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American People Deserve Full Accounting of Events in Benghazi
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N∅ M∅ ∅baMa∅
Oct 31, 2012, 7:49:44 PM10/31/12
to
The public's right to know is one of the central principles of
American society. The framers of the Constitution of the United
States
determined that the power of knowledge should be placed in the hands
of the people.
To insure a healthy and uninhibited flow of information, they
included
freedom of the press among the basic human rights protected in the
new
nation's Bill of Rights.
[...] http://usa.USembassy.de/media-freedom.htm
McCAIN-GRAHAM-AYOTTE-JOHNSON LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:
October 31, 2012
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The American people deserve to know all the facts surrounding the
terrorist attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, that resulted in
the murder of four Americans—including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Unfortunately, you and your senior administration officials have not
been forthcoming in providing answers to the many questions that have
emerged.
On October 9, 2012, we sent a letter to the senior intelligence
officials in your administration in an effort to obtain answers to
these questions. More than three weeks have passed, and we still have
not received a response. To make matters worse, since that original
letter, we sent several subsequent letters to you or to your senior
administration officials asking a number of questions, and we have
failed to receive a single letter in response.
The American people and their representatives in Congress need to
understand what you knew about the Benghazi terrorist attack and when
you knew it. We also have a right to know what steps you and your
administration took—or failed to take—before, during, and after the
terrorist attack to protect American lives.
In order to facilitate an immediate response to our important
questions on behalf of the American people, below are the questions
from the letters we have sent over the last three weeks.
In our October 9, 2012, letter that we wrote with Senator Saxby
Chambliss, we asked the following questions of Director of National
Intelligence, James R. Clapper, Jr.; Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, David H. Petraeus; and Assistant to the President
for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National
Security Advisor, John Brennan:
• Within 48 hours of the attack, was there credible information and
reporting to suggest that the assault on our Consulate and other U.S.
facilities in Benghazi should be characterized as a terrorist attack?
• At what time did intelligence community agencies or elements first
assess that the events in Benghazi were a terrorist attack?
• What information did the intelligence community provide to senior
policymakers that led some of them to draw the conclusion as late as
five days after the attack in Benghazi that it was the result of a
spontaneous demonstration, not a terrorist act?
• Was there no credible evidence at that late date that was compelling
enough for the intelligence community and the senior policymakers to
draw a conclusion with at least moderate confidence that the attack in
Benghazi was a terrorist act?
On October 15, 2012, Senator Graham sent letters to Mr. Brennan,
Director Clapper, Director Petraeus, as well as National Security
Advisor Thomas Donilon. The letters highlighted the fact that on June
6, 2012, assailants placed an improvised explosive device (IED) on the
north gate of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. The IED detonated and
ripped a hole in the security perimeter that was described by one
individual as "big enough for forty men to go through." This attack
was preceded by an earlier IED attack against the Consulate in April
2012. Based on these facts, the letter included the following
questions:
• Were you aware of these attacks?
• Did you inform the President of these attacks?
• If so, what action was taken to protect our Consulate?
• If you did not inform the President, why not?
On October 15, 2012, Senator Graham sent you a similar letter asking
the following questions:
• Were you informed of these attacks on our Libyan Consulate?
• If not, why not?
• Did you consider these serious events?
• If you were informed, what action was taken to protect the
Consulate?
On October 19, 2012, we sent a follow-up letter to the same three
senior intelligence officials in your administration noting that ten
days had elapsed since we sent the October 9 letter.
On October 24, 2012, we sent a letter to you asking the following
questions:
• Why did your administration insist that a spontaneous demonstration
was responsible for the attack on our Consulate, but as the State
Department later divulged, no demonstration even occurred in Benghazi?
• Why were requests for greater security assistance by officers on the
ground not fulfilled, especially in light of the fact that there had
already been two attacks on our Consulate in Benghazi this year and an
attempt to assassinate the British Ambassador-events about which you
should have known?
• In light of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the
escalating series of attacks in the preceding months, why were there
not rapid reaction forces or other military assets available in the
region to deploy to Libya in the event of an emergency on September
11, 2012-a day that our intelligence agencies consistently cite far in
advance as a moment of heightened security threat for the United
States and our citizens and interests abroad?
On October 26, 2012, we sent a letter to Secretary of Defense, Leon
Panetta; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David H.
Petraeus; and Attorney General, Eric H. Holder requesting the
immediate declassification of the surveillance video in and around the
U.S. Consulate in Benghazi for the two days-September 11 and 12, 2012-
that it and related U.S. facilities were under attack.
On October 27, 2012, Senators McCain and Portman sent a letter to
Secretary Panetta asking the following questions:
• What military forces were available to provide support to U.S.
personnel in Libya?
• What military forces were requested to provide support to U.S.
personnel in Libya, by whom, and what forces were provided?
• What communication and coordination did you have with the President
and other members of the National Security Council regarding possible
Defense Department support in Libya?
Your failure to answer these important questions will only add to the
growing perception among many of our constituents that your
administration has undertaken a concerted effort to misrepresent the
facts and stonewall Congress and the American people. We look forward
to a prompt and thorough response to these questions. The American
people deserve a full accounting of what happened in Benghazi where
four brave Americans were murdered.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
Lindsey Graham
United States Senator
Kelly Ayotte
United States Senator
Ron Johnson
United States Senator
Cc: The Honorable Leon E. Panetta, Secretary of Defense;
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United
States;
The Honorable James R. Clapper, Jr., Director of National
Intelligence;
The Honorable David H. Petraeus, Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency
http://www.ayotte.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=740
American society. The framers of the Constitution of the United
States
determined that the power of knowledge should be placed in the hands
of the people.
To insure a healthy and uninhibited flow of information, they
included
freedom of the press among the basic human rights protected in the
new
nation's Bill of Rights.
[...] http://usa.USembassy.de/media-freedom.htm
McCAIN-GRAHAM-AYOTTE-JOHNSON LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA:
October 31, 2012
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The American people deserve to know all the facts surrounding the
terrorist attack in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, that resulted in
the murder of four Americans—including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
Unfortunately, you and your senior administration officials have not
been forthcoming in providing answers to the many questions that have
emerged.
On October 9, 2012, we sent a letter to the senior intelligence
officials in your administration in an effort to obtain answers to
these questions. More than three weeks have passed, and we still have
not received a response. To make matters worse, since that original
letter, we sent several subsequent letters to you or to your senior
administration officials asking a number of questions, and we have
failed to receive a single letter in response.
The American people and their representatives in Congress need to
understand what you knew about the Benghazi terrorist attack and when
you knew it. We also have a right to know what steps you and your
administration took—or failed to take—before, during, and after the
terrorist attack to protect American lives.
In order to facilitate an immediate response to our important
questions on behalf of the American people, below are the questions
from the letters we have sent over the last three weeks.
In our October 9, 2012, letter that we wrote with Senator Saxby
Chambliss, we asked the following questions of Director of National
Intelligence, James R. Clapper, Jr.; Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, David H. Petraeus; and Assistant to the President
for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National
Security Advisor, John Brennan:
• Within 48 hours of the attack, was there credible information and
reporting to suggest that the assault on our Consulate and other U.S.
facilities in Benghazi should be characterized as a terrorist attack?
• At what time did intelligence community agencies or elements first
assess that the events in Benghazi were a terrorist attack?
• What information did the intelligence community provide to senior
policymakers that led some of them to draw the conclusion as late as
five days after the attack in Benghazi that it was the result of a
spontaneous demonstration, not a terrorist act?
• Was there no credible evidence at that late date that was compelling
enough for the intelligence community and the senior policymakers to
draw a conclusion with at least moderate confidence that the attack in
Benghazi was a terrorist act?
On October 15, 2012, Senator Graham sent letters to Mr. Brennan,
Director Clapper, Director Petraeus, as well as National Security
Advisor Thomas Donilon. The letters highlighted the fact that on June
6, 2012, assailants placed an improvised explosive device (IED) on the
north gate of the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. The IED detonated and
ripped a hole in the security perimeter that was described by one
individual as "big enough for forty men to go through." This attack
was preceded by an earlier IED attack against the Consulate in April
2012. Based on these facts, the letter included the following
questions:
• Were you aware of these attacks?
• Did you inform the President of these attacks?
• If so, what action was taken to protect our Consulate?
• If you did not inform the President, why not?
On October 15, 2012, Senator Graham sent you a similar letter asking
the following questions:
• Were you informed of these attacks on our Libyan Consulate?
• If not, why not?
• Did you consider these serious events?
• If you were informed, what action was taken to protect the
Consulate?
On October 19, 2012, we sent a follow-up letter to the same three
senior intelligence officials in your administration noting that ten
days had elapsed since we sent the October 9 letter.
On October 24, 2012, we sent a letter to you asking the following
questions:
• Why did your administration insist that a spontaneous demonstration
was responsible for the attack on our Consulate, but as the State
Department later divulged, no demonstration even occurred in Benghazi?
• Why were requests for greater security assistance by officers on the
ground not fulfilled, especially in light of the fact that there had
already been two attacks on our Consulate in Benghazi this year and an
attempt to assassinate the British Ambassador-events about which you
should have known?
• In light of the deteriorating security situation in Benghazi and the
escalating series of attacks in the preceding months, why were there
not rapid reaction forces or other military assets available in the
region to deploy to Libya in the event of an emergency on September
11, 2012-a day that our intelligence agencies consistently cite far in
advance as a moment of heightened security threat for the United
States and our citizens and interests abroad?
On October 26, 2012, we sent a letter to Secretary of Defense, Leon
Panetta; Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David H.
Petraeus; and Attorney General, Eric H. Holder requesting the
immediate declassification of the surveillance video in and around the
U.S. Consulate in Benghazi for the two days-September 11 and 12, 2012-
that it and related U.S. facilities were under attack.
On October 27, 2012, Senators McCain and Portman sent a letter to
Secretary Panetta asking the following questions:
• What military forces were available to provide support to U.S.
personnel in Libya?
• What military forces were requested to provide support to U.S.
personnel in Libya, by whom, and what forces were provided?
• What communication and coordination did you have with the President
and other members of the National Security Council regarding possible
Defense Department support in Libya?
Your failure to answer these important questions will only add to the
growing perception among many of our constituents that your
administration has undertaken a concerted effort to misrepresent the
facts and stonewall Congress and the American people. We look forward
to a prompt and thorough response to these questions. The American
people deserve a full accounting of what happened in Benghazi where
four brave Americans were murdered.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
John McCain
United States Senator
Lindsey Graham
United States Senator
Kelly Ayotte
United States Senator
Ron Johnson
United States Senator
Cc: The Honorable Leon E. Panetta, Secretary of Defense;
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United
States;
The Honorable James R. Clapper, Jr., Director of National
Intelligence;
The Honorable David H. Petraeus, Director of the Central Intelligence
Agency
http://www.ayotte.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=740
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