Tate Zeigler (202-224-5972) or Kevin Bishop (864-250-1417)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) has written to President Barack Obama and intelligence officials requesting information about what was known and what action was taken -- if any -- in response to previous attacks against the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

 

Graham noted that on June 6, 2012, assailants placed an IED on the northern gate of the United States Consulate in Benghazi.  The IED detonated and ripped a hole in the security perimeter that was described by one individual as, “big enough for forty men to go through.”  This attack was preceded by an earlier IED attack against the Consulate in April 2012.

 

Graham asked President Obama, “Mr. President, were you informed of these attacks on our Libyan consulate?  If not, why not?  Did you consider these serious events?  If you were informed, what action was taken to protect the Consulate?”

 

Graham also sent letters to CIA Director David Petraeus, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Deputy National Security Advisor John Brennan requesting similar information:

 

“Did you inform the President of these attacks? If so, what action was taken to protect our Consulate? If you did not inform the President, why not?”

 

Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed during the September 11, 2012 attack on the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

 

#####

 

Senator Graham's Letter to President Obama