US lawmakers hear security was weak at Libyan mission

The US consulate in Benghazi was a sitting target with weak security despite a rising Al-Qaeda threat, US lawmakers heard Wednesday at a hearing into last month's assault on the mission. In a testy and heated hearing, Republican lawmakers grilled three top State Department officials and the former leader of a security team into what went wrong on September 11, when four Americans were killed. Two officials testified that requests for extra support for US missions in Tripoli and Benghazi had been refused, and the regional security officer said he was frustrated by "a total absence of planning" for future security. Lawmakers from the Oversight and Government Reform committee also railed against US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who initially said the assault was a "spontaneous" protest over an anti-Islam film. The US administration is under fire for alleged security lapses, and for having repeatedly changed its account of what happened during the attack. Among those killed was ambassador Chris Stevens -- the first diplomatic envoy to be killed on duty since 1979, and three other diplomatic staff. The fierce and sustained attack by dozens of militants bearing heavy weapons who torched and bombarded the mission and a nearby annex has now thrust President Barack Obama's foreign policy to the forefront of a bitter campaign ahead of the November 6 presidential elections. Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, a former special forces soldier who headed up a 16-strong site security team in Tripoli, said he had recommended the closure of the Benghazi mission amid mounting attacks on Western interests and as most other Western nations withdrew. "When that occurred, it was apparent to me that we were the last flag flying in Benghazi, the last thing on their target list to remove," he said. "The resources had been withdrawn... I urged them to do something, anything to include withdrawal from Benghazi, although I knew that was impossible." Although he had left Libya, by the time of the assault, Wood said it was "instantly recognizable" as a terrorist attack. "I almost expected the attack to come, we were the last flag flying, it was a matter of time." Wood, a member of the Utah National Guard, headed up the security team in Tripoli from mid-February to mid-August and visited Benghazi twice. "The security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there," he said, adding that the Al-Qaeda presence in Libya "grows every day." The hearing was told there were 230 security-related incidents over 13 months in Libya. In June there was a direct threat made against Stevens on Facebook, mentioning that he liked to jog regularly, Wood added. Regional security officer, Eric Nordstrom, who served some 10 months in Libya in charge of security, said he sought to obtain more agents and to extend a mission for the security site team, headed by Wood. He said wanted additional support "so we had sufficient resources to deploy if there was a problem." "I was extremely pleased with the planning to get us into Libya. The frustrating thing was once the first teams... started to expire at 60 days there was a complete and total absence of planning," Nordstrom. "So when I requested resources, instead of supporting those assets I was criticized and somehow it was my responsibility to come up with a plan on the ground." Both Wood and Nordstrom placed the blame on Deputy Assistant Secretary Charlene Lamb, responsible for security across some 275 US diplomatic facilities around the world. She was repeatedly pummeled by lawmakers during the hearing, which lasted more than four hours, and admitted she had not supported requests for extra security. She added however that the final decision was made by her superiors. The State Department believed "we had the correct number of assets" on the ground, she said. "I made the best decisions with the information I had." Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy also hit back at charges that US officials, including Rice, had changed their account of what happened in Benghazi, saying that since the attack the "information has evolved." "The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point... Clearly, we know more today than we did on the Sunday after the attack," Kennedy said. He also made a plea for more funds, saying he would be able to upgrade security and build new missions. Asked meanwhile whether the administration had misled Americans over the cause of the attacks, White House spokesman Jay Carney answered: "Absolutely not. The president of the United States referred to it as an act of terror immediately after it occurred."