“Our people cannot live in bunkers and do their jobs,” Hillary Clinton said.

House Democrats are defending the Obama administration's handling of last month's terrorist attack in Libya, arguing that the president's account changed only after the intelligence did. 

"The administration relies on the intelligence that it sees. It's not about bungling [the response], it's about getting information as it comes in," Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) told reporters in the Capitol on Friday. "And as the investigation's gone on, they learn different things. So this notion that somehow the administration didn't do the right thing, I think is just wrong."

McGovern's comments echo those of Vice President Biden, who said during Thursday night's debate that the administration's public statements about the attack simply reflected information provided by the intelligence community.

Your morning global affairs speed-read

Largely silent so far on the Libya tragedy that risks tarnishing her legacy as head of the State Department, Hillary Clinton is expected to address the concerns that have been raised about what the administration knew and when in a speech this afternoon. Clinton is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at 2 p.m. at a daylong Center for Strategic and International Studies conference on “The Maghreb in Transition: Seeking Stability in an Era of Uncertainty.” 

Clinton's much-anticipated speech comes as Republicans have latched on to the attack that killed four Americans on the anniversary of Sept. 11 to assail President Obama's leadership skills. The Romney campaign doubled down Friday after Vice President Biden said during Thursday's debate that the administration was unaware of requests for more security from the U.S. mission in Libya, in direct contradiction of sworn testimony from State Department officials.

Here are The Hill's other foreign-policy takeaways from last night's debate: 

Newt Gingrich said Biden’s remark is going to “haunt” the Obama campaign until the next debate.

The award comes as EU countries try to resolve a debt crisis that threatens to create a global recession.

Vice President Biden mocked Mitt Romney's position on what to do about the civil war in Syria as “a whole lot of verbiage” during Thursday's vice presidential debate.

“Every time the governor is asked about this, he doesn't say anything,” Biden said. He goes on with “a whole lot of verbiage, but when he gets pressed he says no, he would not do anything different than we are doing now.”

The only option other than what the administration is doing, Biden said, would be a U.S. military intervention.

Romney's running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), ruled out putting troops on the ground. He said a Romney administration wouldn't support such a move — in Syria or anywhere else — unless it was in the “national security interest of the American people.”

Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) got into a testy exchange Thursday over the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this year, arguing over the wisdom of withdrawing 23,000 U.S. troops.

During the vice-presidential debate, Ryan questioned the U.S. decision to withdraw troops during this year’s fighting season in Afghanistan, saying that the troops left behind had to do the same job with less manpower, making it less safe.

"Yes, we drew 22,000 troops down last month, but the remaining troops that are there, who still have the same mission to prosecute counterinsurgency, are doing it with fewer people," Ryan said. "That makes them less safe."

Vice President Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) traded barbs Thursday night over the best way to handle Iran's nuclear program

During the first and only vice presidential debate of the election, Ryan claimed the White House's strategy to contain Tehran's nuclear ambitions has only resulted in Iran being "four years closer to a nuclear [weapons] capability."

The Obama administration's insistence on pursuing economic and political sanctions on Iran, rather than seriously entertain the notion of military action has only given the country more time to refine the program, he said.

He said the administration initially attributed the assault to an anti-Islam video because "the intelligence community told us that."