b]Based on all of the available evidence, the Committee concludes that the Annex team left in a timely and appropriate manner. None of the officials who testified believed that the 21-minute delay was due to a stand down order from CIA headquarters or from Tripoli Station. [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 11/21/14][/b]
Quote:Newsmax claimed in a January 13 article about Gowdy's interview that "witnesses say a stand-down order was given to prevent military aid from getting to Benghazi, Libya on September 11, 2012 while the diplomatic compound and CIA annex were under attack." [Newsmax, 1/13/16]
But Gowdy Didn't Say That Military Assets Were Ordered To "Stand Down"
http://mediamatters.org/research/2016/01/14/c...-to/207978
Gowdy Didn't Specify Whether Witnesses Said That Military Or Local Security Personnel Claim They Were Told To "Stand Down." When asked about whether a "stand-down" order was given in Benghazi in a January 13 interview on the Boston Herald's radio show Boston Herald Drive, Gowdy said that "there are witnesses who say there was one, there are witnesses who say there was not one." From the interview (emphasis added):
Multiple Congressional Investigations Explained That American Military Assets Were Not Ordered To "Stand Down"
Republican-Led House Armed Services Committee Report Concluded No Stand-Down Order Issued To Military. On February 11, 2014, the House Armed Services Committee released a report on its investigation into the Benghazi attacks, which concluded that "There was no 'stand down' order issued to U.S. military personnel in Tripoli who sought to join the fight in Benghazi." As The Washington Post explained, the report further determined that "no U.S. military assets could have arrived in Benghazi in time to affect the outcome of the attack, according to committee staff members who briefed reporters on the report." [Media Matters, 2/11/14]
House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence: Evidence Provides "No Support For The Allegations That There Was Any Stand-Down Order." On November 21, 2014, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) released the findings of its investigation into the Benghazi attacks, which found "no evidence that there was either a stand down order or a denial of available air support." The report further explained that there was no "stand down order from CIA headquarters or from Tripoli Station," and citing the House Armed Services Committee report, found that "the CIA received all military support that was available." From the HPSCI report:
The evidence from eyewitness testimony, ISR video footage, closed-circuit television recordings, and other sources provides no support for the allegation that there was any stand-down order. Rather, there were mere tactical disagreements about the speed with which the team should depart prior to securing additional security assets.
The 21-minute period between the time the Annex personnel first learned of the attack and when they departed reflects the time the Team needed to put on gear and the time during which the Chief of base in Benghazi tried to secure local militias to assist in the mission. Annex leadership also considered the impact of the departure of the security officers on the security of the Annex.
The Annex has minimal security forces available for the 93 minutes that the team was gone, and there was neither a requirement not an expectation for the CIA security personnel to defend the State Department's facility in Benghazi.
Nonetheless, some Annex team members wanted urgently to depart the Annex for the TMF to save their State Department colleagues. The Chief of Base in Benghazi, however, ordered the team to wait so that the seniors on the ground could ascertain the situation at the TMF and whether they could secure heavy weaponry support from local militias.
Based on all of the available evidence, the Committee concludes that the Annex team left in a timely and appropriate manner. None of the officials who testified believed that the 21-minute delay was due to a stand down order from CIA headquarters or from Tripoli Station. [House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 11/21/14]
Senate Select Committee On Intelligence: Allegation That U.S. Personnel "Prevented The Mounting Of Any Military Relief Effort" Is Unsubstantiated. A Senate Committee on Intelligence review of the Benghazi attacks found no evidence of a "stand down" order given to responding units during the attacks, and that the allegations that intelligence or military officials "prevented the mounting of any military relief effort during the attacks" were unsubstantiated:
The Committee explored claims that there was a "stand down" order given to the security team at the Annex. Although some members of the security team expressed frustration that they were unable to respond more quickly to the Mission compound, 12 the Committee found no evidence of intentional delay or obstruction by the Chief of Base or any other party.
The Committee has reviewed the allegations that U.S. personnel, including in the IC (Intelligence Community) or DoD, prevented the mounting of any military relief effort during the attacks, but the Committee has not found any of these allegations to be substantiated. [U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 1/15/14]
Conservative Media's "Stand Down" Myth Stems From CIA Security Contractors' Disagreement Over Waiting For Help From Libyan Forces
AP: Testimony From Benghazi Witnesses Revealed Disagreement Over Speed Of Rescue For Americans At Diplomatic Compound. A December 2013 report by the Associated Press headlined "CIA Benghazi team clash led to 'stand down' report" revealed congressional testimony from Benghazi witnesses that led to the myth that military assets were ordered to "stand down." The AP additionally reported that "none of those who testified said a quicker response would have saved the lives of Stevens and communications specialist Sean Smith":
CIA officers revealed a clash over how quickly they should go help the besieged U.S. ambassador during the 2012 attack on an outpost in Libya, and a standing order for them to avoid violent encounters, according to a congressman and others who heard their private congressional testimony or were briefed on it.
[...]
None of those who testified said a quicker response would have saved the lives of Stevens and communications specialist Sean Smith at the temporary diplomatic facility.
The senior CIA officers in charge in Libya that day told Congress of a chaotic scramble to aid Stevens and others who were in the outpost when it was attacked by militants on the 11th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Those CIA leaders decided they and their security contractor team should wait before rushing from their annex into the violence roughly a mile away. They said they were trying to first gather intelligence and round up Libyan militia allies armed with heavy weapons, according to the testimony by the CIA officers in charge.
Some CIA security contractors disagreed with their bosses and wanted to move more quickly.
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, who heads a House intelligence subcommittee that interviewed the employees, said he believes this disagreement was the source of allegations that the CIA ordered security personnel to "stand down" and not help the people inside the diplomatic mission, and perhaps was the source of accusations the administration failed to answer a call from the CIA security team for combat aircraft.
[...]
A senior intelligence official confirmed that the CIA officers on the ground in Benghazi responded to the diplomats' call for help by trying "to rally local support for the rescue effort and secure heavier weapons." When it became "clear that this additional support could not be rapidly obtained," the team moved toward the diplomatic compound. [Associated Press, 12/14/13]
