TIMELINE OF THE ATTACKS
September 11-12, 2012
(All times are best estimates based on existing data and should be considered approximate.)
The Prelude – the Ambassador’s Arrival
Ambassador Chris Stevens arrived in Benghazi, Libya on September 10, 2012, accompanied by two temporary duty (TDY) Assistant Regional Security Officers (ARSOs) from Tripoli. It was the Ambassador’s first visit to Benghazi since he departed as then - Special Envoy in November 2011. With the Ambassador’s arrival, there were eight Americans at the Special Mission compound (SMC)on September 10 - 11, 2012, including the Ambassador; Information Management Officer (IMO) Sean Smith, who arrived in Benghazi one week earlier to provide TDY communications and management support; and five Diplomatic Security (DS) agents (three assigned on short-term TDY to Benghazi “TDY RSO”, “ARSO 1” and “ARSO 2”– and the two who traveled from Tripolito provide protection for the Ambassador during his visit–“ARSO 3” and “ARSO4”). The eighth American, the TDY Benghazi principal officer,completed his 13-day assignment and returned to his full-time job in Tripoli the morning of September 11, leaving seven Americans at the compound. Ambassador Stevens was scheduled to remain in Benghazi until September 14, and his visit was timed in part to fill the staffing gaps between TDY principal officers as well as to open an American Corner at a local school and to reconnect with local contacts.
I hope everyone got that part. The late Ambassador Stevens came to Benghazi to fill in staffing gaps. He is on foreign soil and his consulate in Benghazi has staffing issues. Amazing. And today politically it is the former Secretary's lack of foresight to see the attack coming in failing to add more staff to protect the Ambassador. This is not the failing of the State Department, this is the gross incompetence of the USA Congress to appreciate the lives of their own personnel in service to the USA. Where are the hearings on budget cuts that completely compromised the security of our USA State Department?
In the absence of an effective central government security presence, the Special Mission’s Libyan security contingent was composed of four armed members of the February 17 Martyrs’ Brigade (February 17)–a local umbrella organization of militias dominant in Benghazi (some of which were Islamist) and loosely affiliated with the Libyan government, but not under its control.
The militia members were being paid for their services. They were loosely contracted. But, if they decided one day that their interests were best serving their own priorities they would move off the job. To put it in American terms, the were 'Day Labor' with guns.
They resided in a guest house building on compound. Normally four members resided on the Special Mission compound near the front gate, but on September 11 one had been absent for several days, reportedly due to a family illness.
More than likely his anticipated illness and service instead to secure his family.
The Special Mission also had an unarmed, contract local guard force (LGF), Blue Mountain Libya (BML), which provided five guards per eight-hour shift, 24/7, to open and close the gates, patrol the compound, and give warning in case of an attack. After the Ambassador’s arrival at the Special Mission on September 10, ARSO 1 gave the Ambassador a tour of the SMC and pointed out the safe area and escape hatch windows in the Ambassador’s room in Villa C. Later that afternoon, the Ambassador visited the Annex for a briefing. He then met with the City Council at a local hotel for dinner, an event at which local media invited by the Council showed up unexpectedly, despite U.S. efforts to keep the Ambassador’s program and movements from being publicized.
September 11-12, 2012
(All times are best estimates based on existing data and should be considered approximate.)
The Prelude – the Ambassador’s Arrival
Ambassador Chris Stevens arrived in Benghazi, Libya on September 10, 2012, accompanied by two temporary duty (TDY) Assistant Regional Security Officers (ARSOs) from Tripoli. It was the Ambassador’s first visit to Benghazi since he departed as then - Special Envoy in November 2011. With the Ambassador’s arrival, there were eight Americans at the Special Mission compound (SMC)on September 10 - 11, 2012, including the Ambassador; Information Management Officer (IMO) Sean Smith, who arrived in Benghazi one week earlier to provide TDY communications and management support; and five Diplomatic Security (DS) agents (three assigned on short-term TDY to Benghazi “TDY RSO”, “ARSO 1” and “ARSO 2”– and the two who traveled from Tripolito provide protection for the Ambassador during his visit–“ARSO 3” and “ARSO4”). The eighth American, the TDY Benghazi principal officer,completed his 13-day assignment and returned to his full-time job in Tripoli the morning of September 11, leaving seven Americans at the compound. Ambassador Stevens was scheduled to remain in Benghazi until September 14, and his visit was timed in part to fill the staffing gaps between TDY principal officers as well as to open an American Corner at a local school and to reconnect with local contacts.
I hope everyone got that part. The late Ambassador Stevens came to Benghazi to fill in staffing gaps. He is on foreign soil and his consulate in Benghazi has staffing issues. Amazing. And today politically it is the former Secretary's lack of foresight to see the attack coming in failing to add more staff to protect the Ambassador. This is not the failing of the State Department, this is the gross incompetence of the USA Congress to appreciate the lives of their own personnel in service to the USA. Where are the hearings on budget cuts that completely compromised the security of our USA State Department?
In the absence of an effective central government security presence, the Special Mission’s Libyan security contingent was composed of four armed members of the February 17 Martyrs’ Brigade (February 17)–a local umbrella organization of militias dominant in Benghazi (some of which were Islamist) and loosely affiliated with the Libyan government, but not under its control.
The militia members were being paid for their services. They were loosely contracted. But, if they decided one day that their interests were best serving their own priorities they would move off the job. To put it in American terms, the were 'Day Labor' with guns.
They resided in a guest house building on compound. Normally four members resided on the Special Mission compound near the front gate, but on September 11 one had been absent for several days, reportedly due to a family illness.
More than likely his anticipated illness and service instead to secure his family.
The Special Mission also had an unarmed, contract local guard force (LGF), Blue Mountain Libya (BML), which provided five guards per eight-hour shift, 24/7, to open and close the gates, patrol the compound, and give warning in case of an attack. After the Ambassador’s arrival at the Special Mission on September 10, ARSO 1 gave the Ambassador a tour of the SMC and pointed out the safe area and escape hatch windows in the Ambassador’s room in Villa C. Later that afternoon, the Ambassador visited the Annex for a briefing. He then met with the City Council at a local hotel for dinner, an event at which local media invited by the Council showed up unexpectedly, despite U.S. efforts to keep the Ambassador’s program and movements from being publicized.
