber-security breach, but my guess is she would refer to any security breach. She said this, and I quote, “Even a score of out of is a failing grade.” That’s a pretty strong statement. And I understand we don’t live in a perfect world. You’ve talked about that. We live in a dangerous world. We got to balance diplomacy with security and safety concerns. But I think the tenor of her statement was what we just talked about. Safety is critical, and we should do everything can. It’s of paramount importance. We should do all we can to make sure our people are safe. You would agree with that, wouldn’t you, Mr. Starr? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2573 | You know, Mr. Starr, the number one question I get back home about Benghazi — number one question I get — why were we there? Why were we there? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2574 | Now, we’ve talked about this before, but Mr. Starr, the State Department has its own standards for physical security, the Overseas Security Policy Board standards. Were those followed with the Benghazi facility? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2575 | And when you deviate from the standards, there’s a waiver process that you’re supposed to adhere to. Was the waiver process followed? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2576 | Mr. Keil was here just a few months ago and he said neither the standards or the waiver process was followed. And the State Department had a special designation for the Benghazi facility, isn’t that correct, Mr. Starr? Didn’t you guys call it the temporary mission facility or the special mission facility? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2577 | And was this a term created solely to do an end run around the standards and the waiver process? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2578 | How many facilities does the State Department — diplomatic facilities does the State Department currently have around the world? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2579 | OK, of the or the , whatever number you want to use, are any of those today designated temporary mission facility or special mission compound? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2580 | Which sort of brings me back to my question, Mr. Starr. What was so important about Benghazi that we didn’t follow our own standards, we didn’t follow the waiver process, we created a term that’s not used at any of our facilities, any of the facilities today, special mission compound or temporary mission facility, (inaudible) not used anywhere else today? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2581 | What was so important that we do all that to be in Benghazi, we do all that to be in a place where four Americans were killed? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2582 | So tell me what was — why did — we were in Tripoli. Why did we have to be in Benghazi? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2583 | So again, I ask, that situation, probably the most chaotic situation that we have at any — around any of the facilities, a whole new term, don’t follow the standards, don’t adhere to the waiver process — why were we there? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2584 | The most fundamental question is why were we there in the first place! | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2585 | Do you happen to know the name of the government that was in place when we had those security incidents in the months leading up to this tragedy? Do you happen to know the name of the government that was in place when we had the IED attacks, the RPG attacks, the assassination attempt on the British ambassador? What was the name of the Libyan government at the time, Mr. Starr. Do you know? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2586 | that best practices panel made recommendations. And the most important is the one that Mr. Linick talked about earlier. The number one recommendation, frankly, the one that many of the other hinge upon, says we need to create at the undersecretary level an undersecretary for diplomatic security. Is the state Department going to do that, Mr. Starr, at the undersecretary level? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2587 | How many undersecretaries are there at the State Department, Mr. Starr? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2588 | Why don’t you want to move from the kids’ table to the adult table, Mr. Starr? Why don’t you want to move on up to the undersecretary level? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2589 | Did you make that case to Secretary Kerry and said, I think security is important enough, I should be at the undersecretary level? Did you make that case? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2590 | Why in the world won’t the State Department do what everyone knows needs to be done, elevate this position to the highest level that we can, make it equal with cultural exchange and international broadcasting? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2591 | And then the big question, again, that I hope we get an answer to in this committee. Why were we there? Why were we there with these facts and these circumstances? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2592 | According to your testimony, since September th, that hearing we held that day, the department has closed three more Benghazi ARB recommendations. One of the three that you closed involves the hiring of additional diplomatic security personnel, is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2593 | And your October letter said you had filled of those newly created slots. Do you expect to complete your hiring by early ? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2594 | And what’s entailed in that? Is it hard to find people | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2595 | So you’re still — you’re still missing some people, though, I mean, because you’re moving people. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2596 | You also closed the recommendation related to risk management courses and enhanced threat training for personnel at these high-risk posts. How will this training better prepare our diplomats in high-threat regions? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2597 | And so the third closed recommendation was to procure fire safety equipment at high-threat posts. Mr. Starr, is that complete? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2598 | Would you get us notification when you have completed that one thing you just said? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2599 | So they are receiving the training. Everybody’s received the training on this equipment? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2600 | With the closure of those three recommendations, that leaves four recommendations still open, is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2601 | Your October letter shared with us target dates to complete implementation of those final four recommendations. Are you on track to complete those recommendations? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2602 | And the other three, when will they be complete? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2603 | I want to make sure, again, things get done. And so I want you to get back to us exactly when you expect — I’d like to have that in writing, when you expect these things to be done and provide the committee with that information because we want to hold you to that, all right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2604 | Mr. Starr, Representative Westmoreland discussed with you an inspector general June audit that took place before the creation of the high-threat program director. The audit found some security deficiencies at posts it examined. Is that correct? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2605 | Mr. Starr, could you discuss how you think the creation of the high-threat program has created a culture of shared responsibility in the State Department? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2606 | And then my final question, to tell us, how does this culture of shared responsibility that the IG praises improve the safety and security at our embassies abroad? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2607 | Mr. Linick, are you familiar with the OIG recommendation regarding the need to prioritize MSG detachments at diplomatic posts using a methodology based on the OSPB security standards? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2608 | OK. Are you aware that it was closed in ? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2609 | And wasn’t it — to the extent you can answer this, it was closed because the department amended its memorandum of agreement with the Marine Corps to include procedures for establishing the size of existing detachments and procedures for activations and deactivations, is that correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2610 | Well, in , your office again looked at whether — at where and how Marine security guard detachments were being utilized at the State Department posts overseas, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2611 | And were you able to determine whether there is a methodology for prioritizing and assigning new MSG attachments to overseas posts and — and whether that methodology was effective? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2612 | So you weren’t able to make — figure out how DS makes the determination of where these Marines go. | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2613 | And it’s the same or similar issue, to your knowledge — I know you don’t seem as familiar with the , but the inspector general then told DS to create a process or methodology to select posts. So this is a similar situation, correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2614 | So how can we on this committee have confidence that recommendation from the Benghazi ARB, made just two years ago, that the department and DOD will provide more capabilities at higher-risk posts — well, how can we have the confidence that that will be fully implemented? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2615 | Well, how does the fact that only percent of the high-risk, high-threat posts have these Marine Security Guard detachments — how does this satisfy the ARB recommendation to expand that program to provide more capabilities and capacities at higher-risk posts? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2616 | Let me interrupt you for just a second. Mr. Linick, do you agree with those numbers? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2617 | How many current high-risk threat posts do not have MSG detachments? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2618 | Do you agree with that Mr. Linick, or do you not know? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2619 | Is there a timetable, Mr. Starr, in place for assigning the MSG attachments to the — you say four posts. Is there a timetable? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2620 | STARR: I would like to do it tomorrow, but I will tell you, I find it unlikely that I’m going to be able to assign Marine detachments to those posts. ROBY: And you say it’s because host nation problems… | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2621 | why have we not made progression on those four posts that you are stating now we still do not have those protections in place? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2622 | STARR: In some cases, we have other types of protection. The host nation has stood up and given us high levels of protection. In some cases, I have a tremendous amount of other resources there, including Diplomatic Security agents and armed contractors that meet the threat. In some cases, we have made a determination that the host government is standing up and fulfilling its responsibilities, and while we’d still like to have Marines there, the fact we don’t does not mean that we cannot continue. And this is some of the things that we’re looking at as we do this VP- process, when we weigh why we’re at a post, what the threats are, what resources we have overall. And as I say, Marines are one tool in our toolkit…ROBY: Mr. Linick, I want to take Mr. Starr’s answer and follow up with you. Do you think that’s sufficient? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2623 | ROBY: Mr. Linick, I want to take Mr. Starr’s answer and follow up with you. Do you think that’s sufficient? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2624 | All the recommendations are open. And based on the questions from Ms. Brooks earlier, open means they’re unresolved, and there’s no evidence there that they’re doing anything to make it better. | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2625 | But even the resolved, you’ve just gotten them to say that they want to do something, but you have no actions to back up their words. | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2626 | So we still have — according to Mr. Starr’s testimony, we have four places, very dangerous places of the world where American lives are at stake because we don’t have the proper security in place…Wait, this is for Mr. Linick. Is that correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2627 | Recommendation of your report recommends the DS Marine Security Guard program conduct a staffing and resource assessment and then judiciously allocate appropriate resources to facilitate compliance with the Benghazi Accountability Review Board report to upgrade security for personnel at high-threat posts. Has this been done? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2628 | So in fact, the department has yet to comply with Benghazi ARB recommendation , correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2629 | And let’s see, real quick, Mr. Linick, if I can just get to the point with you — you had two findings in your report. A, security contractors did not fully comply with the vetting requirements called for in the contract. And B, the regional security officers at overseas posts took it upon themselves to vary the vetting and approval process and failed to ensure that the security contractors provided all the required documentation. That’s correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2630 | So did any of the security companies that had contracts fully perform all vetting required in their contracts? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2631 | OK. And of the six embassies reviewed, did any of them allow guards to work before being fully vetted? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2632 | Tragically, we’ve had a great many over the years, and I wonder if you could shed a little light on maybe the last years. How many times have our facilities been attacked? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2633 | How many times has that resulted in injuries or fatalities? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2634 | Is the problem getting worse because the world is now more unstable? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2635 | It seems like there are more high-threat posts now than ever. Is that just an impression, or is that the reality? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2636 | And what does that mean in terms of the prioritization you mentioned at the outset? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2637 | And that is, the priority is for a diplomatic post to implement the policy of the United States. That has to be done in a way where we can protect our people, but they’re there for a reason. And there are many posts where we are where we could ask the same questions. You know, why are we in Yemen? Why are we in Iraq? Why are we in any of these places that are inherently dangerous? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2638 | But can you set a little of the historic trend for us? What has been our experience with violence at our facilities? To what degree is that phenomenon changing, and is it changing for the worse? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2639 | more people that are on temporary assignment and people that are of short duration in some of these high-security threats. Many of us that have visited our diplomatic facilities overseas meet people that are there for short tours. You talked about one way of trying to fill the gap with retirees. Why is it — I mean, it may be desirable to bring in the retirees on who have great experience, but why is that necessary? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2640 | Are we having trouble attracting enough personnel to go to these high-threat posts? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2641 | Is there a mutually reinforcing cycle where people who go to a high-threat post, therefore, get recommendations from people in those posts for future assignments and are kind of locked into high-threat posts? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2642 | What is the impact on our personnel of the proliferation of dangerous places where they work? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2643 | And just one last question because I only have a minute left. I wanted to follow up on — I think we all recognize the importance of having high-level attention paid to the ARB recommendations by the top principals in the State Department. And I fully concur that secretaries Clinton and Kerry have embraced and even established this as a best practice. You had mentioned that it was codified in the foreign affairs manual very recently, but the embrace of that by those top principals, that was from the very beginning. In fact, that was a standard they set, was it not? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2644 | [RE waiver process] So, here’s my point. That is a gaping exception. That is an exception, Mr. Secretary, that anything can get through. And I mean, anything. So if it is simply, look, this is national security. All of a sudden that becomes a laminated hall pass for someone at the Department of State to say, we’re declaring this a national security emergency. Yes we’ve gone through the whole process, the process that you described, that is, identifying the high-risk — high-threat, high- risk post, going through VP So far, there’s no restraining influence. Then there’s two choices, either re-characterize something as a special mission compound or something else, or go through another process. And even within the other formalized process, there’s still this waiver authority and people around you, Mr. Secretary, are saying, give it up. And by your own argument, I might add, you’re making the argument that you should give it up. That there’s a culture change that’s so big that you’re describing it to Ranking Member Cummings, and a world that is so dangerous that you’re using all kinds of words that we all agree with. So why in the world hang onto this thing? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2645 | Secretary Starr, what is different than the reasoning that you just articulated to me just now from the reasoning that put us in Benghazi and that allowed four people to be killed? What is different? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2646 | So what is different about what you just articulated… | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2647 | Yes, but then why don’t you — why don’t you agree to the mitigation? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2648 | Then why do we ask people to go to these places? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2649 | In June — when we talk about the vetting, can you tell me why there is no vetting in those — I think it was four countries, Mr. Linick? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2650 | And are you familiar with the June inspector general’s report with regard to an audit of the department’s oversight of the vetting process used for local security guards? You’re familiar with that audit? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2651 | And he reported and explained that contractors are challenged in vetting local security forces because of local privacy laws, lack of credit reporting services and difficulty in obtaining official records in the host country. And how do you operate within those kind of constraints? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2652 | During our last hearing, you spoke about how important it is to assess both the willingness and the capability of the host country forces to provide local security. How does the State Department consider the potential issues of local guards today when considering whether to operate in a certain country? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2653 | And how has that changed since Benghazi? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2654 | With regard to the ARB, I think we’re making good progress. I want to make sure everything is done. And I know that there are some ARB recommendations, quite a few of them, from past ARBs. I think we need to take these opportunities and try to address as much as we possibly can, even back then. Because those things are still ongoing, right, Mr. Linick? There are still problems. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2655 | Do you know someone by the name of Ben Rhodes (ph)? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2656 | How can we judge whether or not a policy has failed or succeeded if no one tells us what the policy objectives were? How can we do that? How can you weigh and balance the risk? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2657 | And it may well be that the reason for us to have been there supersedes all of those episodes of violence. But how — I mean, how can a committee of Congress know that if no one tells us why we were there? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2658 | So you’re not the right person to ask. Who would you ask if you were us? Who should we bring to explain why were we in Libya? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2659 | Who would be able to tell us what policy we were pursuing in Libya, was so important to skip over all the things that Roskam pointed out, and to weigh and balance the episodes of violence in such a way that the presence outweighed the violence? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2660 | And I want to make sure you and I are on the same sheet of music. Do you understand why we would have that question? I mean, do you think that that is a fair and legitimate question for us to ask what the policy was so we can then weigh and balance it, as you instructed us to do? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2661 | In October of there was a specific request for a machine gun to defend our facility in Benghazi. And in August of , just a month before the attack on our facility, a document again lists a machine gun as equipment needed and requested. Do you know who denied the request for those machine guns and why? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2662 | Who should I ask to find out? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2663 | Have you watched the video surveillance from the night of the attack? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2664 | Without going into great detail, would you agree with me — or do you at least see why somebody on the ground might’ve asked for that piece of equipment, given what you and I have seen in the surveillance video? I mean thinking back to the video can you see how that might possibly have come in handy that night? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2665 | And is there an appeals process within the State Department in light of these two previous ARB recommendations that the secretary of State should take a personal and active review, that the secretary of State should personally review the security situation. Is there an appeals process where someone, hypothetically, could say you know what, you’re giving me a no but I’m going to take this up the food chain? Does that exist? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2666 | All the way up to the highest levels at the State Department? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2667 | But you — it doesn’t take much to imagine him traveling from Tripoli in Benghazi with an increased security presence, does it? If there are more security folks in Tripoli and he is traveling to Benghazi it is not that much of a stretch to surmise that some of them may have actually traveled with him. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2668 | STARR: When he traveled to Benghazi in that trip, sir, he took additional RSOs with him. There were additional RSOs that could’ve gone as well, but they made the determination… GOWDY: For the grand total of how many? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2669 | And how many were there before the footprint was reduced? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2670 | How many were there before their deployment ended? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2671 | “Our efforts to normalize security operations have been hindered by a lack of host nation security support, an increase in violence on foreign targets, and neither compound meets OSBP standards.” Do you know who said that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2672 | And this is the response he got. “No, I do not, not want them to ask for the team to stay.” Do you know who said that to the ambassador, the presidentially appointed, Senate confirmed ambassador? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2673 | So when I see her responding to a presidentially appointed, Senate confirmed ambassador who is making a pretty plaintive pleading for some extra help, and she says do not, not make that request. I want to know whether the ambassador had the ability to go above her head and go straight to the top. And if not, why not? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2674 | You testify that we have how many unpersoned posts right now, five? Did I hear you correctly, five? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2675 | So we do close facilities. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2676 | And I want to know who saw these requests for extra equipment and personnel, who denied them. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2677 | And whether or not you believe — and inspector general, you can help here too. Whether or not you believe that there is a culture in the State Department where there would be any consequences for following the dissent channel. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 12/10/14 |
| 2678 | Mr. Rubin, have you read the House resolution? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2679 | Now, what is your understanding of what this committee’s been asked to do? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2680 | So your understanding is that we have been asked to look at all policies, decisions and activities that contributed to the attacks? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2681 | That affected our ability to prepare for the attacks? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2682 | Well, you’ve read it, right? I mean, you’ve read the resolution, right? You’re not disagreeing with my interpretation of the resolution, are you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2683 | Including executive branch efforts to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of these attacks? Did you read that in the resolution? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2684 | So if the ARB and best practices panel and your own agency can interview people in preparation of a training video, how can Congress not interview those witnesses? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2685 | Specifically, who told you that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2686 | I’m looking for a name because I’ve got to clear up this misconception that simply talking to a witness who’s talked to three other investigatory bodies, that somehow or another, Congress cannot talk to these witnesses, even though, apparently, everybody else can. I’m curious how that jeopardizes an ongoing prosecution! | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2687 | Do you believe that Congress has the constitutional authority to provide oversight? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2688 | So you do agree with that. What is your interpretation of the phrase “all policies, decisions and activities”? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2689 | In any context. How about contributed to the attacks? What is your understanding of “all policies, all decisions, all activities”? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2690 | GOWDY: I want to ask you something. I want to ask you something, OK? Because there are people up here who may not agree on another single, solitary thing, but every one of us agrees that we don’t want to do anything to jeopardize the physical security of anybody who works for this government, nor does anybody on this dais want to do anything to jeopardize an ongoing prosecution. OK, can we stipulate that, that nobody… RUBIN: Certainly. GOWDY: … wants to do either of those things? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2691 | Will you always stipulate that you can talk to witnesses while preserving their identity and not jeopardizing an ongoing prosecution? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2692 | Do you — do you see the Justice Department at this hearing? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2693 | Do you know why they’re not at this hearing? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2694 | If six people observed an important event and you were being asked to write a final, definitive accounting of that event, how many of the six would you want to talk to? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2695 | Mr. Rubin, we’re going to get — we’re going to get to the quantity of documents in a minute. I notice that you said , That’s an impressive number. That’s copies of “Dr. Zhivago.” That’s copies of “Crime and Punishment.” That’s a lot of pages. , out of how many? That’s our question. How many documents? Is , half? Is it all? Is it two thirds? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2696 | I’m not asking you to bring any ambassadors back to search for e-mails. I’m not. Not a single one. How many employees does the State Department have? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2697 | All right. And we have asked for e-mails from seventh floor principals. Do you think that that is a reasonable request when you have been asked to study all policies, all activities and all decisions? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2698 | Is it your testimony that we have all of the e-mails that we’ve asked for? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2699 | Mr. Rubin, are you familiar with the subpoena that dates back to that the Oversight Committee sent with respect to the ARB? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2700 | ARB is a statutory creation, do you agree? Congress created the ARB? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2701 | Do you agree Congress can amend or alter or enhance the ARB? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2702 | Congress can change it, right? You agree Congress should provide oversight over one of its statutory creations. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2703 | How can we do that if you will not give us the documents related to the ARB? How can we possibly do that, Mr. Rubin? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2704 | Do we have all of the documents? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2705 | The second interesting thing about the little back-and-forth right there is, as near as I could tell — and it was hard because you were being cut off so constantly — you have not said no to any requests to interview a witness, is that not correct? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2706 | We keep talking about this , documents, this universe. I want to get a better perspective from you. Is that the universe of documents? Is that your position, that , is it, or is , one quarter or one half? Can you give us an idea of what this universe of documents looks like? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2707 | I’m trying to get an idea of, in the entire universe of documents that we have yet to receive? As Mr. Gowdy said, we are looking for all. What — what portion of that do the , — because , is a lot of documents. So where does that fit into the universe? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2708 | I really want to spend the time talking about the process that you’re using to gain access, so let’s start with — are you using a centralized location to ensure that you’re properly capturing all of the documents, or is it mined out to different bureaus? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2709 | But there’s not a Benghazi group, so to speak? There’s not a group of people that have been tapped to say, You are in charge of document collection for the incident regarding incidents that happened in the deaths of the four Americans in Benghazi? There’s not people that have been tapped for that? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2710 | So it’s — back to my question. Are — is there a group of people that have been tapped as individuals to work on document collection for Benghazi, yes or no? Is there a group of people that have been said (ph), You are the Benghazi group for document production? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2711 | So of those , employees, why can’t we just get one group of people designated within the State Department, say, Hey, it’s your job to respond and respond quickly to these requests so we can get to the truth? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2712 | I want to know how these searches are done by the individuals across — as you have stated, across the State Department. Do they do a keyword search? Do they — do they type in Libya or Benghazi or Tripoli for — for any and all records that relate to Benghazi? Of is a staff member, you know, deemed relevant, and then the keyword search is completed — I mean, what does this look like when you — when you say to that one employee, It’s your job to do this, what do they do? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2713 | Why is so much time being spent redacting material from these documents? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2714 | Why is it that the department has produced all records in paper format, despite our requests for electronic copies? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2715 | But there’s no rhyme or reason to what you’re sending to us. So could you provide them in some sort of order? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2716 | Now, you’ve come into this with an opinion, haven’t you, based on your past writings. You wrote a piece about the (ph) politicizing the Benghazi attacks in October of , isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2717 | Now, I recognize, Mr. Rubin, there’s been a lot of things coming off of Capitol Hill as it relates to Benghazi. But you don’t think that this is a frivolous, partisan investigation, do you? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2718 | Mr. Rubin, do you think that this is a frivolous partisan investigation? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2719 | And I’m interested in a simple question. Do you think that this investigation is frivolous and partisan? What’s your opinion? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2720 | Mr. Rubin, is this frivolous? I’m asking you an opinion, about your opinion about this process today. Is this frivolous and is this partisan? What’s your answer? Can you not give an answer to that simple question? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2721 | Now, you claimed in your original testimony, “In this role, I serve as the department’s chief liaison to the House, responsible for ensuring that the multitude of foreign policy issues,” et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So your testimony is that you’re responsible, is that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2722 | So would you agree with me, Mr. Rubin, that firsthand knowledge, rather than a summary, a report, another agent coming in and talking to us — firsthand information is better than secondhand information, would you agree? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2723 | And we all have a certain number of staff, but our staff will go to these witnesses, or we will work with you to make arrangements to get these staff back to Washington, D.C., to conduct these interviews. Are you in agreement that that can be done? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2724 | So assuming that we take the Justice Department prosecution off of your plate and assume we work with them on how this will be done, will you work with us to get these interviews set up in the next week? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2725 | Who is the legal expert? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2726 | Who is the lawyer from the State Department that we should be communicating with, with respect to scheduling these interviews of up to different witnesses? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2727 | Who is the head of legal affairs for the State Department? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2728 | BROOKS: Why do we need… RUBIN: … from the committee. BROOKS: … priorities? They’re all priorities. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2729 | Why does our staff have to prioritize to the State Department? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2730 | And so at this point, we have the bandwidth, and I would suggest that the other side has the bandwidth, to begin on a regular process to set up a schedule as to when we will interview each of these witnesses, who have not been interviewed who worked in Benghazi and in Libya prior, and four who were there at the time of the attack. And so will you work with us? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2731 | But these are individuals, some of whom have been interviewed by the ARB, is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2732 | This is a series of documents you’d already identified. You turned them over on Thursday of last week after Chairman Gowdy had to go through the process of notifying you that you were going to come here today and have to answer for why you hadn’t turned over the documents. Coincidence? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2733 | Can we do better as we move forward? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2734 | We — there have been comments from the other side that we haven’t asked for witnesses. We’re going to. Will you agree that you will help us find those folks? We’ll do all the right things to safeguard these folks. They are warriors. We will — we don’t want to compromise their — them at all. Will you agree that you will work with us closely to help us get those folks, so that we can get their testimony, as well? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2735 | I assume when these witnesses come, you’re going to hope we only have to interview them once. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2736 | So one time is better than two, and certainly better than three, right? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2737 | And Mr. Rubin, you’d agree with that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2738 | But you just — you’d prefer if we have to round up (inaudible) we just do it once and not have to gather them up, get your lawyers, all that goes with that a second or a third time. That’s better from your agency’s perspective. Fewer of your , top people, right? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2739 | We had a three-star general that couldn’t get an FBI (ph) completed until — when was it? When the hearing was noticed, right? Shortly before the hearing was noticed, we get the final set of clearances that we need. Can you assure us that that won’t happen in the future? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2740 | Mr. Higgins, have you received any document requests from the minority on this committee? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2741 | Have you received any witness requests from the minority on this committee? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2742 | Mr. Rubin, have you received any document request from the minority on this committee? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2743 | Have you received any witness requests from the minority on this committee? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2744 | Mr. Higgins, would you agree with that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2745 | So you will give this committee the same respect that you would HPSCI and any request for documents or witnesses that they might request? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2746 | When the CIA received this, were there any redactions already done? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2747 | So is the CIA the only redactions that are there now? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2748 | Mr. Rubin, is that the documents, the , pages — only the CIA redactions? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2749 | No, I’m sorry. Do we know what agencies redacted what parts of… | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2750 | But you know where they came from, the redactions, and why they’re there, right? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2751 | So by sending this to the CIA — and I’m assuming that the CIA had — unlike the State Department, had some people specifically set up looking at these Benghazi documents? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2752 | WESTMORELAND: OK, so you sent them to the State Department, rather than the State Department sending you over some documents and you looking at it. You actually send folks over to the State Department. HIGGINS: That’s correct. WESTMORELAND: Is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2753 | Now, when — and I’m assuming that for both the Intel Committee and this committee, that the redactions you make are for methods and sources, is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2754 | But so do you think that the State Department shares e-mails between employees that would have methods and sources in it? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2755 | Between employees? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2756 | So the state Department feels like there are employees that can see methods and operations that members of Congress can’t see? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2757 | Is there e-mails between State Department employees that disclose methods and operations and stuff that they can see that members of Congress can’t see? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2758 | And so are you saying that the State Department employees just send these e-mails back and forth over something and that we shouldn’t be seeing that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2759 | And what would be considered classified from another agency that members of Congress would not need to see? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2760 | So is the CIA the last agency to get the redactions to say what needs to be lifted and what doesn’t? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2761 | Now, would it be easier for this committee or — to have better information if we go through the Freedom of Information Act, rather than requesting it from y’all? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2762 | So Mr. Rubin, you talked about priorities. The chairman basically lays out, as I understand it, basically what he wants. Have you been given priorities? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2763 | And how did that come about? In other words, how did it come about that there was a list of priorities? How did that happen? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2764 | And tell me, when — tell me the priority list right now. What is that list, number one? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2765 | You familiar with the ARB process, Mr. Rubin? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2766 | Specifically, do you know something about the Benghazi ARB process at all? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2767 | Now, Mr. Rubin, you’ve had a subpoena, a subpoena Congress issued in August of saying, We want every single document, or as the chairman’s made clear, all documents relating to the ARB investigation. We want to know, when are you going to comply? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2768 | When are you going to put those top people that Mr. Roskam referenced — when are you going to put those top people on a subpoena that’s been issued a year-and-a-half ago to get us the documents so we can test the claim that this ARB was actually independent? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2769 | Are contained in that , documents — are — within that , documents, is every document that the ARB received from the State Department — so the State Department gave the ARB a bunch of documents — are everything the ARB had contained in that ,? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2770 | Have we received everything the ARB received? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2771 | This is the — this is the — this is the key question. The documents the ARB got from the State Department — are they in the , that we now have? Every single thing that the ARB got from the State Department — are they in the , documents we now have? Yes or no? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2772 | There’s what I was just talking about. Does this committee now have everything that the State Department gave to the Accountability Review Board? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2773 | Question two is, the notes, the records, the files, the interview notes, everything that the ARB compiled in their investigation — we want those, too. Does this committee have those notes, records and files that the five-member ARB panel had? Do we have that information? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2774 | And yet — and yet everyone claims the ARB was independent. How can we test the claim when you won’t give us what the statute requires, separated, segregated file on what the ARB did, and you guys keep it? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2775 | Is there a segregated file like the ARB statute requires? Do you have that separated, segregated, ready to hand over to us — a long time ago, frankly — but do you have it separated and segregated? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2776 | You were invited to come here today to tell us about the documents. The statute says you’re supposed to have them separated and segregated, ready to — to maintaining those, and you don’t even know if you have them and can’t give them to us? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2777 | The reason why I asked that question is because it’s my understanding that your staff had told them that it was OK to not make the top priority the ARB information and you can correct me if I’m wrong — and then concentrate on the other things. Is that right? Is that… | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2778 | So what was the priority between the time Oversight sent you the subpoena on the ARB and this committee even coming into existence? Because God knows, it couldn’t have been anything we asked for. So you kind of get my point. I mean, you can’t wait a year-and-a-half and say, Well, we didn’t give it to you because we didn’t realize it was a priority. | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2779 | I understand that, but it’s been how many years now? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2780 | So let’s find a way to be in compliance with the request sooner rather than later so the committee can do its job and then we can all produce a product that we can take pride in, that answers the questions, and we can all go back to whatever we were doing before the speaker asked us to do this. OK? Fair enough? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 1/27/15 |
| 2781 | Why were there so many requests for more security personnel and equipment, and why were those requests denied in Washington? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2782 | Why did the State Department compound and facility not even come close to meeting proper security specifications? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2783 | What policies were we pursuing in Libya that required a physical presence in spite of the escalating violence? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2784 | Who in Washington was aware of the escalating violence? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2785 | What precautions, if any, were taken on the anniversary of 9/11? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2786 | What happened in Washington after the first attack? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2787 | And what was our response to that attack? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2788 | What did the military do or not do? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2789 | What did our leaders in Washington do or not do, and when? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2790 | Why was the American public given such divergent accounts of what caused these attacks, and why is it so hard to get information from the very government these four men represented, served and sacrificed for? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2791 | This committee is the first committee to demand access to the e- mails to and from Ambassador Chris Stevens. How could an investigation possibly be considered serious without reviewing the e- mails of the person most knowledgeable about Libya? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2792 | If those previous congressional investigations were really serious and thorough, how did they miss Ambassador Stevens’ e-mails? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2793 | If those previous investigations were serious and thorough, how did they miss Secretary Clinton’s e-mails? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2794 | If those congressional investigations really were serious and thorough, why did they fail to interview dozens of key State Department witnesses, including agents on the ground who experienced the attacks firsthand? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2795 | Why tell the Republicans to shut up when they are telling the truth, but not when they are attacking Secretary Clinton with reckless accusations that are demonstrably false? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2796 | Why not tell them to shut up then? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | Rep. Elijah Cummings | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2797 | Jake Sullivan, your chief foreign policy adviser, wrote a tick- tock on Libya memo on August 21, 2011. And this was the day before the rebels took Tripoli. He titles it, quote, ‘Secretary Clinton’s Leadership on Libya,’ in which he describes you as, quote, ‘a critical voice’ and, quote, ‘the public face of the U.S. effort in Libya and instrumental in tightening the noose around Gadhafi and his regime.’ But that didn’t come easy, did it? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2798 | That didn’t come easy, did it, that leadership role and that public face and so forth that I just mentioned? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2799 | They were — they were pushing back, but you overcame those objections. But then you had another big obstacle, didn’t you, and that was — that was the White House itself. There were senior voices within the White House that were opposed to military action — Vice President Biden, Department of Defense, Secretary Gates, the National Security Council and so forth. But you persuaded President Obama to intervene militarily. Isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2800 | And you were able to persuade the Russians, of all things, to abstain, and had you not been successful in arguing that abstention, the Security Council Resolution 1973 wouldn’t have passed because the Russians had a veto. So you overcame that obstacle as well, right? Isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2801 | So to put this in totality, you were able to overcome opposition within the State Department. You were able to persuade the president. You were able to persuade the United Nations and the international community. You made the call to the Arabs and brought them home. You saw it. You drove it. You articulated it. And you persuaded people. Did I get that wrong? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2802 | Why our people in Libya and Benghazi made so many requests, and then, I want you to comment. There seems to be an implication that the ARB, Accountability Review Board, was not independent. And I think the chairman said they were hand-picked by you, of course, that’s done by law. But I’m just — would you comment on those two things, please? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2803 | Do you remember that, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2804 | It turns out, that the Republicans had a copy of that cable, but didn’t tell the American people that your so-called signature was just a stamp that appeared on millions of cables from the State Department every single year. Is that right? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2805 | And after Paris, that is when, as you talked about Chris Stevens went into Benghazi I believe in April 5th of 2011 on that Greek cargo ship. How long was he expected to stay? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2806 | What were Chris Stevens’s orders from you about Libya and about Benghazi specifically? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2807 | How long was he anticipated to stay in Benghazi, do you recall? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2808 | So just to refresh that recollection, I believe initially the goal was to go in for 30 days. Were you personally briefed on his security plan prior to him going into Libya? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2809 | Because at that time, if I’m not mistaken — I’m sorry to interrupt — Gadhafi’s forces were still battling the rebels, correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2810 | And so what were — were you personally briefed before you sent Mr. Stevens into Benghazi? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2811 | And possibly what was determined about the danger of Benghazi. Who were those officials? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2812 | That were advising you on the security specifically? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2813 | I’m sorry. What was that person’s name? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2814 | And it was so risky — I’d like to pull up another e- mail from the Op Center that forwarded to you from Ms. Abedin Sunday, April 10th. So he had been there about five days. And it indicates that the situation in Ajdabiya had worsened to the point where Stevens is considering departing from Benghazi. This is within five days of him going in. Were you aware of that concern in the first five days that he had gone in? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2815 | And did anyone share that with you and — did share that with you? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2816 | So my question is, this was a very important mission in 2011, you sent Chris Stevens there. But yet when your compound is attacked in 2012, what kind of culture was created in the State Department that your folks couldn’t tell you in an e-mail about a bomb in April of 2012? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2817 | And so then when your compound took a second attack on June 6th, when a bomb blew a wall through the compound then, no e-mails, no e-mails at all. But I am interested in knowing who were you meeting with, who were you huddling with, how were you informed about those things? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2818 | Secretary Clinton, within the weeks of the terrorist attack in Benghazi happening, following that, I understand you partnered with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to establish and deploy five interagency security assessment teams to assess our security posture and needs at at least the 19 high-threat posts in 13 different countries. In fact, Deputy Secretary Nize (ph) testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in December of 2012 that the State Department and DOD ISAT initiative created a road map for addressing emerging security challenges. Why did you partner with the Department of Defense to conduct such a high-priority review? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2819 | And was it effective in addressing the shortfalls inn Benghazi and applying it for other locations? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2820 | So what I want to know is, with these ISATs, so they came back with their recommendations to you. Have they been resourced? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2821 | Are they institutionalized? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2822 | Is — what has been done with this process so that it’s not a snapshot in time in reaction to Benghazi attack? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2823 | And I want to make sure that, you know, at the very least, we’re continuing that cooperation, or at least there’s some sort of institutionalization of the review process to make sure that if it’s not those 19 posts, if the shift now is there’s 20 posts or some other posts. What has been done to make sure it’s institutionalized? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2824 | I found that the Department of Defense Quadrennial Defense Review is really good at instilling culture throughout the department. Can you talk a little bit how and why you decided to do the review for the State Department? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2825 | Was it useful? Is it useful? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2826 | Is it getting out there? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2827 | ? Is it a waste of time, and we shouldn’t be wasting money on it and we should be doing something else? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2828 | But then she sent this e-mail asking about this. So, how can this be that two of your staffers are e-mailing about whether or not you even knew if we had a presence in Benghazi in 2012, with all your interest in Libya in 2011, including your trip in October of 2011? And that months later, we come to find out you didn’t even know we had a presence there? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2829 | If they had this conversation with you, why would they make it up? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2830 | Sure. I can. Turn to tab 31. You have a book in front of you. It is Alice Abdallah and I’m going to pronounce it wrong, Enya Sodarais (ph)? Is that correct? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2831 | Can you tell me who they were if they were not on your staff? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2832 | Again, can’t even move anybody off of the facility to do the necessary political reporting. And my question is, you know, why did you not acknowledge, because of your interest in 2011, the importance of having those security officers there to do what was so important to you, which was the political reporting? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2833 | Well, he brought two, right? He brought two with him, there were three there, and there were… | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2834 | Can you address the discrepancy? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2835 | Now, I wonder if I could just ask questions about what I think is the central issue, and that is how do we have that presence in the world that you described in what is an increasingly dangerous world? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2836 | How do you try and strike that balance of, you know, being present and at the same time meeting the security obligations? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2837 | And then most importantly, who drives that decision? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2838 | They know the security situation certainly better than the secretary and better than most everybody else. What is the proper way to strike that balance going forward to protect our personnel and still fulfill their mission? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2839 | Now, one of the criticisms is that there should have been more security, but if you don’t have a budget, if you don’t have an appropriations bill, how does that complicate your job as secretary in trying to figure out what money you can spend? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2840 | One of the things he said, it doesn’t — that you knew about these two incidents that have been mentioned previously. It’s not a matter if you knew about them, it’s a matter of what you did about them. And to us, the answer to that is nothing. Now, you say you were briefed by the CIA every morning that you were in Washington; is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2841 | Did they ever mention to you Assistant Acting Director Morrell wrote in his book that there were scores of intelligence pieces describing in detail how the situation in Libya was becoming more and more dangerous. Did you ever read any of these pieces? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2842 | Did you read the piece that was Libya, Al Qaida establishing sanctuary? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2843 | There was another particular piece that was talked about after the IED attack that AFRICOM wrote. Al Qaida expands in Libya. Were you familiar with that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2844 | You — you were briefed, in I think the CIA, between January and September of 2012, at over 4500 pages of intelligence. Were you aware of how many pages of intelligence? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2845 | Did they keep you up to speed on all these 400 cables or different things that they were getting? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2846 | Did they keep you up to speed on that, that you were aware of them? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2847 | : And so what did you do to make sure that our men and women over there were protected, knowing how much the threat had grown, especially in Benghazi, because a lot of people say that really, in the summer of 2012, the security in Benghazi was worse than it was during the revolution. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2848 | Reclaiming my time, you said that the — Ambassador Cretz was pulled out of Tripoli because of threats on his life. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2849 | You — and you say you were aware of the two attacks at the mission facility in Benghazi. | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2850 | Mr. Morell in his book states that there was 20 attacks on that facility. Are you familiar with the other 18? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2851 | Were — but were you familiar with the other 18? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2852 | But you knew of the two — what you called major incidents, but you don’t recollect the other 18 that Mr. Morell says happened. How many instances would it have taken you to say, “hey, we need to look at the security over there?” | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2853 | Would it have been three major instances, 30 instances, 40 instances, 50 instances? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2854 | How many instances would you have been made aware of that would have made you say, “hey, I don’t care what anybody else says, we’re going to protect our people. Chris Stevens is a good friend of mine, we’re going to look after him.” How many would it have taken? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2855 | And I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but there were not even enough diplomatic security for him to leave the compound without asking the CIA operatives to assist them. Were you aware of that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2856 | Was that a — was that a written agreement? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2857 | You got a lot of e-mails from Sidney Blumenthal. And you say that Mr. Blumenthal was a friend of yours. And he had your personal e-mail address. You say Chris Stevens was a friend of yours. He asked numerous of times for extra protection. Now, if I had been Mr. Stevens — and I think anybody out there — anybody watching this would agree. If I had been Mr. Stevens and I had had a relationship with you, and I had requested 20 or more times for additional security to protect not only my life but the people that were there with me, I would have gotten in touch with you some way. I would have let you know that I was in danger, and that the situation had deteriorated to a point, I needed you to do something. Did he have your personal e-mail? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2858 | Madam Secretary, you’ve referred to the QDDR a couple of times as being important to diplomatic security. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2859 | And then I read the remaining pages from out of the 270-plus. Do you know how many pages of those 270 had to do with diplomatic security? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2860 | You talked about being disappointed, too, I’ve heard you use that several times. You were disappointed, you read the ARB. Why didn’t you fire someone? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2861 | ? In Kansas, Madam Secretary, I get asked constantly, why has no one been held accountable? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2862 | How come not a single person lost a single paycheck, connected to the fact that we had the first ambassador killed since 1979? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2863 | How come no one has been held accountable to date? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2864 | Madam Secretary, you’re telling me you had no authority to take anyone’s paycheck, to cause anyone to be fired? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2865 | You’re telling me you were legally prohibited from doing that, is that your position here this morning? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2866 | I want to do some math with you. Can I get the first chart, please? Do you know how many security requests there were in the first quarter of 2012? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2867 | I’m sorry, yes, ma’am, related to Benghazi in Libya. Do you know how many there were? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2868 | . Second quarter, do you know how many there were? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2869 | Ma’am, there were 172-ish. Might have been 171 or 173. That’s — how many were there in July and August and then in that week and few days before the attacks, do you know? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2870 | You’ve testified here this morning that you had none of those reach your desk; is that correct also? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2871 | You’ll see the increasing number of requests, over 600. I think data matters. The pictures are worth a lot. You see the increase in the requests, and the bottom line is the increase in security. And you’ll note that the slope of those two lines is very different. Can you account for why that is, why we have an increase in requests yet no increase in security? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2872 | This chart says the same thing; I just talked to you about requests for assistance. This chart — I won’t go through the numbers in detail — we’ve talked about them a bit. But it shows the increasing number of security incidents at the facility, your facility, the State Department facility, in Benghazi, Libya. And then again, it shows the increase in security being nonexistent. I assume your answer is the same with respect to the fact that we have increasing security incidents, but no corresponding increase in the amount of security? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2873 | May — put the next poster up, please. Madam Secretary, you’re not likely to know who these two folks are, do you? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2874 | The one on the left is Mohamed al-Zahawi. He was the head of Ansar al-Sharia, a jihadist group based in Benghazi. The man on your left is Wissam bin Hamid. Were you aware that your folks in Benghazi, Libya met with that man on the — within 48 hours before the attack? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2875 | On September 11th, on the day that he was killed, Ambassador Stevens sent a cable through the State Department talking about his meeting with Mr. Bin Hamid. Are you aware of that cable? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2876 | Were you aware that our folks were either wittingly or unwittingly meeting with al-Qaida on the ground in Benghazi, Libya, just hours before the attack? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2877 | Secretary Clinton, was Sidney Blumenthal your primary policy adviser or your primary intelligence officer? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2878 | Was he the primary source of information that you were receiving on Libya? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2879 | Can you tell us, then, who were you receiving information from and in what form? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2880 | So would it be fair to say that you received information from Ambassador Stevens? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2881 | The assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2882 | The director of policy planning, Jacob Sullivan? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2883 | The National Security Council? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2884 | The intelligence community? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2885 | The Defense Department? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2886 | SANCHEZ: This weekend, one of our colleagues on this panel, Mr. Pompeo, went on Meet the Press and I wonder if we could queue up the video. He had this exchange. Can we please play the video clip? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) POMPEO: … Mr. Blumenthal. It goes directly to the security issue. We see now that former Secretary Clinton relied on Mr. Blumenthal for most of her intelligence. That is, she was relying… ANDREA MITCHELL, MSNBC ANCHOR: That is factually not true. POMPEO: No, it is absolutely factually correct. MITCHELL: Relied on Mr. Blumenthal for most of her intelligence? You (inaudible). POMPEO: Ms. Mitchell, take a look — take a look at the e-mail trail and you will see. MITCHELL: That’s just — I cover the State Department. That is just factually not correct. (END VIDEO CLIP) SANCHEZ: That clip for me just defies all logic. And I think Andrea Mitchell correctly called him out on something that was a falsehood. Secretary Clinton, what did you think when you heard that clip? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2887 | I just want to add that The Washington Post fact-checker immediately awarded that claim for Pinocchios, which is the worst rating possible. And I’m going to quote the Post on what they said about that quote, “Looking at her private e-mails is just part of the picture and it ignores the fast amount of information, much of it classified, that is available to the secretary of state.” Secretary Clinton, would you agree with that statement from The Washington Post? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2888 | So, can you describe for us what the initial hours of that night were like for you and how you learned about the attacks? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2889 | And what your initial thoughts and actions were? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2890 | Quote, ‘When secretary Clinton called me later that afternoon to indicate that Ambassador Stevens was missing and asked for help, I directed our folks to ensure that we were doing everything possible and that is, of course, what they were doing that night.’ Is that correct? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2891 | So would it be safe to say that you were fully engaged that evening? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2892 | So if there’s no evidence for a video-inspired protest, then where did the false narrative start? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2893 | At 10:08, on the night of the attack, you released this statement, “Some have sought to justify the vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.” At 10:08, with no evidence, at 10:08, before the attack is over, at 10:08, when Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are still on the roof of the annex, fighting for their lives, the official statement of the State Department blames a video. Why? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2894 | Why didn’t you tell the American people exactly what you told the Egyptian prime minister? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2895 | Secretary Clinton, you said my insinuation. I’m not insinuating anything. I’m reading what you said. Plain language. We know the attack in Libya had nothing to do with the film. That’s as plain as it can get; that’s vastly different than vicious behavior justified by Internet material. Why didn’t you just speak plain to the American people? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2896 | Do you recall who specifically at the White House rejected Sidney Blumenthal? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2897 | After he was turned down for a job at the State Department by the White House, he went to work where? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2898 | Well, if he had a number of them, do you recall any of them? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2899 | What does the word unsolicited mean to you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2900 | You wrote to him, Another keeper, thanks and please keep them coming. Greetings from Kabul and thanks for keeping this stuff coming. Any other info about it? What are you hearing now? Got it, we’ll follow up tomorrow. Anything else to convey? Now, that one is interesting because that was the very e-mail where Mr. Blumenthal was asking you to intervene on behalf of a business deal that he was pursuing in Libya. What did you mean by What are you hearing now? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2901 | If you’re the one asking him for information, how does that square with the definition of unsolicited? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2902 | Would you be surprised to know not a single one of those was from him? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2903 | Did you ask? Did you — did you ask? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2904 | You’re sending me very specific detailed intelligence, what is your source? That seems like a pretty good question. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2905 | By the name of? Who wrote those cables? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2906 | You had this information passed on to others, but, at least on one occasion, you as a Ms. Abenine (ph) can you print without any identifiers? Why would you want his name removed? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2907 | Well, don’t people have a right to know the source of the information so they can determine credibility? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2908 | Did — did you ask where? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2909 | If you’re gonna — if you’re going to determine credibility, don’t you want to know the source? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2910 | Well, did the president know that Mr. Blumenthal was advising you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2911 | Did he know that he was your most prolific e-mailer that we have found on the subjects of Libya and Benghazi? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2912 | All I’m telling you is that documents show he was your most prolific e-mailer on Libya and Benghazi. And my question to you is, did the president — the same White House that said you can’t handle him, and can’t hire him — did he know that he was advising you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2913 | I want to draw your attention to an e-mail about Libya from Mr. Blumenthal to you dated April 2011. It will be Exhibit 67. And this is — this is informative. “Should we pass this on,” and in parentheticals, “unidentified to the White House?” If you were gonna pass something on to the White House, why would you take off the identifiers? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2914 | Madam Secretary, he had unfettered access to you. And he used that access, at least on one occasion, to ask you to intervene on behalf of a business venture. Do you recall that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2915 | I think it’s an equally it fair question to ask why you were reading Mr. Blumenthal’s e-mails? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2916 | Speaking of experts, who is Victoria Nuland? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2917 | My question was, actually, not why Chris Stevens didn’t contact you, but why did Jake Sullivan (ph) send Chris Stevens a Sidney Blumenthal e-mail to read and react to? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2918 | She e-mailed you that the Libyan people needed medicine, gasoline, diesel and milk. Do you know how long it took you to respond to that e-mail? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2919 | My question, and I think it’s a fair one, is the Libyan people had their needs responded to directly by you in 4 minutes. And there is no record of our security folks ever even making it to your inbox. So if you had people and processes in place for security, did you not also have people and processes in place for medicine, gasoline, diesel, milk? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2920 | My question is: How did you decide when to invoke a people and process and who just got to come straight to you? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2921 | So with respect to that previous ARB recommendation, and in contrast, what did make your in box versus what did not, did you personally review our security situation as the previous ARB required? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2922 | The overwhelming sense that I get from the Republican side of the aisle is they seem to be arguing somehow that Sidney Blumenthal had access to you, while Ambassador Stevens did not. Do you — do you think that that’s an accurate statement? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2923 | He could speak to your office or your staff? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2924 | Or you directly on the telephone? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2925 | Did he ever ask you for your personal e-mail address and you turned him down (inaudible)? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2926 | The other thing that I’m hearing from the other side of the aisle is they’re arguing that there was this, you know, security was, you know, it was sort of decomposing in eastern Libya. And that no security improvements were ever made to the Benghazi outpost. That’s not a true statement, is it? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2927 | In fact, there were many security enhancements that were asked for that were actually made, although there were others that were — other requests that were made that were not fulfilled. Is that correct? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2928 | And the Accountability Review Board had already answered that question. It explained that Benghazi was the largest city and historical power center in eastern Libya. It further went on to say although the rebel-led Transitional National Council declared that Tripoli would continue to be the capital of post-Gadhafi Libya, many of the influential players in the TNC remained based in Benghazi. And the ARB went on to explain that Ambassador Stevens advocated for a U.S. presence in Benghazi and his status as the leading U.S. government advocate on Libya policy and his expertise on Benghazi in particular caused Washington to give unusual deference to his judgments. Secretary Clinton, do you agree? Was Ambassador Stevens a leading expert on Libya policy? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2929 | And did you also give his opinions a lot of weight and respect? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2930 | Do you recall Ambassador Stevens advocating from the ground up for continued U.S. presence specifically in Benghazi? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2931 | Secretary Clinton, I understand this e-mail is not one that you have seen before as it was not addressed or sent to you, is that correct? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2932 | In the e-mail before you, then-Special Envoy Stevens wrote this proposal for continued presence in Benghazi at Embassy Tripoli — as Embassy Tripoli was reopened following the fall of Gadhafi. He suggested two potential models. Option A was a slimmed- down compound and Option B was a virtual presence with zero full-time State Department staff in Benghazi. Special Envoy Stevens sent this e-mail to Gene Cretz, then the ambassador to Libya, his deputy chief of mission and the director of the Office of Mahgreb Affairs. At the time, these career diplomats had a combined 83 years of foreign service experience. Would the recommendation of this team be given a fair amount of weight within the Department? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2933 | And is that the way that it should work that the views of experienced diplomats should count in decision making? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2934 | Secretary Clinton, do you agree with Ambassador Stevens’ view that there were important reasons to have a presence in Benghazi despite the risks? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2935 | Secretary Clinton, this is such a difficult issue, the balancing of interests. From your perspective as a former senator and secretary of State, how do you best ensure that we are striking the right balance going forward? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2936 | : And was it your understanding that he certainly understood the risk of being there? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2937 | So I want to share with you that — we know from my last round that Chris Stevens went into Benghazi in April of 2011, and I want to talk to you about what happened the rest of that year. And just because there was a lot going on, I thought it would be helpful to have this map. So by mid-July, our government formally recognized the TNC as the official government of Libya, replacing the Gadhafi regime. And TNC was based in Benghazi at that time. And in August, after the Gadhafi government fell, Gadhafi went over into — he left Tripoli where Gadhafi been headquartered, and he went into hiding in Sirte. Now once that happened, the TNC moved their Benghazi headquarters over to Tripoli, and then in September, we re-opened our embassy in Tripoli and Ambassador Cretz returned; he had been evacuated previously. And Chris Stevens stayed in Benghazi. Does that sound like an accurate summary of the summer of 2011? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2938 | What was your plan for the mission in the fall of 2011 and going forward? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2939 | What were the discussions you had and who did you have those discussions with about the mission of Benghazi going forward in 2011? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2940 | I have to ask you, I assume that your chief of staff Cheryl Mills was intimately involved in these discussions with you and with your top staff. She’s one of your staff as you were referring to them, is that right? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2941 | I’d like to refer to you an update on Tripoli operations provided to Cheryl Mills on September 14th. And at the top of that two-page memo, assumptions for Benghazi in September were gradual winding down of operations over the next six months, transition to Tripoli only — transition to Tripoli only by January 2012, no consulate. No consulate meant no consulate in Benghazi. This was in September. Would that be fair and accurate? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2942 | And would you — were you in that briefing with Ms. Mills, or did she brief you about the fact that in September the gameplan was to shut down Benghazi? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2943 | And, in fact, it had been deemed a consulate, it would have had a different level of security, is that correct, than a temporary mission compound, is that accurate? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2944 | Is that accurate, that consulates have certain levels of security. There are standards, there are protocols. When it is a consulate, it gets a certain level of security. | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2945 | Can you talk with me about the decision, then — there is a briefing with respect to — after the closing, rather, of the consulate in Benghazi by January of 2012. We know it didn’t close. It did not close. You went to Tripoli in October of 2011. Ambassador Cretz was still there. How about Chris Stevens? Did Chris Stevens come over from Benghazi to see you when you went for the big trip in October ’11? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2946 | What was your purpose for meeting with Ambassador Cretz if Chris Stevens was your expert in Libya? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2947 | But you didn’t, during that one trip to Libya, you didn’t talk to Chris Stevens, best of your recollection at that time? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2948 | But he e-mailed to a reporting officer who we know was in Benghazi still. He wrote, “Interesting. Has security improved in Benghazi in recent weeks? Also curious what you guys decided to do regarding future of the compound. He was in Washington, D.C., or back in the States during that time, and in December Ambassador Stevens, your soon-to-be ambassador, didn’t know what was going to happen with the compound in Benghazi, how is that possible? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2949 | BROOKS: Sure. Those — those fire side items, by the way, fire sale items are barricades. CLINTON: That’s right. BROOKS: They are additional… CLINTON: That’s right. BROOKS: … Requests for security… CLINTON: That’s right. BROOKS: … For the compound. That’s what that fire sale was, because we weren’t providing enough physical security for the compound, isn’t that right? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2950 | But how is it that Mr. Stevens did not know in December whether or not the compound was going to remain open? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2951 | Or do you — or do you think that was a joke he was making? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2952 | Are you familiar with that memo sent on December 27th entitled Future of Operations in Benghazi, Libya (ph). Are you familiar with that memo? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2953 | And if so, did Assistant Secretary Feldman (ph) discuss that memo with you at the time, and discuss extending the mission in Benghazi in December of ’11? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2954 | A discussion between whom — whom, ma’am? Who were all of the relevant officials in the State Department? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2955 | Ok. Who else? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2956 | And do you recall, were you in those discussions? Were you specifically in those meetings? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2957 | You’ve shared that you didn’t move a lot by e-mail, that you had more meetings than briefings. Were you in those meetings about extending Benghazi through the end of the year? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2958 | I just want to clarify a couple of points. First of all, Ambassador Stevens had access to you. | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2959 | I would hope that ambassadors would have more direct and immediate lines of communication, and Ambassador Stevens certainly did. Correct? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2960 | And also, did Ambassador Stevens ever advocate either leaving Libya or abandoning Benghazi? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2961 | Would you say that Ambassador Stevens was unaware of any aspect of that? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2962 | So he knew the security situation in Libya quite well. | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2963 | In his communications with you, and he had many, even if he didn’t have your e-mail address, did he ever say, you know, did he raise the security issue directly with you? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2964 | Madam Secretary, a few million hours ago, we were talking about the diplomatic security folks on the night of the incident. And you looked like — it appeared that you wanted to say a little bit more about that and what they, speaking of that — the incident. Would you like to elaborate? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2965 | So — Ambassador Stevens didn’t have your e-mail. Is that correct? Your personal e-mail? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2966 | Did he have your cell phone number? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2967 | Did he have the fax number? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2968 | Did he have you home address? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2969 | Did he ever stop by your house? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2970 | I had a picture up here a bit ago of a man named Wissam Bin Hamid (ph). You said you didn’t recognize who he was. Were you ever briefed that he was present at the compound the night that Ambassador Stevens was killed? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2971 | So — so — the question is were you briefed? And the answer is? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2972 | Are all ARBs created equal? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2973 | Are the recommendations of each ARB worthy of equal treatment? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2974 | Here’s what its recommendation said, it said “Special Mission Security Posture that was inadequate for Benghazi, and was…” Excuse me, this is from the most recent one. I want to know if you agree with this. “… Special Mission Security Posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.” Do you agree with the statement from the current ARB? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2975 | Madam Secretary, my question is if you agree with it? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2976 | In January 2014, Senator Feinstein — noted conservative — said in her report, “The incidents at the TMF and CIA were likely preventable.” Do you agree with that statement from Senator Feinstein’s report? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2977 | In 1998 here’s what the ARB said. It said, ‘The Secretary of State should personally review the security situation of Embassy Chanceries (ph) and other official premises, closing those which are highly vulnerable and threatened.’ You’ve told us all day today that you don’t think you should have been involved, quoting again from the ARB, personally reviewing security. How do you square that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2978 | Madam Secretary, this is a yes-or-no question, do you think you complied with what the ARB in 1998 said, and personally reviewed the security at Benghazi? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2979 | Madam Secretary, Here’s another one from the 1998 ARB. Quote, ‘first and foremost, the secretary should take a personal and active role in carrying out the responsibility — ensuring the security of the U.S. diplomatic personnel abroad.’ Do you believe you complied with that requirement from the 1998 ARB? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2980 | In all of the materials that have been produced to us today, I have not yet found the document that was prepared at your request for post-Gadhafi planning. Did you have such a document prepared prior to the time that Mr. Gadhafi was removed? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2981 | And did you ask for those documents to be prepared? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2982 | Do you know if you had a team working on that, or if it was something that was happening of its own accord? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2983 | So, can you discuss a little bit, why is it that the State Department appears to have awarded local guard contracts in Libya using this contracting method? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2984 | Secretary Clinton, can you address what actions Congress can fix problems that have to do with host country-instituted stringent policies, given the use of private security guards? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2985 | My understanding is that the country of Libya, the host nation in this case, did not allow your security contractors to carry firearms; that the Blue Mountain Guards — I think the Blue Mountain Guards were not allowed to carry firearms. Is that right? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2986 | Are we facing that same type of restrictions in other nations as well, in other hot spots? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2987 | We talked earlier about the 19 missions that are out there, with this type of issues with the LPTA and contracting, and as well as the host nation requirement? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2988 | Going back to the ARB conducted by Admiral Mullen and Ambassador Pickering, how many of their recommendations did you as secretary of state accept? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2989 | Do you recommend for future secretaries and for this committee and other members of Congress some sort of a formal review process as we go onwards? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2990 | What — what needs to be done so that we can make sure that our four heroic dead did not lay down their lives in vain? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2991 | Secretary Clinton, can I just direct your attention to the screen. You’re familiar with that clip — we came, we saw, he died. Is that the Clinton doctrine? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2992 | Now, you and your team were pleased with the work that you did and the risks that you took, the leadership that you took. A Couple — you know, a couple of hours ago, you told you told me, hey, I’m the diplomat here, I’m driving the policy. And isn’t it true that you’d been thinking about getting political credit actually for months on this? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2993 | Well, Secretary Clinton, that’s not all that was going on, though, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2994 | This is all about the state of mind at that particular point. You were thinking about credit for you, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2995 | But, I mean, look, the timing — you forwarded Blumenthal’s suggestion to Jake Sullivan and you were focused on how dramatic it would be. You were working to make this the story of the day, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2996 | So two months before the end of the Gadhafi regime and you’re already planning on how to make your statement dramatic to maximize political gains, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2997 | : Isn’t it true that your staff heard from the White House after the Warrick (ph) piece in the Washington Post that they were concerned, that is, the White House, of the amount of credit that you were getting as opposed to the amount of credit the president was getting. That’s true, isn’t it, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2998 | Then why is the White House uptight that you were taking the credit? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 2999 | So when Jake Sullivan, tab 11, e-mails you and said that you wanted — you should publicize this in all of your television appearances, they wanted to, quote, ‘have you lay down something definitive almost like the Clinton doctrine.’ That wasn’t the Obama doctrine, is that right, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3000 | And you were the author of the Libya policy. You were the one that drove it. was your baby. It was an attempt to use smart power and that’s what you tried to do, isn’t that right? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3001 | And I wanted to just ask you, in your opinion as secretary of state, that had closed embassies, whether those references to the security situation in Libya would amount to one as highly vulnerable per your own words? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3002 | Would you characterize those type of descriptions as highly vulnerable? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3003 | Secretary Clinton, you know, I guess one of the questions that we need answered is, you were a huge advocate for our presence there to begin with. What prevented you from making the decision based on the knowledge that you had from these memos about the deteriorating security situation? What prevented you as secretary of state from making that decision on your own? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3004 | Charlene Lamb said herself it wasn’t a budget issue. So do you take issue with that statement? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3005 | You several times made the statement — and we believe you — that Ambassador Stevens was your friend. And I’m wondering why, with all of this in front of you, the Secretary of State, why did it not occur to you to pick up the phone and call your friend? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3006 | But I just want to hear from you why, with all of this information in front of you, particularly on the date of August 17th, did it not occur to you to pick up the phone and call your friend, Ambassador Stevens, and ask him what he needed? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3007 | Secretary Clinton, what was your sense of how things were unfolding? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3008 | I want to thank you for giving us a play-by-play of what happened in Tunisia. Could you do the same thing with what happened in Benghazi? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3009 | Could you tell us the same kind of play by play that — who came to the rescue there? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3010 | Let me — let me ask you about a little thing. You said that you spent a lot of sleepless nights — and I can’t imagine — and you said you often wondered what you could have done different. What did you come up with? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3011 | Well, what could you — what could you have done different than what you did do? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3012 | So the contractors would be number one. What would be number two? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3013 | You talked about Ms. Victoria Nuland. You know her, right? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3014 | I don’t — I don’t think five D.S. agents not fully equipped or armed for what they were facing you could call a ‘robust American security presence.’ Would you — would you have used the word ‘robust’? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3015 | I want to ask you about the FEST. Are you familiar with the FEST? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3016 | What is the FEST, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3017 | Kidnapping. And where are they located? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3018 | At Langley Air Force Base? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3019 | But it was deployed in 1998 in Kenya, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3020 | And to Tanzania, correctly? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3021 | They were there ready to go on short notice. They said they could have been ready in four hours to leave. This is the group of people that would go into a situation, as you described, when an embassy had been overrun, attacked, kidnapping or whatever, to basically give guidance to any of the other forces or help that was coming in, correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3022 | And I know that your staff — and we’ve got a number of e-mails from your staff that originally recommended that you send the FEST team, and I think they may have talked to Mr. Sullivan, or it was somebody that got an e-mail. And they said they would pass it up the chain. And somebody made the decision not to send the FEST team, which would have been, as secretary of state, I would think, since it was a State Department-led mission, that that would have been the first thing that you would have wanted to get out. But instead, if I understand correctly from the e-mail chain, your first request was to see how soon the FBI could get over there. Is that a true statement? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3023 | But I know I’m out of time, Mr. Chairman, but I do want to say that what miss Roby was trying to get you to say, was what decisions did you make in regard to Benghazi? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3024 | And what were you responsible to make? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3025 | And I think that’s what all of us want to know. What did you do? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3026 | And what decisions did you make? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3027 | And you said everybody else is responsible for everything else. What were you responsible for? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3028 | But would you like to comment on what the full recommendation of the Tanzania ARB was, and the very similar process used in our intelligence agencies? | Rep. Adam Schiff | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3029 | What you presented, you said — you presented inflammatory material was the reason for the vicious behavior. Is that not cause and effect? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3030 | Secretary Clinton — Secretary Clinton, that’s all good. But you said you were trying to communicate to folks all over, all the folks you have around the Middle East, right? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3031 | OK, I got it. But that is not what the experts said. They said don’t conflate the events, tell the truth about Benghazi, talk about what happened there, other places where the video may have had an impact, fine, say that. Why did you put them all together when you didn’t do that privately? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3032 | Is there a contradiction — is there a contradiction right here? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3033 | How about this contradiction. A well-planned attack, no pre-planned attack. How about that? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3034 | So the question is, how is it possible that these urgent requests that came in — how did they not break through to the very upper levels of your inner circle? People who are here today, people who served you? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3035 | How did those requests from two ambassadors, Ambassador Cretz and Ambassador Stevens, that came in on these dates, June 7th, June — July 19th, August 2nd and March 28th, all of 2012 — how is it possible that those didn’t break through? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3036 | You told us that that wasn’t your job, basically. You said, ‘I’m not responsible.’ But here’s my theory. I think that this is what was going on: that to admit a need for more security was to admit that there was a deteriorating situation. And to admit a deteriorating situation didn’t fit your narrative of a successful foreign policy. Where did I get that wrong? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3037 | What does that mean when you say, ‘I took responsibility?’ | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3038 | So when you say you are responsible for something, Madam Secretary, what does that mean? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3039 | If you’re responsible, what action would you have done differently. What do you own as a result of this? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3040 | What did you do? What do you own? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3041 | What’s your responsibility to Benghazi? That’s my question? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3042 | Madam secretary, they didn’t get through. It didn’t help them. Were those responded to? Is that your testimony today? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3043 | And you laid this on Chris Stevens, didn’t you? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3044 | Because he said — you said earlier, ‘He knows where to pull the levers,’ so aren’t you implying that it’s his responsibility to figure out how he is supposed to be secure, because Chris Stevens knows how to pull the levers? Is that your testimony? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3045 | And when he does, and they’re not responded to what is his remedy if they’re not responded to? What is his remedy if it’s no? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3046 | So hit resend, is that it? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3047 | Secretary Clinton, I think you should’ve added this: Chris Stevens kept faith with the State Department that I headed even when we broke faith with him. He accepted my invitation to serve in Benghazi even though he was denied the security we implored us to give him. I and my colleagues were distracted by other matters, and opportunities, and ambitions, we breached our fundamental duty to mitigate his danger and secure his safety. And that of Glenn Doherty, Sean Smith, and Tyrone Woods. That would be more accurate, wouldn’t you say, Secretary Clinton? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3048 | Who does it disserve? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3049 | The people that were disciplined? Did they keep faith with Chris Stevens? | Rep. Peter Roskam | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3050 | My understanding is in Benghazi, there were some security improvements that were made. Could you talk about some of those? Both prior to the attacks as well as some other things that perhaps — you — sort of alluded to with more ventilation in the safe rooms, some of those things? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3051 | I know this is not a secure room, so we — we can’t talk about things that are rated secret, but, you know September 11th is coming. Part of that week are we moving aircraft carriers nearby, are we putting and air wing on a 6 hour leash, with, you know, one lift of aircraft on a 2 hour leash? What are we doing? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3052 | Do we have FAST teams and FEST teams gearing up ready to go? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3053 | What is going on, in light of the lessons learned at Benghazi, and what did — what did you personally direct — to happen, especially at your level of inter- agency cooperation? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3054 | So when an embassy comes under attack, especially after this Benghazi attack, from this time forward, do ambassadors, do they need to call you to ask for help from other agencies of the U.S. government? Or do they have the ability if there’s a DOD — if there is a CIA or DOD force nearby, a Marine FAST team for example, can the ambassador — does the ambassador have to come through security, or do they need to call you to have you call for that? How does that work? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3055 | It was an unarmed drone. Correct? | Rep. Tammy Duckworth | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3056 | But I have to ask you if you’re familiar with the fact that in the wake of the 1998 bombing attacks in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Congress passed something referred to as SECCA — the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act, which requires the secretary of state to issue a waiver if, under two conditions, if U.S. government personnel work in separate facilities; or if U.S. overseas facilities do not meet the security setback distances specified by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. The law specifies that only the secretary of state may sign these waivers and that requirement is not to be delegated. Was a waiver issued for the temporary mission in Benghazi and the CIA annex after the temporary mission compound was authorized through December of 2012? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3057 | And did you sign that waiver, Madam Secretary? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3058 | But you acknowledge you were responsible for the temporary mission compound? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3059 | I hope I’ve painted the picture because I’m baffled. You sent Chris Stevens to Libya and to Benghazi. And granted, he never raised the flag and said, ‘I want out.’ And granted, he never said, ‘Shut down Benghazi.’ And I understand and appreciate that you deferred to him, but you also, Madam Secretary — we have no record of you ever talking to him, that — you never talked to him personally after May of 2012 when you swore him in as our ambassador. Am I wrong? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3060 | Did you ever talk to Ambassador Stevens when all of this was going on in the hotbed of Libya? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3061 | Did you ever personally speak to Ambassador Stevens after — we don’t know the answer. Did you ever personally speak to him after you swore him in in May? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3062 | And when was that? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3063 | Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3064 | And you’re their leader. Is that correct? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3065 | And is there — are there ever situations where you call them, where you bring them in, where you are personally caring and concerned, and are letting them know that? | Rep. Susan Brooks | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3066 | You also spoke directly with people on the ground at the embassy in Tripoli that night at around 7 p.m, and I can tell from the documents that we’ve seen that you’ve asked — you asked to speak with deputy chief of mission in Tripoli. Can you explain the purpose of that call and why you felt that was important? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3067 | Your chief of staff, Cheryl Mills, told the committee that your attendance at the deputy’s (ph) level meeting broke with protocol and surprised other attendees, but that you simply said, quote, ‘these are our people on the ground; where else would I be?’ Why did did you think that it was important for you to participate personally in that deputy’s committee meeting? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3068 | Were the participants surprised by your visit on the — on the (inaudible)? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3069 | Do you think that your appearance on that teleconference conveyed to them how seriously you were taking the attacks and the response to the attacks? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3070 | From the Defense Department? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3071 | Can you explain some of the context of the evening and why you were concerned, not just about what was happening in Benghazi, but the risks that Americans were in elsewhere? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3072 | Following the attacks on Benghazi, but before the Accountability Review Board completed its work, you did a number of things to evaluate and improve security at overseas posted. And this is even before the ARB had finished its investigation and issued its finding and recommendations. I know you’ve mentioned them multiple times today, but some of my colleagues appear to have amnesia about what you really accomplished. So can you tell me about some of the steps that you took to implement in the State Department even before the the ARB completed its work? | Rep. Linda Sanchez | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3073 | You wrote in your book,’Hard Choices,’ that you were directing the State Department response the night of September 11th, 2012, but you also stated that you left your office on the night of the attack and went to your home in northwest Washington because you said you knew the next few days were going to be taxing and the department was going to be looking to you. I want to talk about a few things. Do you have a skiff (ph) in your home? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3074 | And who else was at your home? Were you alone? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3075 | The whole night? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3076 | I mean, did you have any in-person briefings? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3077 | Who was at your office when you left? Was Cheryl Mills, your chief of staff, still at the office when you left? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3078 | Jake Sullivan, was he still there? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3079 | Victoria Nuland was there when you left? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3080 | Philip Ranas (ph) was there? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3081 | Was Patrick Kennedy there? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3082 | Was Philip Ranas (ph) there? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3083 | How about Stephen Mull? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3084 | Beth Jones? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3085 | And Bill Burns and Thomas Nides? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3086 | What — what time did you learn that Sean Smith had died? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3087 | So that was before you left. | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3088 | And then what about Ambassador Stevens? Was that before? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3089 | And then what about his confirmation of his death — before or after you left? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3090 | And what about the recovery of his body? Was that before or after you left? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3091 | Where were you when you learned of the second attack? Were you at home or at the office? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3092 | And did you go back to the State Department when you learned about the second attack? Or did you stay home? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3093 | Did you meet with the president that night? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3094 | How many times did you talk to the president? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3095 | And do you recall what time you spoke to the president? You said that evening. Do you recall more specifically what time? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3096 | What did you discuss? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3097 | What specifically did you discuss with the president? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3098 | What did he say to you? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3099 | Did you meet with Secretary Panetta? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3100 | When did you speak to Secretary Panetta? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3101 | Not on the 11th? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3102 | Did you talk with General Dempsey? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3103 | So you did not meet with him or talk with him on the 11th? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3104 | What about Petraeus? When did you speak to him? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3105 | Did you — your surviving agents were evacuated to Tripoli the morning of the 12th. Did you talk to the survivors either that night or once they arrived in Tripoli? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3106 | Did you talk to them the next day? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3107 | Did you talk to them later that week? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3108 | Did you talk to them when they first got back to the United States? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3109 | How would it have harmed the case that they were trying to build for you, secretary of state, just to check in on their well being? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3110 | Again, the survivors — when did you talk to the survivors? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3111 | I want to get back to the survivors in the little time I have left. Did you talk to the survivors directly at all at any point? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3112 | Can you tell us when? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3113 | Can you give me a month? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3114 | A month? | Rep. Martha Roby | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3115 | how many countries — how many different embassies, different consulates did you visit during your time as secretary of state, roughly? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3116 | Can you give us a flavor for some of the places where you visited your personnel? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3117 | Tell us again how many embassies do we have in the world? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3118 | And how many personnel roughly? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3119 | Can any human being on face of the planet protect every single one of them every second of every day? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3120 | Do — do you happen to know where the CIA Director, General Petraeus, was when the second attack happened on the CIA and where he went? | Rep. Adam Smith | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3121 | So if your story about your e-mails keeps changing, then how can we accept your statement that you’ve turned over all work related e- mails and all e-mails about Libya? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3122 | Who oversaw this multi-step process in making that determination which ones we might get and which ones that were personal? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3123 | And you said rigorous. What does that mean? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3124 | But I’m asking how — I’m asking how it was done. Was — did someone physically look at the 62,000 e-mails, or did you use search terms, date parameters? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3125 | Will you provide this committee — or can you answer today, what were the search terms? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3126 | That’s not answering the question. Search terms means ‘terms’. What terms did you use… | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3127 | And what were the date parameters? What — what date did you start, what was the end date, and the e-mails in between that we’re going to look at? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3128 | So you don’t know? You don’t know what terms they used to determine which ones were your e-mails and which ones the State Department got, and therefore we might get? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3129 | But — there was one server on your property in New York, and a second server hosted by a Colorado company in — housed in New Jersey. Is that right? There were two servers? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3130 | Just one? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3131 | And so there’s only one server? Is that what you’re telling me? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3132 | And it’s the one server that the FBI has? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3133 | In your statement, you said, ‘which is protected by the Secret Service.’ Why did you mention the Secret Service? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3134 | And — here’s what — could a Secret Service agent standing at the back door of your house protect someone in Russia or China from hacking into your system? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3135 | Why did you mention the Secret Service agent? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3136 | I — how — what’s the relevance to protecting from (ph) classified information? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3137 | If the FBI finds some of these e-mails that might be deleted, as they’re reviewing your server, will you agree to allow a neutral third party — like a retired federal judge — to review any e-mails deleted to determine if any of them are relevant to our investigation? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3138 | But you would, as the most transparent person ever, would you commit to saying whatever they find, I want a retired federal judge to evaluate that and look and see if we need some of that information to get to the truth? | Rep. Jim Jordan | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3139 | So did you make the decision not to send the FEST team? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3140 | But I want to talk to you just a little bit about your e-mails. And that is that I think you said it was October that you received a letter that asked you and former secretary of states (sic) to present all their e-mails. Is that correct? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3141 | Now, in August, the State Department met with your attorneys to talk about the lack of the e-mails that they had. Did you know that? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3142 | You didn’t know that they were meeting — that the State Department was meeting with your attorneys? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3143 | Now, is that weird, that your attorney was your chief of staff, so that attorney/client (ph) privilege may have kicked in there somewhere? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3144 | I know you’ve got a group of them there sitting behind you, but how many attorneys does it take to go through 65,000 e-mails in two months? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3145 | Did you tell him you had a private server at that time? | Rep. Lynn Westmoreland | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3146 | Were you aware, or are you aware of any efforts by the U.S. government in Libya to provide any weapons, either directly or indirectly, or through a cutout to my militias or opposition to Gadhafi’s forces? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3147 | Were you aware or are you aware of any U.S. efforts by the U.S. government in Libya to provide any weapons, directly or indirectly, or through a cutout, to any Syrian rebels or militias or opposition to Syrian forces? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3148 | : Were you aware or are you aware of any efforts by the U.S. government in Libya to facilitate or support the provision of weapons to any opposition of Gadhafi’s forces, Libyan rebels or militias through a third party or country? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3149 | Did you ever consider the idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3150 | Yes, ma’am. Did — I’ll ask the question again. Did you ever at any time consider the idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition in Libya? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3151 | What does ‘not seriously’ mean, ma’am? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3152 | Ma’am, I’ll read you the e-mail. It says, ‘FYI’ — this is to Mr. Sullivan seated behind you, it says, ‘FYI, the idea of using private security experts to arm the opposition should be considered.’ Were you just not serious? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3153 | Was there any further e-mails or discussion with respect to that issue of potentially arming private experts or having private experts arm the Libyans? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3154 | Another series of yes or no questions, Madam Secretary. Did you ask the Department of Defense how you were going to get your people out the evening that the incident occurred? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3155 | Did you ask about what assets were positioned in place that they might be able to help? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3156 | Did you ask about how long it might take them to arrive either in Tripoli or Benghazi? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3157 | You earlier said today, a couple of hours back, that there were no military resources that could have arrived in Benghazi in a reasonable time. That’s your testimony from today. What was a ‘reasonable’ time? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3158 | But when the initial attack occurred, you had no idea how long the incidence would continue, did you? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3159 | So when the initial attack occurred, did you have any idea what the magnitude and the duration of the events of that night would be? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3160 | My question is: Why was heaven and earth not moved at the initial sound of the guns, maybe even putting tankers in the air from McConnell Air Force Base in Kansas? You simply didn’t know how long this series of events was going to continue, nor did you know how long the risk to the people that worked for you was going to remain. | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3161 | When that attack took place, Mr. Katala (ph), according to the indictment from the Justice Department, Mr. Katala (ph) and his folks removed documents from the temporary mission facility. Were you aware of that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3162 | And how do you know that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3163 | Do you know if there was sensitive information? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3164 | Madam Secretary, do you know where that material that was looted went? Do you know into whose hands it fell? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3165 | And do you know the nature and contents of that material? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3166 | You seem very confident it wasn’t classified. I don’t share your confidence. But nonetheless, do you know where that material went? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3167 | Ma’am, the fact that it wasn’t capable of handling classified material doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any classified material there. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3168 | I want to go back to your statement that you said you didn’t ever seriously consider arming private security experts. Tell me why you ever considered it at all? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3169 | There was an e-mail that was from Mr. Blumenthal and (inaudible) before that, also discussing the same situation. Do you know who Mark Turrey (ph) is? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3170 | He was a private trafficker in weapons. He was working with Mr. Stevens and attempting to develop an authorization with the State Department so that he could in fact deliver those weapons into Libya. Does that — any of that ring a bell to you? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3171 | I want to come back to one issue we talked about a couple hours back about accountability. You said that you didn’t have the authority — lawful authority to terminate any employees. Is that correct? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3172 | Did you have the authority to provide a counseling statement to any employee? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3173 | In other words, you couldn’t fire them, but you could put a letter in their employment file saying, ‘Hey, you didn’t do your job well.’ Did you undertake that? | Rep. Mike Pompeo | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3174 | And so why don’t you tell us how you picked them? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3175 | Were you looking for yes people? I mean, what were you looking for? | Rep. Elijah Cummings | D | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3176 | If you were investigating Benghazi or what happened in Benghazi and there was an author of an e-mail three months to the day — three months to the day from when our four fellow Americans were killed. The author of the e-mail says anti-American demonstration, looking for Americans to attack, game changer, soft target, no continuity, the cost to continue to do business there may become challenging. Would you want to talk to the author of that e-mail if you were investigating Benghazi? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3177 | My question is, would you want to talk to that person? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3178 | There used to be a stack up there, when Mr. Smith was with us, about all the previous investigations that Congress and the ARB had done. Did any of those previous congressional investigations or the ARB have access to your e-mails? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3179 | GOWDY: My implication is the co-chair of what you call an independent Accountability Review Board was calling someone he was supposed to be investigating to say, ‘please don’t send that witness to Congress, they’re not going to show up well.’ That’s my point. My point is, how can you consider that to — I mean… CLINTON: Well, look… GOWDY: …have you ever heard of a — have you ever heard of a judge calling the — the D.A. or the defense attorney and say, ‘don’t — don’t call that witness? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3180 | Are — are you doubting that he placed the phone call? Is that — is that the purpose of what you’re saying? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3181 | My point is this. The ARB, nor the previous congressional investigations, had access to your e-mails. Did they? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3182 | Madam Secretary, that actually was not my question. My question was, whether or not the previous congressional committees and ARB had access to your emails. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3183 | Who told you that 90 to 95 percent of your emails were in the State Department system? Who told you that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3184 | Can you provide me with a name? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3185 | Well, let’s talk about your work related emails. We asked for them last year and the State Department gave us eight. If they had 90 percent of yours, why did we only get eight? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3186 | You think our first request, there were only eight emails responsive to our first request? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3187 | Let me ask you this. You say that you turned over everything. I don’t get a chance to watch you a lot on television, but when I see you are interviewed, you make a point of saying, I turned over everything. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3188 | How do you know that? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3189 | GOWDY: And you have a really… SANCHEZ: Regular order, Mr. Chairman. GOWDY: … good group of attorneys, which makes me wonder… SANCHEZ: Chairman, regular order. GOWDY: … how they missed 15 of them. | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3190 | Madam Secretary, is there any question that the 15 that James Cole turned over to us were work related? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3191 | The 15 — my question to you, on the 15, did your lawyers find them and decide that they were not work related or did they not find them? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3192 | The first observation that I would make is that when you speak to the public, you say, I turned over everything. That’s for the most part a direct quote. When you talk to the public, you say, I turned over everything. When you talk to the court, you say, while I do not know what information may be responsive for purposes of this lawsuit, I have directed that all my emails on clintonemail.com (ph) in my custody that were — or potentially were federal records be provided to the Department of State and on information and belief that was done. Why the different explanation depending on who you’re talking to? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3193 | Well, why not just tell the court, I turned over everything? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
| 3194 | My question to you, Madam Secretary, is, was it a mistake — for the four years that you had that email arrangement, was it a mistake for the almost two years that you kept the public record to yourself, or has it manifested itself as a mistake in just the last six months? | Rep. Trey Gowdy | R | House Select Committee on Benghazi 10/22/15 |
