State Department documents detail delays and lack of support in hours after attack

Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5172
 
WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2015 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch today released new State Department documents that raise more questions about the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission at Benghazi, Libya. The documents show the White House contacted YouTube over an Internet video as one of its first moves after the initial attack.

The documents, from the agency's Bureau of Diplomatic Security, were provided to Judicial Watch in response to a court order in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on October 16, 2014, (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:14-cv-01733)). The lawsuit seeks "any and all logs, reports, or other records" the Washington-based Diplomatic Security Command Center produced between September 10, 2012, and September 13, 2012, relating to the terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya."

The documents detail that only three hours after the initial attack on U.S. personnel in Benghazi, the White House contacted YouTube in an apparent effort to initially blame the assault on an obscure "Pastor John video," rather than filmmaker Nakoula "Mark" Basseley Nakoula. The administration falsely claimed that Nakoula's video, "Innocence of Muslims," provoked the attack. The email also references the involvement of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (Judicial Watch, through separate litigation, previously uncovered documents that show Obama White House officials set Hillary Clinton's Benghazi response):

From: [REDACTED]
Sent: September 11, 2012 9:11 PM
To: DSCC_Managment_Team; DSCC_Watch Team
Subject: (S//NF) [REDACTED] Libya

Per Ambassador Mull [Stephen Mull, then Executive Secretary of the State Department] after SVTS [Secure Video Teleconference System] conference:

DOD is looking at various resources.

[REDACTED INFORMATION]

S [then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton] expected to make statements one of which may confirm KIA, notification of next of kin is pending confirmation. DCM The Hague was to call OPS when completed.

White House is reaching out to U-Tube to advise ramifications of posting of the Pastor Jon video.

(The "Pastor Jon" reference may have been to a rarely viewed video by Oregon-based Pastor Jon Courson entitled God vs. Allah, a low-key exposition of the Biblical book of Kings.)

The documents also include a previously Secret "Attack Timeline," dated September 12, 2012, which raised additional questions about the Obama administration's response to the attack. The State Department Bureau of Diplomatic Security makes no mention of any spontaneous demonstration or Internet video in describing the Benghazi assault:

MORE: www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-new-state-documents-show-quick-white-house-effort-to-link-benghazi-to-internet-video