Africa: Benghazi Attack TR Nov12

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

• On the night of 11 September 2012, militants attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya using a combination of small arms, heavy weapons, and lethal combustible materials. The U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three other Americans died as a result of the attack.
• Accounts vary regarding the adequacy of measures taken by the Department of State, the CIA, and other agencies to prevent this type of incident. The loss of American life speaks for itself as an indicator that systems then in place failed to provide diplomats serving in Libya a level of security sufficient to guarantee their personal safety.
• The core issue is whether the tragedy was a fluke that only the advantage of hindsight makes visible, or a contingency that reasonably should have been anticipated and prevented by persons in high positions of public responsibility.
• Although it was first believed that the American deaths resulted from spontaneous mob violence inspired by an anti-Muslim video that circulated on the Internet, follow-up intelligence revealed that the attack was a planned terrorist act carried out by a militia connected to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa.