Ground Truth in Benghazi: The Timeline
While it is easy to speculate on what happened (or didn't happen) in the attempts to help our people in Benghazi, the timeline should be as objective and complete as possible. This timeline is a compilation from nearly twenty separate open sources. It is obviously not complete, and in some cases, may beg more questions than it answers, but it does offer several objective observations:
1. The Department of State, and Secretary of State, were notified within minutes of notification to U.S. Embassy-Tripoli of the attack in-progress.
2. It took at least one hour for the President, Secretary of Defense and CJCS to be notified at the White House by the National Security Advisor.
3. It took one and a half hours to issue an oral warning order and three hours for DoD to issue a formal movement order to Special Mission Units, a CIF in Europe, and a Marine CT unit to deploy to Libya.
4. Movement times from CONUS and Europe, compounded by deployment orders issued four hours after notification, made timely arrival in Libya impossible. Ambassador Stevens and Information Officer, Sean Smith were killed by the time the President and his advisors were notified.
5. The contracted CIA officers actively defending the Annex under attack were killed with an 11 minute mortar attack at approximately 5:15am on September 12th. More than seven hours after the State Department was notified of the active threat.
6. Several hours into the attack, Secretary Clinton already believed that al Qaeda was attacking U.S. facilities.
The CIA Annex located one kilometer away from the U.S. Consulate came under attack in the early dawn hours of September 12th. Had notification to the U.S. in extremis forces in Europe occurred earlier, and movement assets been in place, it is possible that the two contracted CIA officers killed on the rooftop protecting the Annex could have been saved with a more timely intervention.
Benghazi Timeline: September 11-12, 2012
7:08pm (1:08pm ET): Ambassador Chris Stevens sends urgent cable to State Department of hostile crowd gathering at the gate of the consulate.
7:30 – 8:30pm (1:30 – 2:30pm ET): In the walled Benghazi compound, U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens meets with Turkish Ambassador Ali Kemal Aydin. Conveys his concerns regarding security at the consulate. Stevens says goodnight to Aydin and retires to his room in Building C, a large residence with numerous bedrooms and a safe haven.
There are three other structures in the compound: Building B, a residence with bedrooms and a cantina and dining room; a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) located across from building B, containing offices, one bedroom and security cameras; and barracks located by the front gate, staffed by Libyan security guards.
At this time, there are five diplomatic security agents (DS) on site - three based in Benghazi and two traveling with Stevens. According to a U.S. State Department account given Oct. 9 there was "nothing unusual outside of the gates. "
8:30 – 9:00pm (2:30-3:00pm ET): An armed group approaches the consulate at the front gate, where 4 Libyan guards are posted.
9:40pm (3:40pm ET): Armed group of militants fires first shots. Militants breach the front and east walls around the consulate. Americans fire from the inside. Consulate alarm sounds. Libyan guards ask for help from friends in nearby barracks.
Gunfire and an explosion are heard. A TOC agent sees dozens of armed people over security camera flowing through a pedestrian gate at the compound's main entrance. It is not clear how the gate was opened.
The agent hits the alarm and alerts the CIA security team in the nearby annex and the Libyan 17th of February Brigade, one of several powerful militias serving as a de facto security presence in Benghazi. The embassy in Tripoli and the State Dept. command center were also alerted. State Dept. Diplomatic Security follows events in real time on a listen-only, audio-only feed.
The Regional Security Office sounds the alarm and places calls to the Benghazi CIA annex and the embassy in Tripoli, saying, "We're under attack, we need help, please send help now ..."
9:42pm (3:42pm ET): 1st Explosion near Cl Gate.
DSS Agent moves to Villa C. PlacesAmbassador STEVENS and IPO Sean SMITHinto safe haven.
Well-armed attackers storm the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, and breach the Benghazi consulate’s perimeter, setting fire to parts of the compound. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, his security guard, and State Department information officer Sean Smith take refuge in a safe room.
9:45pm (3:45pm ET): Ambassador Stevens telephoned Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks in Tripoli to tell him the consulate was under attack. Mr. Hicks did not recognize the phone number so he did not answer it, twice. On the third attempt Mr. Hicks answered the call from Ambassador Stevens.
Diplomatic security on site request help from the CIA Annex one mile away. They also make requests to Libyan officials to provide heavy weaponry. No local heavy armament arrives.
RSO Tripoli notified of attack.
9:47pm (3:45pm ET): RSO Tripoli calls DSCC for 1min, 3sec.
9:55pm (3:55pm ET): Diplomatic security agents on the site notified Washington, CIA security team at an annex about a mile away, the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. Stevens calls deputy mission chief Gregory Hicks at the embassy and tells him, "Greg, we're under attack."
9:59pm (3:39pm ET): A surveillance drone is directed to fly over the U.S. compound, but it is unarmed.
10:00pm (4:00pm ET): U.S. Consulate is in flames.
At the compound, several Diplomatic Security (DS) agents leave to get tactical gear from Building B. One stays in Building C with Ambassador Stevens and Information Officer Sean Smith. The militant group sets fire to the 17th of February Brigade barracks on site.
DS agent Scott Strickland moves Stevens and Smith to the closest area "safe haven" in Building C.
The other agents, currently in Building B and the TOC come under attack.
The attackers get into Building C, lights furniture on fire, then the building's exterior. Stevens, Smith and Agent Strickland move to the bathroom and lay on floor but decide to leave safe haven after being overcome by smoke.
Strickland goes out an emergency escape window. Stevens and Smith do not follow. Strickland returns several times but can't find them in the overwhelming smoke. He goes up to the roof and radios the other agents.
Three agents and Libyan guards return to Building C via armored vehicle. The building is actively burning. They search and find Sean Smith's body. Stevens can’t be located.
10:00pm (4:00pm ET): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is told of the incident.
10:02pm (4:02pm ET): Multiple armed Intruders breach Villa B.
Heavy smoke suddenly visible from Camera 9mounted on Villa C.
DSS agent becomes separated fromSTEVENS and SMITH in VIiia C due to smoke.Exits viawindow. DSS Agent searches Villa C multipletimes and ultimately retreats to Villa C rooftop.
10:03pm (4:03pm ET): 2 Vehicle motorcade (armored) departsAnnex. Mercedes G-Serles Wagon andMercedes Sedan. Presumed departure ofAnnex QRF Team.
10:05pm (4:05pm ET): State Department notifies the White House and Pentagon of the attack at the consulate. As reported by Reuters, an email sent 20-30 minutes after the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission allegedly began carried the subject line "U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi Under Attack" and the notation "SBU", meaning "Sensitive But Unclassified." The text said the State Department's regional security office had reported that the diplomatic mission in Benghazi was "under attack. Embassy in Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well." The message continued: "Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four ... personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."
The team is briefed and loaded into their armored Toyota Land Cruisers. Communicators at the CIA annex are notifying the chain of command about current developments, and a small CIA and JSOC element in Tripoli that includes Glen Doherty is attempting to find a way to Benghazi.
10:07pm (4:07 PM ET): Maria Sand (Special Assistant to Mrs. Clinton) forwards an email from the State Department’s Operations Center entitled “U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi is Under Attack (SBU) [Sensitive But Unclassified]” to Cheryl Mills (then-Chief of Staff), Jacob Sullivan (then-Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy), Joseph McManus (Hillary Clinton’s Executive Assistant), and a list of other Special Assistants in the Secretary’s office: "The Regional Security Officer reports the diplomatic mission is under attack. Tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots; explosions have been heard as well. Ambassador Stevens, who is currently in Benghazi, and four COM [Chief of Mission] personnel are in the compound safe haven. The 17th of February militia is providing security support."
10:15pm (4:15pm ET): Annex QRF en route and taking fire
10:20pm (4:20pm ET): Libyan government reinforcements arrive. They guard front and rear gates as militants begin to crowd at the rear gate.
10:21pm (4:21pm ET): The White House Situation Room convenes a meeting.
10:25pm (4:25pm ET): A six-member CIA team arrives from the annex with 40 to 60 members of 17th of February Brigade. They rescue CIA and State Department personnel. They repel the militants throughout the rescue operation. The team removes Sean Smith's body.
10:30pm (4:30pm ET): Americans, except for Ambassador Stevens, retreat from the front gate in two cars to the CIA Annex, a kilometer away.
Stevens and State Department information management officer Sean Smith have taken refuge in the main building in the compound, behind a fortified door with metal bars that keeps the attackers from breaking in. But the militants set fire to the building. Within minutes, Stevens and Smith are overwhelmed by smoke.
10:32pm (4:32pm ET): The National Military Command Center [NMCC] at the Pentagon is notified of the attacks.The Office of the Secretary Defense and the Joint Staff are notified of the attack by the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon. "The information is quickly passed to Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey."
10:38pm (4:38 PM ET): State Department Foreign Service Officer Lawrence Randolph forwards Mills, Sullivan and McManus an email from Scott Bultrowicz, Director of the Diplomatic Security Service (ousted following review of the attack), with the subject line, “Attack on Benghazi 09112012”: "DSCC received a phone call from [REDACTED] in Benghazi, Libya initially stating that 15 armed individuals were attacking the compound and trying to gain entrance. The Ambassador is present in Benghazi and currently is barricaded within the compound. There are no injuries at this time and it is unknown what the intent of the attackers is. At approximately 1600 DSCC received word from Benghazi that individuals had entered the compound. At 1614 RSO advised the Libyans had set fire to various buildings in the area, possibly the building that houses the Ambassador [REDACTED] is responding and taking fire."
10:45pm (4:45pm ET): At the compound, the 17th of February Brigade says they can't hold the perimeter and withdraws.
The CIA Annex in Benghazi makes the first of four urgent calls to the State Department and Pentagon.
10:49pm (4:49pm ET): DS Agents, Annex QRF, and 17 February Martyrs Brigade Members attempt search and rescue at villa.
10:54pm Benghazi Time (4:54pm ET): Lull in fighting. A second email, headed "Update 1: U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi" says: “Embassy Tripoli reports the firing at the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Benghazi has stopped and the compound has been cleared. A response team is on site to locate COM personnel.”
11:00pm (5:00pm ET): DS agents make final search for Stevens. The GRS team from the CIA annex arrives at the consulate and attempts to secure the perimeter and locate the ambassador and Sean Smith. Diplomatic security agent David Ubben located Smith, who was unconscious and later declared dead, but the team was unable to find Stevens in the smoke-filled building.
CIA dispatches a second six-member team from Tripoli on a chartered plane to help repel the attack. The team includes Glen Doherty, another former SEAL
Just ahead of the weekly meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey, White House National Security Advisor Tom Donilon tells President Obama of the attack and the fire at the main villa. The president is updated several times throughout the evening.
Sean SMITH reported KIA
11:10pm (5:10pm ET): The surveillance drone arrives over the Benghazi facility.
11:12pm (5:12pm ET): Unknown explosive detonates several metersInterior to C3 Gate.
11:15pm (5:15pm ET): A second surveillance craft is later sent to relieve the first drone, perhaps due to fuel issues. Both were capable of sending real time visuals back to U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. Any U.S. official or agency with the proper clearance, including the White House Situation Room, State Department, CIA, Pentagon and others, could call up that video in real time on their computers.
11:15pm-11:50pm (5:15-5:50pm ET: 5x DS Agents + body of Sean SMITH departs Cl Gate heading east. All surviving U.S. personnel are evacuated from the mission. The team at the consulate in Benghazi decide to return to the annex with the survivors and Smith's body. While en route back to the annex, the group's armored vehicle takes heavy fire, hit by AK-47 rifle fire and hand grenades. The vehicle is able to make it to its destination with two flat tires, and the gates to the annex were closed behind them at 11:50 pm. Ambassador Christopher Stevens is unaccounted for.
11:41pm (5:41pm ET): Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate.
12:00am (6:00pm ET): Defense Secretary Leon Panetta meets with his senior military advisers, including General Carter Ham, Commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) who was in Washington for meetings. With Ambassador Stevens' location or status unknown, a major worry was that a hostage-rescue mission might be needed. Panetta gives verbal orders for Marine anti-terrorist teams from Rota, Spain, to prepare to deploy to Tripoli and Benghazi. Panetta also orders a special operations force team training in Croatia and an additional special operations force team in the U.S. to prepare to deploy to a staging base in southern Italy.
During this time, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephones DCI Petraeus directly again to seek assistance and additional information.
12:00 am (6:00pm ET): The Secretary of Defense convenes a meeting at the Pentagon.
12:06am (6:06pm ET) Email: A third email, also marked SBU, carries the subject line: "Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack." The message reported: "Embassy Tripoli reports the group claimed responsibility on Facebook and Twitter and has called for an attack on Embassy Tripoli." While some information identifying recipients of this message was redacted from copies of the messages obtained by Reuters, a government source said that one of the addresses to which the message was sent was the White House Situation Room, the president's secure command post.
12:20am (6:20pm ET): Looters on consulate grounds pull Ambassador Stevens (unidentified) from the burned consulate.
Around 12:30am (6:30pm ET): The Pentagon issues an order to a special operations team in Europe to move to Sigonella, Italy in Sicily - less than one hour's flight away from Benghazi. Over the next three hours, OSD and JCS issue oral instructions to USSOCOM and JSOC to prepare special operations units to deploy. Delta Force is mobilized to undertake a potential hostage rescue. A FAST team of two 50-strong platoons of specially trained Marines, from Rota, Spain is also alerted.
12:38am (6:38pm ET): Sustained Small Arms Fire and unknown explosive shotImpacts en east side of perimeter wall. Againat 0039.57
12:43am (6:49pm ET): Large explosions in vicinity of Villa B
12:49am (6:49 pm ET): The Secretary of State calls the Libyan President.
12:58am (6:58 pm ET): Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of Mission, Tripoli, reports another mob gathering at Annex.
1:00am (7:00pm ET): The first of two unmanned U.S. Predator surveillance drones, which already had been flying over eastern Libya 90 miles away, is diverted to Benghazi, as reported by CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson and David Martin on Oct. 15.
A U.S. rescue team arrives in Benghazi from Tripoli, Libya’s capital. Nearly 30 Americans are rescued from the compound. 7:05 pm (1:05 am): The Secretary of State holds a conference call with Cheryl Mills, Chief of Staff, State Department, Patrick F. Kennedy, Under Secretary for Management, State Department, Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of Mission, Libya, Stephen Mull, Executive Secretariat, State Department, Thomas Nides, Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, Jacob Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Director, Office of Policy Planning.
1:08am (7:08pm ET): Libyan guards finally evacuate the consulate compound. The diplomatic mission is looted and vandalized. The vandals spray graffiti on the walls with words such as ‘testicles’ and ‘God is Great!’ and their names. One of the thieves in Building C yells and men quickly come to the bathroom where they find a tall American on his back breathing very heavily in the bathroom. Some of the men do not want to help and accuse the victim of insulting Islam. The other men carry the American’s body outside C villa, where they wash his ash-covered face before taking him to the main entrance where a group of men place him in a car and head towards the Benghazi Medical Center.
According to the State Department, the hospital pick a cell phone out of his pocket, and they believe they just started calling numbers that were on the cell phone that had received calls, and that is how DoS got the information that he was there.
Ambassador Stevens is admitted to Benghazi Medical Center as an unidentied patient, and is described as unresponsive.
1:12am (7:12pm ET): Sustalned Small Arms Fire
1:15am – 4:30am (6:00pm – 10:30pm ET): A CIA security team from Embassy Tripoli lands in Benghazi and learn that the ambassador is missing. They try to arrange for transportation into town, with the goal of locating Stevens. The team is bogged down at airport by Libyan officials who refuse to allow them to proceed. Delays caused by negotiations with Libyan authorities over permission to leave the airport; obtaining vehicles; and the need to frame a clear mission plan. The team notifies officials in Washington that they were being delayed within 30 minutes of their arrival.
The CIA rescue team includes former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods and three other GRS (Global Response Staff) security officers, a CIA case officer and two U.S. military personnel on loan to the agency, find transportation from the airport under the escort of the Libyan Shield, another local militia, but divert from their plan to drive to the consulate and instead decide to head to the annex after learning that Stevens was almost certainly dead. The first idea is to go to a Benghazi hospital to recover Stevens, who they rightly suspect is already dead. But the hospital is surrounded by the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia militia that mounted the consulate attack. The team doesn’t leave the Benghazi airport until 4:30 a.m.
Woods, Doherty and at least two others were based at the CIA annex and were protecting CIA operators who were part of a mission to track and repurchase arms in Benghazi that had proliferated in the wake of Muammar Qaddafi's fall. Part of their mission was to find the more than 20,000 missing MANPADS, or shoulder-held missiles capable of bringing down a commercial aircraft.
1:19am (7:19pm ET): Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash--sent to the State Department Deputy Chief of Staff, Jacob Sullivan and others during the Benghazi attacks, offering military forces that could have responded--but did not.
7:30 pm (1:30 am): CIA Team Tripoli arrives at the airport in Benghazi.
The White House convenes a meeting via secured teleconference video with representatives from the State Department, the Defense Department, and the intelligence community on the U.S. response to the attacks in Benghazi.
1:45am (7:45pm ET): Ambassador Stevens, still unidentified, is taken to Benghazi Medical Center and pronounced dead on arrival, according to a hospital source. An eyewitness captures on video Stevens being pulled from the smoke-filled building.The Embassy in Tripoli receives a call from a missing Diplomatic Security Agent phone about an American at the hospital.
2:00am (8:00pm ET): CIA Annex comes under attack. Fierce fighting for an hour. Americans take cover in Annex.
Via telephone, Clinton spoke with Libyan President Mohamed Magariaf. In a description of the conversation found in State Department email, she said:
"We have asked for the Libyan government to provide additional security to the compound immediately as there is a gun battle ongoing, which I understand Ansar as Sharia [sic--(al Qaeda’s affiliate on the Arabian Peninsula)] is claiming responsibility for."
Hicks informs Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that they need to evacuate all Americans from Benghazi.
2:03am (8:03pm ET): US Embassy receives call from unknown individual stating that individual matching Stevens' description is in hospital.
2:23am (8:23pm ET): Ansar al-Sharia takes credit for the attack.
2:30am (8:30pm ET): Panetta orders units to move to Libya-- two teams of special operations forces from Fort Bragg, N.C., a CIF from Stuttgart, Germany training in Croatia, and a Marine Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST). None of the units arrive in time.
NMCC holds a conference call with AFRICOM, EUCOM, CENTCOM, TRANSCOM, SOCOM, and the four services about the military response to Benghazi.
2:39am (8:39pm ET): The NMCC conveys authorization to the FAST to prepare to deploy and the CIF to move to an intermediate staging base.
2:53am (8:53pm ET): The NMCC conveys formal authorization to deploy the U.S. Based Special Operations Force to an intermediate staging base.
3:45am (9:45pm ET): Libyan security forces locate body at hospital. American at CIA Annex describe Ambassador Stevens’ features. Libyans identify the body as Stevens’.
3:57am (9:57pm ET): Bash emails Sullivan and asks, “Any word from the hospital?”
4:00am (10:00pm ET): Marine team arrives in Tripoli.
4:08am (10:08pm ET): Secretary Clinton issues a statement acknowledging the death of one State Dept. officer. Suggests the Internet video is responsible for the violence:
"I condemn in the strongest terms the attack on our mission in Benghazi today. As we work to secure our personnel and facilities, we have confirmed that one of our State Department officers was killed. We are heartbroken by this terrible loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and those who have suffered in this attack. This evening, I called Libyan President Magariaf to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. President Magariaf expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government’s full cooperation. Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet. The United States deplores any intentional effort to denigrate the religious beliefs of others. Our commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear: There is never any justification for violent acts of this kind. In light of the events of today, the United States government is working with partner countries around the world to protect our personnel, our missions, and American citizens worldwide."
4:15pm (1015pm ET): Benghazi notifies State Department Ambassador Stevens is KIA.
4:27pm (10:27pm):
The President calls the Secretary of State.
4:30am – 5:15pm (10:3pm ET): CIA Rescue Team arrives at CIA Annex with Libyan Support.
4:34am (10:34pm ET): The Diplomatic Security Command Center at the State Department issues an update that Libyans have confirmed Stevens is in a hospital and has been killed.
4:39pm (10:39pm ET): Kennedy sends a photo of Stevens from Twitter to Mills.
4:41pm (10:41pm ET): After the initial news of the Benghazi attacks, Clinton receives an email from an aide saying then-national security adviser Tom Donilon “wants to speak with you secure … He would like to speak with you asap as he is leaving shortly.”
Less than an hour later, after confirming Stevens’s death with the Libyans, Clinton sends a message titled “Chris Smith” to aides asking when the department should make an announcement. Sean Smith, an agency employee, also died in the attacks.
5:00am (11:00pm ET): The established N-hour.
A second U.S. Predator drone arrives, per CBS News' Attkisson and Martin. CIA uses it to help plan an escape route for the surviving Americans.
5:04am (11:04pm ET): A motorcade of dozens of Libyan vehicles, some mounted with 50 caliber machine guns, belonging to the February 17th Brigades, a Libyan militia which is friendly to the U.S., finally showed up at the CIA annex.
5:05 pm (11:05pm ET): Team Tripoli arrives at the Annex in Benghazi.
5:12am (11:12pm ET): Clinton sends an email to her daughter, Chelsea, that reads: “Two of our officers were killed in Benghazi by an al Qaeda-like group: The Ambassador, whom I handpicked and a young communications officer on temporary duty w a wife and two young children. Very hard day and I fear more of the same tomorrow.”
5:15-5:16am (11:15-11:16pm ET): Likely first mortar rounds impact against exterior of north exterior wall.
Gunmen launch an assault using mortars against the CIA annex. Woods and Doherty fire on militants from the roof of the Annex. The annex takes mortar fire, sustaining three direct hits. The precision of the attacks indicates a level of sophistication and coordination, with sporadic small-arms fire and RPG rounds. The attack lasts until 5:26 a.m.
Glen Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods, both former Navy SEALs, are killed. A DS agent and annex security member are severely wounded.
The attackers had lain in wait, silently observing as the rescuers arrived in a large convoy. This second attack was shorter in duration than the first, but more complex and sophisticated. At least one member of the team is manning a heavy machinegun.
The men decide to evacuate the city entirely. They spend the next hours securing the annex and moving a large convoy of vehicles to the airport. 30 Americans evacuate the CIA Annex and head to the airport, with the assistance of the Libyan security convoy.
The team inside the CIA annex captured three Libyan attackers and is forced to hand them over to the Libyans.
The U.S. Regional Security Office in Tripoli gets a phone call from an Arabic-speaking source who says a Westerner has been found in Benghazi and is perhaps at a hospital. It's believed to be Ambassador Stevens. Transfer to airport is arranged.
Stevens’ identity is confirmed. Americans see his body at the airport.
The plane is too small for all of the Americans, so the first flight out takes U.S. diplomats and civilians to Tripoli, leaving behind security staff and bodies.
5:38 am (11:38 pm): The Secretary of State emails: “Cheryl told me the Libyans confirmed his death.”
5:41am (11:41pm): Diplomatic Security Command Center reports mortar fire at the annex and new injuries to the American personnel.
5:45am (11:45 ET): First Special Operations in extremis team arrives in Sigonella, Italy, reportedly hours after the attack is over. The commando teams got to Sigonella Naval Air Station in Sicily, Italy, but arrived after the fight was over. Panetta orders military assets into the region to prepare for a range of contingencies.
A McDonough email notes the Secretary of Defense called Pastor Jones.
5:57am (11:57 PM ET) email: “(SBU) DS Command reports the current shelter location for COM personnel in Benghazi is under mortar fire. There are reports of injuries to COM staff.”
6:04am (12:04 am ET): Randolph sends an email with the subject line “FW: Update 3: Benghazi Shelter Location Also Under Attack” to Mills, Sullivan, and McManus that has several updates about the Benghazi attack: "I just called Ops and they said the DS command center is reporting that the compound is under attack again. I am about to reach out to the DS Command Center."
6:05am (12:05am ET): A C-17 aircraft in Germany is ordered by AFRICOM to prepare to deploy to Libya to evacuate the mission personnel.
6:12am (12:12am ET): Mills informs McDonough “we’re pulling everyone out of Benghazi.”
6:50am (12:50am ET): Clinton confidant and former aide Sidney Blumenthal emails her a memo that blames the attack on a “what many devout Libyan viewed as a sacrilegious internet video on the prophet Mohammed originating in America.” He follows up with a new email that said Benghazi was a terrorist attack.
7:00 am (1:00am ET): The CIF is ready to deploy.
7:19am (1:19 am ET): Admiral James Winnefeld, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, emails we “now have dip clearance for FAST platoon to Tripoli ...”
7:31am (1:31am ET): First aircraft departs Benghazi
7:40 am (1:40am ET): The first wave of Americans are evacuated to Tripoli via airplane.
Winnefeld sends another email: “first airplane departs Ramstein at 0600z [2:00 am / 8:00 am]”
8:00am - 9:54am (2:00am - 3:54am ET): Second and final plane leaves Benghazi for Tripoli carrying Americans, including Ambassador Stevens’ body.
President Obama is told of Stevens' death. State Department tells all diplomatic posts around the world to review their security posture and to take all necessary steps to enhance it.
The CIF is directed to Tunis. One of the Marine FAST platoons is told to remain in Tripoli to protect the United States Embassy there. The Delta Force commandos, having arrived too late to help, fly back home.
The NSC directs a major interdepartmental review (DoD, CIA, DoS, etc) of security requirements in North Africa and the Middle East.
8:15am (2:15am): The C-17 aircraft departs Germany to Tripoli to evacuate Americans.
8:25am (2:25am): Steven’s death is confirmed when the security officers from CIA and the State Department receives his body.
10:00am (4:00am ET): The bodies of Stevens, Smith, Doherty and Woods are put on the last plane out of Benghazi.
The second plane provided by the Libyan Air Force departs with all remaining U.S. personnel in Benghazi for Tripoli.
A C-130 aircraft arrives at Rota Spain to transport the FAST to Tripoli.
The CIF’s C-130 aircrafts arrive at the airport.
11:00pm (5:00am ET): The CIF departs en route to the intermediate staging base.
1:00pm (7:00am ET): The FAST completes loading the C-130 aircraft and is ready to depart.
1:29pm (7:29am ET): Clinton receives a copy of the statement that she will deliver on the Benghazi attacks. The remarks blame “heavily armed militants” and argue that the deaths should not distract from America’s relationship with Libya.
1:57pm (7:57am ET): CIF arrives at an intermediate staging base. 2:56 pm / 8:56 pm—FAST platoon arrives in Tripoli.
2:56pm (8:56am ET): One of the Marine anti-terrorist teams from Spain arrives in Tripoli.
3:28pm (9:28am ET): The Special Operations Force deployed from the U.S. arrives at the intermediate staging base.
10:43am ET: President Obama condemns the attacks from the Rose Garden. “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation,” he says.
Sept. 14th to 15th, 2012: State Department, White House and intelligence officials work on talking points to give to lawmakers and others about the attacks. The final version of the talking points list says the attacks were “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. diplomatic post and subsequently its annex.” The emails also state, “extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”
--John Fenzel, 3 November 12
Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Fire burns in the U.S. consulate in Benghazi after the attack on September 11, 2012
Satellite image of the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, with main compound (upper left) and annex (lower right).
Email sent during Benghazi attacks
Obama and Clinton at Transfer of Remains Ceremony for Benghazi attack victims, Sep 14, 2012
Ambassador Christopher Stevens
Sean Smith
Glen Doherty
Tyrone Woods
Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash--email to State Department Deputy Chief of Staff during the Benghazi attacks, offering military forces that could respond--but ultimately did not.
Units identified that could respond to the attacks in Benghazi
US Mission under fire on September 11th
Vehicle in flames at US Mission in Benghazi
U.S. Mission under attack in Benghazi
Aftermath of attack on US Mission in Benghazi
Aftermath of attack on US Mission in Benghazi
Room in U.S. Mission Benghazi on September 12th
U.S. Mission in Benghazi on September 12th
