US security in Benghazi weak, lawmakers told

Washington: The US consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi was a sitting target with weak security as requests for extra staffing were denied despite a rising Al Qaeda threat, US lawmakers were told on Wednesday.

In a testy and heated hearing, Republican lawmakers grilled three top State Department officials and the former leader of a security team into what went wrong in a September 11 attack on the mission, in which four Americans died.

Two officials testified that requests for extra support for US posts in Tripoli and Benghazi had been refused, and the regional security officer said he was frustrated by a "total absence of planning" for future security.

"It was abundantly clear: We were not going to get resources until the aftermath of an incident," regional security officer Eric Nordstrom told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, which lasted over four hours.

Mr Nordstrom said he sought to bolster security by asking for 12 more agents, but was told by a State Department regional director that he was asking for the "sun, moon and the stars."

In response, Mr Nordstrom said the most frustrating part of his assignment was not the unrest gripping Libya.

"It's not the hardships, it's not the gunfire, it's not the threats. It's dealing and fighting against the people, programs and personnel who are supposed to be supporting me," he said.

"And I added it (sic) by saying, for me, the Taliban is on the inside of the building."

Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, who was in charge of a 16-strong site security team based in Tripoli from mid-February until it was withdrawn in mid-August, agreed that "we were fighting a losing battle. We were not even allowed to keep what we had."

The fierce and sustained attack by dozens of militants bearing heavy weapons who torched and bombarded the mission and a nearby annex has thrust President Barack Obama's foreign policy to the forefront of the bitter White House race.

Among those killed was ambassador Chris Stevens -- the first diplomatic envoy to be killed on duty since 1979 -- and three other diplomatic personnel.

Campaign staff for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney demanded "complete candor" from the Obama administration over the events of September 11.

Mr Obama pledged to "fix" any security flaws that needed to be fixed, adding in an interview with ABC television that his administration had put out information on the Benghazi attack as it became available and was updated.

Lawmakers had also railed against the US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who initially said the assault was triggered by a "spontaneous" protest over an Internet video that denigrates Islam.

Both Mr Wood and Mr Nordstrom blamed Deputy Assistant Secretary Charlene Lamb, responsible for security at some 275 US diplomatic facilities around the world, for refusing their calls for extra manpower.

She was repeatedly pummeled by lawmakers in the acrimonious and highly partisan hearing, and admitted she had not supported those requests, saying they were training local Libyan staff to take on some of those duties.

Lamb added, however, that the final decision was made by her superiors.

The State Department believed "we had the correct number of assets" on the ground, she said, noting: "I made the best decisions I could with the information I had."

Mr Wood, a former special forces soldier, said he had recommended the closure of the Benghazi mission as most other Western nations withdrew from the city.

"When that occurred, it was apparent to me that we were the last flag flying in Benghazi; we were the last thing on their target list to remove from Benghazi," he said.

Although he had left Libya before the assault, Wood said it was "instantly recognizable" as a terrorist attack. He added that the Al Qaeda presence in Libya "grows every day."

The hearing was told there were 230 security-related incidents over 13 months in Libya, and in June, there was a direct threat against Stevens on Facebook.

Under Secretary of State Patrick Kennedy also hit back at charges that US officials, including Rice, had changed their account of what happened in Benghazi, saying that the "information has evolved" since the attack.

"The information she had at that point from the intelligence community is the same that I had at that point. Clearly, we know more about it today than we did on the Sunday, September 16 after the attack," Kennedy said.

He also pleaded for more funds, saying he would be able to upgrade security and build new missions.

Speaking to reporters later, Kennedy said: "We're reassessing whether or not and when we could return to Benghazi. We still regard it as a very, very critical location in our overall engagement with the government of Libya."