TEL AVIV – Besides the State Department’s notorious refusal to provide adequate protection to the U.S. Special Mission, another surprising reason has surfaced to account for the dismal security conditions at the fated Benghazi compound.
When setting up the U.S. mission in June 2011, State Department diplomatic security agents took into account the concerns of two landlords who did not want significant alterations to their properties.
The final report of the House Republicans Select Committee on Benghazi, released last Tuesday and reviewed in full by Breitbart Jerusalem, discloses that the landlords’ concerns kept some specific security improvements from being made to the compound.
The U.S. Special Mission consisted of three privately owned villas on a 13-acre lot that were rented from local landlords.
The report reveals the House Benghazi Committee learned “Villas A and B owners were adamant about their residential properties not be[ing] altered by our then-short term presence without their explicit approvals being obtained in advance.”
The report states that to “assuage the landlords concerns, security improvements to Villas A and B were minimal.”
A physical security specialist involved in setting up the facility testified to the committee how the landlords’ concerns prevented some security measures. One landlord, for example, dismissed “installing razor ribbon on existing perimeter walls were [sic] needed, installing shatter resistant window film and installing vehicle drop arm barriers.”
The specialist testified:
[M]inor security improvements were discussed and authorized for (Villa) B only, open a hole in the perimeter wall between Villa’s [sic] A & B wide enough for a roadway, install several window grills on the small Villa B office annex, and re-position several large manufacturing machines on the Villa B property to block the vehicle gates because all Mission vehicle activity was to be conducted from Villa A.
The owners [sic] representative walked the property with us several times and he agreed to implement these minor security improvements as part of his fiduciary management responsibilities and dismissed other recommendations such as installing razor ribbon on existing perimeter walls were [sic] needed, installing shatter resistant window film and installing vehicle drop arm barriers.
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.
With additional research by Joshua Klein.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.