Friday, November 21, 2014

HERE'S HOW CHAIRMAN ROGERS AND RANKING MEMBER RUPPERSBERGER DESCRIBE THE BENGHAZI REPORT

Chairman Rogers & Ranking Member Ruppersberger Statement on HPSCI Final Benghazi Report
Nov 21, 2014

For Immediate Release Contact: Susan.Phalen@mail.house.gov (Rogers)
November 21, 2014 Allison.Getty@mail.house.gov (Ruppersberger)

Chairman Rogers & Ranking Member Ruppersberger Statement on HPSCI Final Benghazi Report

“For over two years, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence exhaustively investigated the September 11, 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi Libya. We spent thousands of hours asking questions, poring over documents, reviewing intelligence assessments, reading cables and emails, and held a total of 20 Committee events and hearings. We conducted detailed interviews with senior intelligence officials from Benghazi and Tripoli as well as eight security personnel on the ground in Benghazi that night. Based on the testimony and the documents we reviewed, we concluded that all the CIA officers in Benghazi were heroes. Their actions saved lives.

“We also concluded that there was no intelligence failure prior to the attacks but the early intelligence assessments and the Administrations’ public narrative on the causes and motivations for the attack were not fully accurate. A mixed group of individuals, including those affiliated with al-Qa’ida, participated in the attacks. Finally, the Committee found no evidence that CIA conducted any unauthorized activities in Benghazi and CIA did not intimidate any officer or otherwise dissuade them from telling their stories to Congress.

“Along with the report, we are including a set of slides that the National Counterterrorism Center presented to the Committee in November 2012 to give the public a more visual understanding of the facilities and timeline of events and two transcripts of senior intelligence officials who explain aspects of the attacks in more detail than has been previously released to the public. The Committee followed all rules and worked closely with the IC and law enforcement to declassify our report and appendices.”

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