Chapter Perspective 3.2 (political crisis)

The Benghazi Attack Islamist insureents attacked two U.S. diplomatic fatuities in aillehazi. Libya, on the night of September 11, 2012. U.S. ambassador John Christopher Stevens was killed during the attack, as was a foreign service officer (FSO) and two Cenral Intelligence Agency (CIA) security contactors. The insureenti first attacked and burned the U.S. diplomatic mission where the ambassador and FSO were killed and later, in the early moraine, attacked the annex, where the CIA security contractors died. More than 30 American personnel were rescued from the diplomatic mission. An international U.S. emerzency resinse effort was activated. I then the attack begin a surveillance drone was dispatched to the site. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey met with President Barad( Obama at the White Home to discuss response options. Secretary Panetta ordered Marine antiterrorist teams in Spain to prepare to deploy to amehat and Tripoli. Special operations teams were also ordered to prepare for deplopnent from Croatia, the United States, and a staging area in Italy a small security team was also deployed from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and arrived in Benghazi.

Initial reports were that the attack was the work of a mob aneered by the promulgation of an American-made film mocking the Prophet Muhammed and Islam. It was later determined that the attackers were armed Islamists. The political backlash about the initial assessment was intense, with calls for the resienation of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Congressional hearings were held by the Senate Select Committee on Intellieence, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Oversight Committee, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Officials called to testify included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A Home of Representatives Select CA”,,rittee on Benzhat was established, which quickly became deeply divided alone partisan political lines. The attack and its aftermath created a partisan political crisis in the United States on the questions of what the fans of the crisis response actually were, whether information was intentionally obfuscated, and whether the coneressional investigations were motivated more by partisan politics than objective fact-finding.

Discussion Questions

  1. Was the response during the attack adequately managed?
  2. What, in your opinion, were the causes of the subsequent political crisis?
  3. Are protocols for the protection of U.S. diplomatic missions adequately adaptive to fluid security environments?”