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Home Front: WoT
U.S. intel set back when Libya base was abandoned
2012-10-13
Look what comes out on a Friday night...
WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence efforts in Libya have suffered a significant setback due to the abandonment and exposure of a facility in Benghazi, Libya identified by a newspaper as a "CIA base" following a congressional hearing this week, according to U.S. government sources.

The intelligence post, located 1.2 miles from the U.S. mission that was targeted by militants in a September 11 attack, was evacuated of Americans after the assault that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The publication of satellite photos showing the site's location and layout have made it difficult, if not impossible, for intelligence agencies to reoccupy the site, according to government sources.
That al-Qaeda knew of the 'annex' doesn't mean that we should be confirming it in public.
The post had been a base for, among other things, collecting information on the proliferation of weaponry looted from Libyan government arsenals, including surface-to-air missiles, the sources said. Its security features, including some fortifications, sensors and cameras, were more advanced than those at the rented villa where Stevens died, they said.

The sources said intelligence agencies will find other ways to collect information in Libya in the aftermath of last year's toppling of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi.
We don't need to say in public exactly how...
"Benghazi played a critical role in the emergence of the new Libya and will continue to do so. It makes sense that we would return there to continue to build relationships," one U.S. official said.

Public discussion of the top-secret location began with a contentious Wednesday hearing of the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which was investigating whether security lapses put Americans at risk.

The State Department displayed a satellite photograph showing two locations - the rented villa that served as a special diplomatic mission and the compound that officials had cryptically described as an "annex" or "safe house" for diplomatic personnel. Both compounds were attacked by militants believed to be tied to al Qaeda. After the diplomatic complex was overrun,
So al-Qaeda knew of the safe house, even if they didn't know exactly what was being done there...
U.S. and Libyan personnel rushed by car to the second site, where they fought off two more waves of assaults, officials said. Charlene Lamb, a top official in the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, told lawmakers that the secret compound took "as many as three direct hits."

Two U.S. security officials, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, were killed there in what U.S. officials described as an unlucky mortar strike. As many as 37 people eventually escaped to Benghazi's airport.
Makes you wonder why they didn't go directly to the airport...
When the satellite photo was displayed, a senior committee Republican, Representative Jason Chaffetz, complained that the discussion was drifting into "classified issues that deal with sources and methods," and the photo was removed from public display. No one at the hearing used the term "CIA base" to describe the facility.

The next morning, Dana Milbank, a Washington Post columnist, wrote that the committee's "boneheaded questioning" of State Department witnesses left little doubt that the compound in the pictures was a "CIA base."

The Center for American Progress, a progressive, liberal, nasty Washington think tank with deep, incestuous ties to the Obama White House, followed up with a blog post accusing Republicans of revealing the "Location Of Secret CIA Base."

On Friday, Representative Dutch Ruppersberger, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, accused Republicans of mishandling secret information.
Dutch does other tricks too besides speaking when commanded...
Spokespeople for the State Department and White House had no comment. The CIA also had no comment.

Oversight committee spokesman Frederick Hill said committee Democrats made matters worse by asking questions about the satellite photos. "Even after Republicans objected, Democrats continued to ask questions that led State officials to put even more sensitive information about who worked there into the public realm," Hill said.

The dispute over who was responsible for identifying the base is the latest case in which intelligence agencies - particularly the CIA - have been dragged into a political fray over the Benghazi attack. Intelligence officials are not happy at being drawn into the political battle. Paul Pillar, one of the CIA's former most senior analysts, said the agency is sure to be dismayed at how its sensitive work has been dragged into the debate.

"They're trying to do the best they can with fragmentary and incomplete information. No doubt they are very unhappy that this issue is now being exploited for political purposes," Pillar said.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  My list, in general order of probability:

Iran (either Al Quds Force, or with Hesb'allah)

Egypt

Pakistan

One of the Gulf nations

Russia

A criminal enterprise (similar to, or the same one that runs Somalia's piracy industry.)

In all but the last of the above, it portends political complications for the current administration and likely the next one as well.

It's also possible that the attackers may have been remnants of Qafaffi's supporters rather than post-rebel militia elements. That opens up a whole new can of worms, such as the possibility of attempting to topple the interim Libyan government.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-10-13 15:05  

#5  Gee, Iran? Not Jordan, or Syria, or Egypt (yet), or The Kingdom, so maybe it was the Somali's or the Emirates, yeah, it must have been them. No one else has been at war with us since the mi 80's have they?
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2012-10-13 14:55  

#4  It was also theorized that a 'capable' foreign intelligence agency coordinated the assault

Any theorizing about a particular 'capable' foreign agency, Pappy?
Posted by: trailing wife   2012-10-13 13:48  

#3  Political prattle. Anyone with a smidge of experience takes as a matter of course that any diplomatic facility will be an intelligence-gatherer.

It was surmised by the media that Benghazi was an intel facility weeks ago; one does not mention "lists of cooperative Libyans" casually, especially given the media's coziness with this administration.

It was also theorized that a 'capable' foreign intelligence agency coordinated the assault. Given the attacks, that still seems likely.
Posted by: Pappy   2012-10-13 10:59  

#2  The correct description for this is "disastrous clusterfark".
Posted by: lotp   2012-10-13 09:34  

#1  Yep, they're all washed up in Benghazi. No sense looking for representatives of the Great Satin there now, they're kaputt!
Posted by: Besoeker   2012-10-13 04:04  

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