[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 111 (Tuesday, July 30, 2013)]
[House]
[Page H5096]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   NINTH UNANSWERED BENGHAZI QUESTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Wolf) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, there are only 3 more days until the August 
recess. Given that no new public hearings are scheduled on Benghazi, 
it's apparent that the questions I've been asking for the past two 
weeks--and the American people have been asking for more than 10 
months--will not be answered by the 1-year anniversary of the Benghazi 
attack, if ever.
  After a year of investigations in five different committees, we still 
do not know what happened and no one's been held responsible. The House 
and the Senate have failed. Is it any wonder that the American people 
are losing confidence in their government?
  This is even more remarkable given that over 2 months ago, senior 
administration officials admitted to the media that they failed to 
properly respond to the attack in Benghazi; yet the Congress never 
pressed the matter further.
  In a little-noticed article published on Friday, May 17, CBS News' 
Sharyl Attkisson reported that:

       Obama administration officials who were in key positions on 
     September 11, 2012, acknowledge that a range of mistakes were 
     made the night of the attacks on the U.S. missions in 
     Benghazi.

  Attkisson continued:

       The list of mea culpas by Obama administration officials 
     involved in the Benghazi response and aftermath include 
     standing down the counterterrorism Foreign Emergency Support 
     Team and failing to convene the Counterterrorism Security 
     Group, among others.

  One of the key revelations from anonymous senior administration 
officials is the admission that it refused to deploy the Foreign 
Emergency Support Team, FEST. According to the article:

       The FEST's own mission statement describes a seasoned team 
     of counterterrorism professionals who can respond ``quickly 
     and effectively to terror attacks, providing the fastest 
     assistance possible'' including ``hostage negotiating 
     expertise'' and ``time-sensitive information and 
     intelligence.'' In fact, FEST leader Mark Thompson says 
     Benghazi was precisely the sort of crisis to which his team 
     is trained to respond.

  The article continued:

       As soon as word of the Benghazi attack reached Washington, 
     FEST members ``instinctively started packing,'' said an 
     official involved in the response. ``They were told they were 
     not deploying by Patrick Kennedy's front office. In 
     hindsight, I probably would've pushed the button.''

  It's particularly notable that administration sources pin the 
decision not just on the State Department leadership, but also on the 
White House.
  While it was the State Department that's said to have taken FEST off 
the table, the team is directed by the White House National Security 
Council.
  Speaking of the White House role in directing the response, Attkisson 
reported that the National Security Council also failed to convene the 
interagency Counterterrorism Security Group, CSG, that evening.
  The article noted:

       According to a public military document, it's part of a 
     plan to ``synchronize the efforts of all the government 
     agencies that have a role to play in the global war on 
     terrorism.'' But on September 11, 2012, the Obama 
     administration did not convene this body of terrorism expert 
     advisers.

  Given the number of agencies involved in the response, including the 
State Department, CIA, and Defense Department, it's hard to understand 
why the NSC's interagency terrorism response group wouldn't be 
convened.
  As Attkisson noted, because the CSG wasn't assembled:

       There's evidence that some high-level decision-makers were 
     unaware of all available resources. In October, on a phone 
     call that included then-Deputy National Security Adviser 
     Dennis McDonough, now White House Chief of Staff, NSC 
     spokesman Tommy Vietor initially told CBS News: ``I don't 
     know what FEST is. It sounds antiquated.''

  Who are the anonymous senior administration officials who admitted 
these mistakes to CBS? Why haven't they testified to Congress about 
these mistakes? Why wasn't the FEST team deployed immediately?
  Last week, General Ham admitted that he believed Ambassador Stevens 
may have been taken hostage by terrorists. Given the FEST's team 
terrorism and hostage negotiation expertise, who made the decision not 
to deploy them? Why didn't the White House convene the CSG that night 
to coordinate the interagency response to the attack? And if that group 
wasn't responsible for coordination, who was?
  Which agency was leading the response that night? Was the State 
Department directing the Pentagon not to deploy its planes or response 
teams, while also not sending the FEST team?
  Mr. Speaker, I conclude with an important quote in the CBS article 
from NSC spokesman Tommy Vietor:

       From the moment President Obama was briefed on the Benghazi 
     attack, the response effort was handled by the most senior 
     national security officials in government.

  The mistakes these anonymous senior officials admit to mattered. 
Lives were on the line, and ultimately, lives were lost. The Congress 
must compel these ``most senior national security officials'' 
responsible for the response team that night to testify publicly.
  We need a bipartisan select committee. If we do not do it, the 
Congress and the House will have failed.

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