Pentagon Provided Incomplete Maps of Assets Stationed Near Benghazi During Attacks

TEL AVIV – The Pentagon provided incomplete maps of assets it says were located in areas of responsibility for the regions in and near Benghazi during and in the days following the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks at the U.S. Special Mission and nearby CIA Annex.

The Defense Department has yet to correct the inaccurate maps or even respond to a request for clarification on the issue from the House Select Committee on Benghazi.

The map discrepancies were revealed in the final House Benghazi report released on Tuesday.

The report refers to a top level Pentagon meeting in which “three distinct capabilities were identified to deploy in response to the attacks in Benghazi: two FAST platoons, the CIF, and the U.S. SOF, capable of response to crises worldwide.”

The report states the Defense Department provided the committee with copies of maps purportedly “identifying assets present in European Command, AFRICOM, and Central Command’s areas of responsibility on September 11, September 12, and September 13 to the Committee.”

The committee, however, noted that the maps “failed to include assets that actually were deployed in response to Benghazi,” clearly exposing the maps as incomplete.

For example, a C-17 medical airplane was deployed to Tripoli on September 12 to evacuate the wounded, deceased, and other American citizens. That asset was not identified on the maps provided by the Defense Department to the Committee.

Given this discrepancy, the Committee states that it requested the Pentagon to “confirm whether there were any additional assets not identified on the maps or any assets withheld due to special access programs restrictions.”

Continues the report:

It did not respond to the Committee’s request. This failure to respond unnecessarily and unadvisedly leaves questions the Defense Department can easily answer, and it is in the public interest that it do so.

With research by Joshua Klein.

Aaron Klein is Breitbart’s Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.” Follow him on Twitter @AaronKleinShow. Follow him on Facebook.