The names of three men who will testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee next week on Capitol Hill have been released.
Gregory N. Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Benghazi terrorist attacks; Mark I. Thompson, a former Marine and now the deputy coordinator for Operations in the agency’s Counterterrorism Bureau; and Eric Nordstrom, a diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, the top security officer in the country in the months leading up to the attacks.
Mark I Thompson
- Joined State Department in 1996
- Deputy Coordinator in State Department’s Counter terrorism Bureau
- Has held current position since 2006
Gregory Hicks
- Deputy Chief at the U.S. embassy – was in Libya and on the ground at the time of the attack
- Received multiple awards throughout career in the State Department
- Has served 6 assignments oversea since joining State Department
- Second only to Ambassador Chris Stevens in hierarchy of command in Libya
Eric Nordstrom
- Diplomatic Security Officer
- Former regional security officer in Libya
- Testified at a Benghazi House Oversight hearing
Fox News reports:
Nordstrom previously testified before the oversight committee, which is chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., in October 2012. At that time, Nordstrom made headlines by detailing for lawmakers the series of requests that he, Ambassador Stevens, and others made for enhanced security at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, most of which were rejected by State Department superiors.
Hicks has been debriefed by Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), who said Hicks was in Tripoli at “at 9:40 p.m. local time when he received one of Stevens’ earliest phone calls amid the crisis.’We’re under attack! We’re under attack!’ the ambassador reportedly shouted into his cell phone at Hicks.”
Chaffetz, who subsequently debriefed Hicks, also said the deputy “immediately called into Washington to trigger all the mechanisms” for an inter-agency response.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the U.S. outpost in Benghazi, Libya.