Personnel on Ground Contradict CIA's Benghazi Timeline

As the House Oversight Committee prepares to question Benghazi witnesses on Wednesday, we need to remember that the accounts of personnel on the ground have long contradicted the account the CIA adopted just weeks after the attacks took the lives of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

In early Nov., the CIA said the consulate’s earliest call for help came in at 9:40 p.m. on Sept. 11. But the Blue Mountain Security manager, “who was in charge of the local force hired to guard the consulate perimeter,” says he realized something was happening and put out calls for help at least an hour earlier than that.

The manager said that, even if he hadn’t called, it was evident to those on the ground that, “fighters were gathering in preparation for an attack.”

According to people on the ground from both the U.S. and Britain, in the hours before the attacks road blocks were being set up outside the property to isolate the consulate for the pending aggression. Because of this, these personnel say the CIA should have known trouble was brewing long before 9:40 p.m.–even without being alerted by the Blue Mountain Security manager.