The Lede Blog: Clinton Testifies on Benghazi Attacks

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The Lede followed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s testimony Wednesday before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks on the American Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

At a House Committee hearing last October investigating the attack, as reported on The Lede, State Department officials and security experts who served on the ground offered conflicting assessments about what resources were requested and made available to deal with growing security concerns in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Mrs. Clinton had been scheduled to testify before Congress last month, but an illness, a concussion and a blood clot near her brain forced her to postpone her appearance.

As our colleagues Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt reported, four State Department officials were removed from their posts on last month after an independent panel criticized the “grossly inadequate” security at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi.

5:40 P.M. |‘What Difference Does It Make’ Is Twitter Hashtag
Mrs. Clinton and Senator Johnson in a heated exchange during the Senate hearing Wednesday over the Sept. 11 attack in Libya

Soon after Mrs. Clinton used the phrase – “what difference, at this point, does it make” — in response to a question from the Republican Senator Ron Johnson about why the administration had inaccurately claimed a protest over an anti-Islamic video led up to the attack in Benghazi, Twitter users turned it into a new hashtag: #whatdifferencedoesitmake.

By afternoon, the hashtag became a way for mostly critics of Mrs. Clinton and the Obama administration officials to self-organize on Twitter. In hundreds of posts with the hashtag, they discuss how appeals for additional security in the weeks before the attack were ignored and how, they believe, the administration tried to suggest that terrorists were not behind the assault by pointing to an anti-Islamic video that was causing violent unrest elsewhere across the region.

A sample from the stream on Twitter.

— Jennifer Preston

5:16 P.M. |Video: White House Issues Statement
White House issues statement backing Mrs. Clinton’s testimony on Capitol Hill about the Sept. 11 attack in Libya.
4:56 P.M. |‘A Death Trap’

Representative Jeff Duncan, Republican of South Carolina, told Secretary Clinton that she let the consulate in Benghazi “become a death trap.”

“Madam Secretary, you let the consulate become a death trap. And that’s national security malpractice,” he said. “You said you take responsibility. What does responsibility mean, Madam Secretary? You’re still in your job, and there are four people at the Department of State that have culpability in this that are still in their jobs.”

In response, Mrs. Clinton said: “We are working diligently, overtime to implement their recommendations. That is my responsibility. I’m going to do everything I can before I finish my tenure.”

She added, “I recommend that every member read the classified version which goes into greater detail that I cannot speak to here today.”

— Lisa Tozzi

4:55 P.M. |More Sunday Show Questions

Representative Mo Brooks, Republican of Alabama, returned to Ambassador Susan Rice’s statements on the Sept. 16, 2012, Sunday morning news shows, referring to Ms. Rice’s appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Mr. Brooks repeatedly asked Mrs. Clinton whether Ms. Rice’s statements about whether the Benghazi attacks were sparked by an anti-Muslim film were “factually accurate.”

“That is not the weight of the evidence right now,” Mrs. Clinton said.

As she did during the earlier Senate committee hearings, Mrs. Clinton defended Ms. Rice.

“We don’t know all the motivations,” Mrs. Clinton said. She added later, ” I will say that all of the senior administration officials, including Ambassador Rice, who spoke publicly to this terrible incident, had the same information from the intelligence community.”

“There was evidence, and the evidence was being sifted and analyzed by the intelligence community, which is why the intelligence community was the principal decider about what went into talking points,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And there was also the added problem of nobody wanting to say things that would undermine the investigation.”

— Lisa Tozzi

4:51 P.M. |Kennedy: Lessons Learned?

Representative Joseph P. Kennedy III, a newly elected Democrat from Massachusetts, asked Mrs. Clinton what were the most important lessons learned from her tenure and what could Congress do to “respond and get in front of these threats.”

In her response, Mrs. Clinton focused on the role of media and communication to counter extremism and win the hearts of “freedom lovers,” including television broadcasts, online video and social media platforms.

“We have a lot of tools that we don’t use as well as we should,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I think that we have abdicated the broadcasting arena, both in television and radio.” She said that even though both radio and television were considered “old-fashioned” by some, she said they remained “really important in those ungoverned areas, difficult places where we are trying to do business.”

She also cited the role of social media in diplomacy and promoting grass-roots change. “We have begun to use it much more in the State Department,” she said.

Mrs. Clinton also referred to a new operation within the State Department that seeks to counter online video propaganda from Islamic extremists by putting out online videos of its own. “We are trying to meet them in the media channels that they are communicating with people,” she said.

— Jennifer Preston

4:24 P.M. | More Dept. of Defense Resources for Diplomats?

Why are there not more United States military resources used to protect diplomats in high-risk areas?

“That is an excellent question,” Mrs. Clinton said.

“We do rely primarily on host nation support,” she said. ‘But we have to take a harder look at the commitment and capacity of these host nations.”

Mrs. Clinton, who previously said that Libya did not have the capacity to provide the necessary security, said that private security guards were used in some places. She said United States Marines were stationed at about 150 locations, noting earlier in her testimony at those facilities where there is classified information that needs to be protected.

Mrs. Clinton said that military officials had advised her that it was “unrealistic to tether” troops to every high-risk post.

“We have to do more,” she said.

— Jennifer Preston

4:09 P.M. |How Many Troops Needed to Prevent Attacks

In response to a question about how many troops it would have taken to provide enough security to prevent the attack, Mrs. Clinton said that there were five security team members with Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens on the night he died.

“It is very difficult,in retrospective, to really anticipate what might have been,” she said, adding that the report found “that the kind of attack had not been anticipated.”

“We got used to preparing for car bombs, suicide bombers, but this was a different nature,” she said.

Mrs. Clinton said the annex, which was near the mission with heavier protection and more “assets,” was also vulnerable in the attack. “We lost two of our best,” she said.

— Jennifer Preston

3:50 P.M. |Video: Ambassador Rice on ABC’s ‘This Week’

Several of the questions raised at the Senate and House hearings on the Sept. 11 attack referred to how Ambassador Susan Rice characterized the assault in comments made on Sunday news shows. In this video, Ms. Rice appeared on ABC’s “This Week” on Sept. 16, 2012, and discussed violence sparked by an anti-Islam film produced in the United States and the role it may have played in the embassy attacks.

Susan Rice, ambassador to the United Nations, discussed the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi on the Sept. 16 broadcast of ABC’s “This Week.”
3:36 P.M. |Why Didn’t Clinton Appear on Sunday News Shows?

Representative Joe Wilson, a Republican from South Carolina, asked Mrs. Clinton why she didn’t appear on the Sunday news shows after the attack.

“Going on the Sunday shows is not my favorite thing to do,” she said. “And, you know, I haven’t been on a Sunday show in way over a year. So it just isn’t something that I normally jump to do. And I did feel strongly that we had a lot that we had to manage, that I had to respond to, and I thought that should be my priority.”

Mr. Wilson asked, why wasn’t the assault immediately “described as an attack of terrorists?”

Mrs. Clinton replied, “There were a lot of questions about who was behind it, what motivated it.”

Mr. Wilson asked why weren’t Marine guards posted at the compound in Benghazi.

Mrs. Clinton replied that Marine guards are assigned to protect classified information and that there was no classified information at the Benghazi site.

— Jennifer Preston

3:26 P.M. |‘Your Future Endeavors’

Representative Steve Chabot, Republican of Ohio, made an oblique reference to the possibility that Mrs. Clinton might run for president in the future.

Welcoming Mrs. Clinton to the committee and congratulating her on her service in the State Department, Mr. Chabot said, “I wish you the best in your future endeavors. Mostly.”

The remark was followed by loud laughter in the hearing room.

— Lisa Tozzi

3:06 P.M. |Video: What Secretary Clinton Said on Sept. 12

What did Mrs. Clinton say about the attack in Libya on the day after it took place? Throughout her testimony, she says she referred to “heavily armed militants” in her remarks on Sept. 12. Here’s a YouTube video from The Associated Press of Mrs. Clinton at a news conference. She says “heavily armed militants assaulted the compound and set fire to our buildings.”

Secretary Clinton speaks at a news conference on Sept. 12, a day after the attack in Benghazi.
3:04 P.M. |Smith: What Did You Know About Before 9/11/12 Attack?

Representative Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey, asked Mrs. Clinton what she knew before the attack on Sept. 11, 2012, about security concerns expressed by the late Ambassador Stevens. Did he ever contact her?

In response, Mrs.Clinton said that he “did not personally ask me to get involved.”

“Any of the requests, any of the cables that have to do with security did not come to my attention,” she said.

2:58 P.M. |Unsatisfactory Leadership Not Considered Breach of Duty

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida asked Secretary Clinton about why officials “responsible for this lack of leadership and mismanagement” remained employed within the State Department.

Mrs. Clinton said while four State Department officials were removed from their posts and placed on administrative leave, they were not otherwise disciplined because under “federal statute and regulations, unsatisfactory leadership is not grounds for finding a breach of duty.” The Accountability Review Board did not find that these four individuals breached their duties, she said.

Mrs. Clinton said she had submitted legislation to the committee “to fix this problem.”

“This is another area where I need your help,” she said.

— Lisa Tozzi

2:51 P.M. |Engel: Did Budget Cuts Hurt Security?

Representative Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, asked Mrs. Clinton about the role of Congress in not providing adequate funds for diplomatic security.

“We need to be clear eyed that there is blame to be shared right here in Congress,” Mr. Engel said, noting that cuts in funds have totaled more than a half billion dollars.

“I would like to ask, Do you think that Congress has provided adequate security in recent years?” Mr. Engel said.

In response, Mrs. Clinton said that it was a “bipartisan problem” with cuts in funds. She also said that the State Department did not do the job that it should have done to set priorities in terms of assigning resources for security. “We have to work on both ends of that equation,” she said.

— Jennifer Preston

2:21 P.M. |Questions and Answers About Benghazi

In October, our colleague Scott Shane answered a number of questions about the dispute over how the Obama administration has characterized the lethal attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

2:20 P.M. |‘Benghazi Didn’t Happen in a Vacuum’

Secretary Clinton’s opening statement before the House committee is similar to the one she delivered this morning to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The full text is here.

“Benghazi didn’t happen in a vacuum,” Mrs. Clinton said. “The Arab revolutions have scrambled power dynamics and shattered security forces across the region. And instability in Mali has created an expanding safe haven for terrorists who look to extend their influence and plot further attacks of the kind we saw just last week in Algeria. And let me offer my deepest condolences to the families of the Americans and all the people from many nations who were killed and injured in the recent hostage crisis. We remain in close touch with the government of Algeria and stand ready to provide assistance if needed. We are seeking to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent terrorist attacks like this in the future.”

2:16 P.M. |House Committee Chairman Opening Statement

Representative Ed Royce, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, welcomed Mrs. Clinton to the committee’s hearing titled, “Terrorist Attack in Benghazi: The Secretary of State’s View.”

In his opening statement, Mr. Royce pledged to work with the State Department in a bipartisan way and help provide appropriate resources for security for diplomats. For the hearing, he said the committee’s goal was to “identify where State Department management broke down – thus failing to protect our people in Benghazi. It is clear that the problem was not confined to a few individuals.”

Mr. Royce referred to the Accountability Review Board, convened by Secretary Clinton, that found, he noted, “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department.”

Mr. Royce said the committee was concerned that the department’s “most senior officials either should have known about the worsening security in Benghazi – or did know. Either way, security requests were denied.”

While promising to engage in discussions with the State Department about financing budget requests, Mr. Royce said that the conclusions of the board raise the question — “how more money would have made a difference in a bureaucracy plagued by what it called systemic failures?”

12:31 P.M. |Why Mention Cookstoves?

Senator Thomas Udall, a Democrat from New Mexico, started out by praising Ms. Clinton on the travel miles she has logged in her post, and the “on the ground” difference it has made, especially to countries which had never had a visiting secretary of state.

Then he raised what was likely an unexpected topic: Ms. Clinton’s work on the policy of cookstoves.

And I want to add to the list — people — senators, going down the line, talked about some of your accomplishments. I know previously I talked to you about cookstoves, which I know has been one of your initiatives. And it’s once again an example of picking something where people around the world who are living on a dollar or two a day — if you put in a technology like an up-to-date cookstove, you can make a big difference on their health, in the health of their children, and you can make a big difference on the environment. So I would add that to the list that has been given here today of very thoughtful policymaking on your part.

Ms. Clinton launched the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in September 2010. It is a partnership led by the United Nations Foundation that aims to save lives and combat climate change, according to a statement on the State Department Website.

“The initiative aims to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions. The Alliance’s “100 by 20″ goal calls for 100 million homes to adopt clean and efficient stoves and fuels by 2020.”

But for some listeners, judging by #cookstoves reaction on Twitter, the reference seemed an incongruous one during a session that is meant to pose serious questioning of Ms. Clinton’s handling of an international event in which 4 Americans were killed.

— Christine Hauser

11:38 A.M. |Menendez Called for Funds to ‘Protect Our Diplomats’

In closing, Senator Robert Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, thanked Mrs. Clinton for her testimony. He said that it was important for the State Department to be “mission driven” and to have the resources it needed to protect diplomats.

“You know, Secretary Gates used to famously argue that there are more people in military bands than in the entire foreign service,” he said, responding to Mrs. Clinton’s call during her testimony for Congress and the administration to deal with the ongoing security dangers. “It seems to me that surely we can find the funds to protect our diplomats who serve on the front lines.”

— Jennifer Preston

11:19 A.M. |Paul: ‘I Would Have Relieved You of Your Post’

Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, questioned Ms. Clinton’s leadership. He said he was “glad you are accepting responsibility” for what he called the worst tragedy since the Sept. 11 attacks, but that it was “inexcusable” that she did not read the relevant cables before the attack and that “cost these people their lives.”

“But it was a failure of leadership not to be involved,” Mr. Paul said.

Mr. Paul told Secretary Clinton if he had been president at the time of the Benghazi attack that he would have relieved her from her job, for not knowing about appeals for more security.

“I would have relieved you of your post,” he said “I think it’s inexcusable that you did not know about this.”

Then he moved on, asking Ms. Clinton whether she had any information about whether the United States was involved with procuring, transfer, buying or selling of weapons to Turkey from Libya.

Ms. Clinton said nobody had ever raised that with her, but Mr. Paul said there had been news reports to that effect.

“I do not know,” she said. “I don’t have any information.”

Ms. Clinton also said that there had been personnel removed from their jobs and placed on administrative leave after the independent review. She said the accountability board put into place was intended to take the investigation “out of the heat of politics” and into the hands of those who “have no stake in the outcome.”

— Christine Hauser and Jennifer Preston

10:57 A.M. |McCain Says American People Deserve Answers
Senator McCain Sharply Questions Secretary Clinton via TPMTV

Senator John McCain, a Republican from Arizona, told Mrs. Clinton that the answers she was providing members of the committee on Wednesday morning “are not satisfying to me.”

Mr. McCain asked Mrs. Clinton whether she knew about a classified cable from Ambassador Stevens that said the diplomatic facilities “could not survive a sustained assault.”

“What actions were taken?” he demanded. He also asked why the Department of Defense did not have people available to help for seven hours after the attack. “All of these warnings,” Mr. McCain said. “And we did not have a single Department of Defense asset available to come to this rescue.”

Mr. McCain added, “The American people deserve to know answers.” He said that they certainly don’t “deserve false” answers and that is what was given, he said, in the days after the attack.

In response, Mrs. Clinton said that officials put forward the best information that they had. She said she thought it was best for people to look forward and not backwards because much work still remained to improve the security situation in Libya.

She also noted that Congress had placed holds on help for Libya, which may have led to some of the security shortcomings.

“We’ve got to get our act together,” she says of the administration and Congress.

— Jennifer Preston

10:50 A.M. |‘We Did Not Have a Clear Picture’

During the testimony, Ms. Clinton has been asked about the appearance of Ambassador Susan Rice on Sunday morning television talk shows after the Benghazi attack. Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, brought it up again, asking her whether she had been consulted in the decision for Ms. Rice to appear, noting that Ms. Rice’s comments appeared to be “at variance” with State Department communications.

Asked what her discussions were at the State Department after Ms. Rice’s televised remarks, Ms. Clinton said she could not speak to any such specific conversations, adding that they were happening before and after her appearances. She said that a lot of the details about the attacks and events before them were still “not nailed down.”

Ms. Clinton also noted that it should have been made clear that early comments about Benghazi were “what we think happened” and “subject to change.”

Certainly, she said, Ms. Rice determined what were “the most acceptable talking points” at that time.

“We did not have a clear picture,” she said.

As the information came to light, she added, “We shared it”.

As my colleagues Mark Landler and Jeremy W. Peters reported in November, Ms. Rice has said she incorrectly described the attack in Benghazi as a spontaneous protest gone awry rather than a premeditated terrorist attack. But she said she based her remarks on the intelligence available at that point — intelligence that changed over time.

— Christine Hauser

10:44 A.M. |Johnson Asks Clinton Why Officials ‘Misled’ Americans
Secretary Clinton and Senator Ron Johnson in heated exchange at Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting via ABC News

Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, sharply questioned Mrs. Clinton about the State Department’s immediate response, saying that officials “misled” the American people about the circumstances before the attack, suggesting it resulted from a protest, not terrorists.

“What difference at this point does it make?” Mrs. Clinton responded, her voice rising as she slammed her hand on the table. “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make? It is our job to figure out what happened and do everything we can to prevent it from ever happening again, Senator.

“The fact is that people were trying in real time to get to the best information,” she said.

She said that there was a process to “explain how these talking points came out,” referring to Ms. Rice’s comments.

Mrs. Clinton said that from her perspective that it was less important today to find out why they did it than to “find them and bring them to justice.”

— Jennifer Preston

10:23 A.M. |Clinton Says Libya Was Unable to Provide Security

Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, asked Mrs. Clinton about what steps were being taken to make sure that Libya meets its responsibility as a host country to provide adequate security for embassy personnel.

“This was a constant conversation,” Mrs. Clinton said, noting, however, again that she did not personally approve or dismiss specific requests for additional security for State Department officials in Libya before Sept. 11. “What I found with the Libyans was willingness but not capacity.” She said that was not the case with other countries, citing Tunisia, where officials had capacity but not willingness.

“The Libyans were very responsive, willing but no levers to pull,” she said. She added that the United States was trying to “help them build a decent security force.”

— Jennifer Preston

10:16 A.M. |Not Focused on ‘Talking Points’

Facing questions from members of the committee, Mrs. Clinton said she was not responsible for the controversial talking points on the Benghazi episode.

“I personally was not focused on talking points,” Mrs. Clinton said. “I was focused on keeping our people safe.”

“We still had people attacking our embassy in Yemen, trying to scale the walls,” she said “I had to call the president in Tunis and beg him to send reinforcements, which he did and eventually saved our embassy there.”

— Lisa Tozzi

10:07 A.M. |Clinton: State Dept. was Focused on Cairo on Sept. 11

In response to questions from Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat from New Jersey, about what she was doing on Sept. 11, Secretary Clinton said that she was at the State Department all day and into the night, focused on the embassy in Cairo, which was under assault by a group of protesters.

She said the call about Benghazi came shortly after 4 p.m.

“I instructed our senior department officials and our diplomatic security personnel to consider every option, break down the doors of the Libyan officials to get as much security support as we could.”

She said that she sought all possible support from the White House, which they quickly provided.

“The two hardest calls I had to make were to the families of Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith,” she said “I have to say that they were extraordinary in their responses and their understanding of the pride that we had in both men and gratitude for their service.”

— Jennifer Preston

9:56 A.M. |Clinton’s Voice Breaks During Testimony
Secretary Clinton’s voice breaks as she discusses meeting family members of State Department employees killed in the attack via CNN.

While delivering her remarks, Mrs. Clinton’s voice broke when she recalled meeting the families of the State Department officials who died. “For me, this is not just a matter of policy … it’s personal.” she said. “I stood next to President Obama as the Marines carried those flag-draped caskets off the plane at Andrews. I put my arms around the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, sons and daughters.”

— Jennifer Preston

9:32 A.M. |Clinton Takes Responsibility

“As I have said many times since Sept. 11, I take responsibility,” Mrs. Clinton said in her prepared statement. “Nobody is more committed to getting this right. I am determined to leave the State Department and our country safer, stronger and more secure.”

9:24 A.M. |Secretary Clinton’s Opening Remarks

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton begins her remarks by telling the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “Benghazi joins a long list of tragedies, for our Department and for other agencies: hostages taken in Tehran in 1979, our embassy and Marine barracks bombed in Beirut in 1983, Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in 1996, our embassies in East Africa in 1998, consulate staff murdered in Jeddah in 2004, the Khost attack in 2009, and too many others. ”

“Of course, the list of attacks foiled, crises averted, and lives saved is even longer,” she continued. “We should never forget that our security professionals get it right 99 percent of the time, against difficult odds all over the world. That’s why, like my predecessors, I trust them with my life.”

Full text of Secretary Clinton’s prepared remarks.

— Lisa Tozzi

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