Jan. 23, 2014
Damage inside the burnt U.S. consulate building in Benghazi,
following an attack on the building.
(Photo courtesy nydailynews.com)
The U.S. official who served as slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ second-in-command in Libya fired back at critics of his late boss, who blamed Stevens for a lack of security at the Benghazi compound before the Sept. 11, 2012 terror assault that left Stevens and three other Americans dead.
“Chris Stevens was not responsible for the reduction in security personnel,” Gregory Hicks, the former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday. “His requests for additional security were denied or ignored. Officials at the State and Defense Departments in Washington made the decisions that resulted in reduced security.”
Hicks was one of the whistleblowers who informed Congress last year of the State Department’s lack of security in Libya in the lead-up to the assault that the Obama administration initially publicly blamed on a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video.
Gregory Hicks, foreign service officer and former deputy chief of mission/charge d’affairs in Libya at the State Department, testifies.
(Photo courtesy washingtonpost.com)
The Senate Intelligence Committee last week released a bipartisan report saying that the attack could have been prevented and laid most of the blame on the State Department. While Republicans have said that should extend to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, some media commentators have clung to a portion of the report that states Stevens declined an offer from then-Africa Commander Gen. Carter Ham for increased security.
“Since Chris cannot speak, I want to explain the reasons and timing for his responses to Gen. Ham,” Hicks wrote, explaining that much of the matter revolved around when to shift command of U.S. Special Forces from the State Department – where soldiers had diplomatic immunity – to the Defense Department – where they would not.
“Chris had requested on July 9 by cable that Washington provide a minimum of 13 American security professionals for Libya over and above the diplomatic security complement of eight assigned to Tripoli and Benghazi,” Hicks wrote. “On July 11, the Defense Department, apparently in response to Chris’s request, offered to extend the special forces mission to protect the U.S. Embassy.”
“However, on July 13, State Department Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy refused the Defense Department offer and thus Chris’s July 9 request. His rationale was that Libyan guards would be hired to take over this responsibility,” Hicks continued.