A U.S. Senate panel report has declared that the deadly assault on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11, 2012, could have been prevented.
The highly critical, bipartisan report on January 15 spread blame among the U.S. State Department, the U.S. military, and intelligence officials for failing to heed warning signs ahead of the attack.
It also notes that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed by smoke from a fire that broke out during the violence, had twice refused offers for U.S. Special Forces to be posted as extra security at the diplomatic compound in the weeks before the attack.
The U.S. military is criticized in the report for failing to respond more quickly on the night of the assault.
Ambassador Stevens, information-technology specialist Sean Smith, and CIA security contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty -- both former Navy SEALs -- were killed during the course of two battles that night.
The highly critical, bipartisan report on January 15 spread blame among the U.S. State Department, the U.S. military, and intelligence officials for failing to heed warning signs ahead of the attack.
It also notes that U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, who was killed by smoke from a fire that broke out during the violence, had twice refused offers for U.S. Special Forces to be posted as extra security at the diplomatic compound in the weeks before the attack.
The U.S. military is criticized in the report for failing to respond more quickly on the night of the assault.
Ambassador Stevens, information-technology specialist Sean Smith, and CIA security contractors Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty -- both former Navy SEALs -- were killed during the course of two battles that night.