Paul Blart Could’ve Done Better in Benghazi
Well, it seems that mall security could have done a better job protecting our compound in Benghazi. According to Kerry Picket, who recently made her move to Breitbart News, “a source with personal knowledge of the security situation in Benghazi … were shocked to learn State Department security personnel agents were not immediately armed. Additionally, agents separated from Ambassador Chris Stevens left to retrieve their M4 weapons in a separate building. Only one returned to protect the Ambassador, while the other two hunkered down in the barracks, the source relayed.”
Picket, who posted the story Dec. 10, also wrote that her source said:
“From the accounts I read, those guys were not ready. When the attack came that night, they had to go back to the other room and grab their weapons. Then the worse part about it was they never even returned to be with the Ambassador. One returned to be with the Ambassador with his rifle. The other two went back to where there were [sic] barracks. And two stayed in that same building where there were radios and other weapons and the safe and other stuff was there.
There were no shots fired in return. On the embassy property, just the embassy property, none of those security agents blasted a single bullet from a single pistol or rifle at all in defense of the Ambassador—nothing.”
Furthermore, during this closed hearing, where this information was ascertained, representatives on the panel were “inquisitive.” And demanded to know what was going on the night Ambassador Stevens was assassinated.
The source described, “Part of the problem was they never really wanted to fully staff it [consulate], and so the numbers were really low.” He then added, “At one point in time they only had one State Department (security) personnel there in Benghazi. That was in April.”
Picket added that:
State Department Security personnel at the Benghazi embassy were each armed with M4 long guns and side pistols. In October, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Charlene Lamb testified on Capitol Hill to the House Oversight Committee that during the attack, security agents raced to a separate building to get their weapons and tactical gear but only one of the agents could return to the Ambassador, thereafter.
“Gunfire was heard from multiple locations on the compound. One agent secured Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith, the information management officer, in the safe haven, “she said. “The other agents retrieved their M4 submachine guns and other tactical gear from Building B. When they attempted to return to the main building, they encountered armed attackers and doubled back to Building B,” Lamb added.
According to the Breitbart News source, the State Department security agents are “six week temporary duty assignments.”
This new development brings to new light the level of negligence that was displayed by the administration by not protecting Ambassador Stevens in a political hot zone.