Dark Forces: The Truth About What Happened in Benghazi (44 page)

  
4
  Steven Nelson, “Muslim Brotherhood a Secular Organization, Says Clapper,”
Daily Caller
, Feb. 10, 2011.

  
5
  Comments by Dr. Sebastian Gorka, Sept 6, 2013, Westminster Institute, Washington, D.C., author’s transcript.

  
6
  The White House,
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States
, August 2011.

  
7
  http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/02/05/working-counter-online-radicalization-violence-united-states.

  
8
  Quintam Wiktorowicz, “The New Global Threat: Transnational Salafis and Jihadi,”
Middle East Policy
8, No. 4, December 2001, pp. 29–30.

  
9
  Comments by Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, Sept. 6, 2013, Westminster Institute, Washington, D.C., author’s transcript. Sookhdeo and Gorka have expanded on these concepts in their contributions to a remarkable short book of essays: Katharine C. Gorka and Patrick Sookhdeo (eds.),
Fighting the Ideological War: Winning Strategies from Communism to Islamism
(McLean, VA: Isaac, 2012).

10
  Josh Gerstein, “Report: Leon Panetta revealed classified SEAL unit info,”
Politico
, June 5, 2013. Panetta’s apparent security breach was described in detail in a draft inspector general report on the administration’s cooperation with the
Zero Dark Thirty
film project, but reference to it was deleted when the final report was released a few weeks later. So was a line mentioning that Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers, one of the key officials helping the filmmakers, had disclosed to them the identity of the Neptune Spear mission planner, which also was classified. See http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/06/defense-report-omits-panettas-seal-team-6-disclosure/.

11
  Brigadier General Jeffrey Colt, “Memorandum for Commander, United States Central Command, Investigation Findings and Recommendations (Crash of CH-47 Aircraft in Wardak Province, Afghanistan on 6 August 2011),” Department of the Army, Sept. 9, 2011, SECRET; Declassified. Hereafter, Colt report.

12
  Colt report, 6.

13
  Ibid., 56: Exhibit 20.

14
  Communication from a senior Special Forces officer, Oct. 2, 2013.

15
 
Charles and Mary Ann Strange et al v. Joseph Robinette Biden et al.
, 13-cv-974, Complaint 10; see also https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G968rxOjiMs&feature=player_embedded.

8. WEAPONS, WEAPONS, EVERYWHERE

  
1
  Scott Stewart, “The Continuing Threat of Libyan Missiles,”
Stratfor Security Weekly
, May 2, 2012, http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/continuing-threat-libyan-missiles.

  
2
  Martha Raddatz, “Hillary Clinton Visits Libya to Meet Rebel Leaders,” ABC News, Oct. 18, 2011.

  
3
  Author’s correspondence with DynCorps spokesperson Ashley Burke, Oct. 10, 2013.

  
4
  C. J. Chivers and Rod Nordland, “Missiles Missing from Libyan Stockpile,” New York Times News Service, Sept. 8, 2011.

  
5
  Reza Kahlili, “Almost 5,000 SAM-7 missiles missing in Libya,” blog post, Oct. 2, 2011, http://atimetobetray.com/blog/almost-5000-sam-7-missiles-missing-in-libya/.

  
6
  Con Coughlin, “Will a Middle East awash with weapons be Qaddafi’s final legacy?”
Daily Telegraph
, Oct. 23, 2011.

  
7
  Chivers and Nordland, “Missiles Missing from Libyan Stockpile.”

  
8
  United States Senator John McCain, press release, April 22, 2011; see also Peter Kenyon, “McCain on Libyan Rebels: They are my heroes,”
National Public Radio
, April 22, 2011.

  
9
  http://gawker.com/5852485/heres-the-clearest-video-yet-of-Qaddafis-capture.

10
  Raghida Dergham, “The West is hijacking Arab revolutions to the benefit of the Islamists,”
Al Arabiya
, Oct. 30, 2011.

11
  Michael Boyle, “Obama leading from behind on Libya,”
Guardian
(London), Aug. 27, 2011, http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/27/obama-libya-leadership-nato.

12
  Neil Munro, “Sharia: Obama-encouraged Libyan transitional council approves polygamy, bans banking interest,”
Daily Caller
, Oct. 24, 2011. See also Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, “Libya headed toward Islamism.”

13
  “Libyan Jew Blocked from Tripoli Synagogue,”
Guardian
, Oct. 4, 2011. See also Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, “Libya headed toward Islamism.”

14
  Ruth Sherlock, “Leading Libyan Islamist met Free Syrian Army opposition group,”
Daily Telegraph
, Nov. 27, 2011. The
Daily Telegraph
account had him arrested as he was leaving Tripoli. A chronology of 230 security incidents compiled by the head of the U.S. Embassy’s Regional Security Office, Eric Nordstrom, had him arrested as he was returning to Tripoli on No
v.
24, ostensibly from a trip to Qatar.

9. THE THREAT MATRIX

  
1
  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (HOGR), “Letter to President Obama from Reps. Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz,” Oct. 19, 2012, 8. Hereafter, Issa and Chaffetz to Obama.

  
2
  (SBU) Action Memorandum from AS Jeffrey Feltman for Undersecretary for Management Patrick F. Kennedy, “Future Operations in Benghazi, Libya,” December 27, 2011; included in Issa and Chaffetz to Obama.

  
3
  U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual Volume 12, Diplomatic Security, 12 FAM 315.1; included in Issa and Chaffetz to Obama.

  
4
  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “Interview of Admiral Michael Mullen,” June 19, 2013, 112.

  
5
  Ibid., 131.

  
6
  Email exchange, Eric. A. Nordstrom to Shawn P. Crowley et al., “Re: DS coverage for Benghazi,” Feb. 11, 2012. Included in Issa and Chaffetz to Obama.

  
7
  Email exchange, Shawn P. Crowley to Patrick A. Tillow et al., “DS coverage for Benghazi,” Feb. 11, 2012.

  
8
  Email exchange, Eric A. Nordstrom to James P. Bacigalupo, “Re: DS Coverage for Benghazi,” Feb. 12, 2012.

  
9
  U.S. Embassy Tripoli, “Possibility of Demonstrations on February 17, 2012,” http://libya.usembassy.gov/service/information-for-travelers/warden-messages2.html.

10
  U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Memo from Deputy Chief of Mission Joan Polaschik to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb, Feb. 28, 2012, quoted in Elise Labott, “US Embassy in Libya sought extension of ‘essential’ security team,” CNN security blogs, Oct. 8, 2012. The CNN article mistakenly reports that the SST was approved through August. In fact, it was scheduled to depart on April 5, 2012. Polaschik convinced Lamb to approve a 120-day extention through August 5. See the email exchanges on the SST quoted in House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “Benghazi Attacks: Investigative Update Interim Report on the Accountability Review Board,” Sept. 16, 2013, 57–58.

11
  Ibid., 58.

12
  House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, “The Security Failures of Benghazi,” October 10, 2012, 87 (Lamb), and 88 (Nordstrom). See also U.S. Embassy Tripoli, “Request for DS TDY and FTE Support,” March 28, 2012 (12TRIPOLI 130), in which Eric Nordstrom details the steps he was taking “[a]s recommended by the Department” to “transition from emergency to normalized security operations.” Included in Issa and Chaffetz to Obama.

13
  Jan. 2014 SSCI report, “Additional Views of Vice Chairman Chambliss and Senators Burr, Risch, Coats, Rubio, and Coburn,” 9, citing the committee transcript of the member and staff interview of Eric Nordstrom, June 27, 2013, 24–25.

14
  Eric Nordstrom, “Security Incidents Since June 2011,” 23. The incidents that follow have been paraphrased from Nordstrom’s report.

15
  Interview with Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, Utah National Guard, Sept. 23, 2013.

16
  Austin Long, “Partners or Proxies? U.S. and Host Nation Cooperation in Counter-terrorism Operations,”
CTC Sentinel
, Nov. 30, 2011, 1, http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/partners-or-proxies-u-s-and-host-nation-cooperation-in-counterterrorism-operations.

17
  Ambassador Gene Cretz signed off on the counterterrorism training program. Part of it got funded through Section 1207 of the NDAA, a broadly worded authority that funds programs to “defeat terrorist organizations and their ability to gain recruits. The programs and projects focused on denying support and sanctuary to terrorists through strategically targeted development assistance and public diplomacy, while increasing the reach of good governance and rule of law.” See Congressional Research Service, “Department of Defense: Section 1209 and Section 1203(b) Report to Congress on Foreign-Assistance Related Programs for Fiscal Years 2008, 2009, and 2010,” April 2012, 5. DoD allocated $6.2 million to Special Operations Command in FY 2012 to build capacity of two Libyan special operations forces companies under a slightly changed statute (1207) that went into effect in 2012 that was “jointly administered and funded by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the State Department.” See Nina Serafino, “Global Security Contingency Fund: Summary and Issue Overview,” Congressional Research Service, Jan. 22, 2013, CRS Report R42641. At the beginning, however, the funding came from JSOC under 1208.

18
  Assistant Secretary of State Anthony Shapiro, “Addressing the Challenge of MANPADS Proliferation,” Stimson Center, Washington, D.C., Feb. 2, 2012. Quotes from the Q&A after his presentation were transcribed by the author from the event. See the online Reader’s Guide for more.

19
  Senate Armed Services Committee, “Worldwide Threats to U.S. National Security,” Feb. 16, 2012, “Testimony of Director of National Intelligence Lt. Gen. James Clapper.”

20
  Ibid., “Testimony of Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ron Burgess.”

21
  “Bodies of Hurlburt airmen returned home,” PNJ.com, Feb. 21, 2012.

22
  Bill Warner blog post, “Al-Shabaab in Somalia Publish Article on ‘SomaliMemo’ Website About American U-28A Plane Going Down,” Feb. 22, 2012, http://www.billwarnerpi.com/2012/02/al-shabaab-in-somalia-publish-article.html.

23
  Email exchange with Colonel Dick Brauer, Oct. 8, 2013; see also Brian Everstine, “Fatah Djibouti U-28A crash laid to crew error,”
Air Force Times
, Oct. 24, 2012.

24
  Noor Ali Farah, “Is Al-Shabaab Using Heat-Seeking Missiles?”
SomaliReport
, March 4, 2012.

25
  http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htada/20120322.aspx.

26
  Source interview, Sept. 26, 2013.

27
  House Committee on Foreign Affairs, “LRA, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, AQIM and Other Sources of Instability in Africa,” April 25, 2012, U.S. Government Printing Office, Serial 112-142, “Statement of Daniel Benjamin, Ambassador-at-Large, Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Department of State,” 29–30.

28
  See,
inter alia
, January 2014 SSCI report, 40; and “Interim Progress Report for the Members of the House Republican Conference on the Events Surrounding the September 11, 2012 Terrorist Attacks in Benghazi,” from the Chairmen of the Committees on Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, Judiciary, Oversight and Government Reform, and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, April 23, 2013, 11, 38.

29
  House Committee on Foreign Affairs, “LRA, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, AQIM and Other Sources of Instability in Africa,” “Statement of Amanda J. Dory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs,” 43.

30
  Ibid., “Response to questions submitted for the record to Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Yamamoto by Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,” 76.

31
  Ibid.

32
  The White House, Statement by the President on the White House Organization for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, May 26, 2009, Online Reader’s Guide Extra.

33
  Senate Appropriations Committee, “State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2013,” Feb. 28, 2012, U.S. Government Printing Office, Hearing 112-669, written replies to questions from Senator Lindsay Graham.

34
  March 2014 UN Panel of Experts report, 86, for the period Jan. 1, 2013, through April 30, 2013.

35
  House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, February 29, 2012, Statement of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

10. THE ARMS PIPELINE TO SYRIA

  
1
  U.S. Embassy Tripoli, Remarks by Ambassador Gene Cretz, “Inta Liby Hoor” Award Ceremony, Tripoli, Libya, Feb. 26, 2012.

  
2
  UN Panel of Experts report, March 9, 2013, paragraphs 171–82.

  
3
  Official Lebanese Army photographs, Selaata, Lebanon, April 28, 2012, Online Reader’s Guide Extra.

  
4
  March 2014 UN Experts report; 89. See also,”Syria arms ship impounded, crew held for questioning,”
Daily Star
, April 28, 2012.

  
5
  United Nations General Assembly/Security Council, Document A/66/803-S/2012/316, “Letter dated 11 May 2012 from the Permanent Representative of Turkey to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General and the President of the Security Council.” The Turkish ambassador was responding to a Syrian government letter to the secretary general and the president of the Security Council dated May 10, 2012, alleging that “the case of the ship Lutfullah 2 [
sic
], which was intercepted by the Lebanese Army, proves that Libya and Turkey are cooperating with other States to send murderous weapons to terrorist groups, in order to wreak more carnage and destruction.”