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US officials: CIA wasn’t delayed in Benghazi rescue attempts
CIA officers went to help State Department officials at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, within 25 minutes after the Sept. 11 attack began, senior U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday, pushing back against reports that CIA officers were told to “stand down.”
U.S. intelligence officials provided new details to reporters Thursday, explaining that officers at the CIA annex in Benghazi went to the consulate to attempt a rescue after they were unable to receive help from local militias.
The briefing from intelligence officials in the week before Election Day comes amidst heavy Republican criticism over the Obama administration’s response to the Benghazi attack, in which U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
Republicans have accused the White House of a cover-up, as the administration’s account has shifted from blaming the attack on a protest over an anti-Islamic movie to a coordinated assault.
The senior intelligence officials provided a timeline of the events surrounding the attack, including a previously undisclosed detail that a CIA team in Tripoli quickly chartered a plane to reach Benghazi.
The team landed at the Benghazi airport after the initial attack, intending to locate the ambassador. As the team obtained transport and armed escort, the officials said, they learned the ambassador was almost certainly dead, and went to the CIA annex to assist with evacuation.
When the team arrived, mortar rounds began to hit the annex, killing the two security officers. The second attack lasted just 11 minutes, and less than an hour later a Libyan military unit arrived to evacuate the U.S. personnel from Benghazi.
— Jordy Yager contributed to this report.
—This report was originally posted at 8:58 p.m. and last updated at 11:10 p.m.
