2012 Benghazi attack
At around noon on the day of the 2012 Benghazi attack, Sean Smith sent a message to a friend online. Smith was a Foreign Service information management officer posted to the American diplomatic compound in the Libyan city. He wrote, “Assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures.” Hours later, on the 11th of September 2012, armed men assaulted two United States government facilities in Benghazi. By the following morning, four Americans were dead, and one of them was the ambassador to Libya.
Why was an American outpost in a city so plainly dangerous protected so thinly? Who sent the attackers, and what did they want? Why did Washington spend weeks arguing over what had happened in the first hours? And how did a single night in eastern Libya reshape an American election, a Libyan crackdown on armed groups, and a manhunt that lasted years?
The United States withdrew its ambassador from Libya in 1972 and afterward kept no regular diplomatic presence there. It closed its embassy after the burning of the American embassy in Libya in 1979. Only in the early 2000s did Washington begin to normalise relations. Then the revolution began in February 2011, and within months the CIA had started building a covert presence in Benghazi.
Delta Force operators deployed to Libya during the war as analysts, instructing the rebels on weapons and tactics. J. Christopher Stevens was named the first liaison to the Libyan opposition in March 2011. When the fighting ended, the CIA and the State Department inherited a cleanup job. They were to track down the arms that had flooded the country, especially shoulder-fired missiles from Gaddafi's arsenal. They were also to secure Libyan chemical weapons stockpiles and help train a new intelligence service.
By the time of the attack, dozens of CIA operatives were on the ground in Benghazi. CNN reported that its sources counted around 35 American personnel in the diplomatic mission, with around 21 of them CIA. Eastern Libya was a hub for intelligence gathering. The agency watched Ansar al-Sharia and suspected members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and it tried to map the loyalties of the many militias. In the summer of 2012, Joint Special Operations Command missions had reportedly begun targeting militias linked to the Al-Qaeda network of Yasin al-Suri. A small composite special operations team, including two JSOC members, was already in Libya working separately from the CIA and the State Department.
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh quoted an anonymous former senior Defense Department intelligence official who said the consulate existed only to provide cover for moving arms. The speculation was that weapons flowed from Libya to anti-Assad rebels in Syria. In January 2014, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence cast doubt on this. It reported that every CIA activity in Benghazi was legal and authorized, and that the agency was not sending weapons from Libya to Syria.
Gregory N. Hicks, Stevens' top deputy in Libya, later told Congress why the ambassador was in Benghazi in 2012. Hicks said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wanted the post made permanent, and she hoped to announce it during a visit to Tripoli later that year. Stevens himself, Hicks said, “wanted to make a symbolic gesture to the people of Benghazi that the United States stood behind their dream of establishing a new democracy.” The trip also carried paperwork. Stevens was reviewing plans for a new cultural center and a modernized hospital, and he needed to prepare a report supporting the conversion of Benghazi from a temporary to a permanent facility. Surplus funds originally meant for Iran were to be obligated for that purpose, and the deadline was the end of the fiscal year on the 30th of September 2012.
In April 2012, two former consulate security guards threw an improvised explosive device over the consulate fence. It caused no casualties. Four days later, a similar bomb exploded 12 feet from the vehicle of the United Nations Special Envoy to Libya, in a four-vehicle convoy, and again nobody was hurt.
In May, a group calling itself the Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi. By the 6th of August, the Red Cross had suspended its operations in the city. The head of its delegation in Libya said the aid group was “appalled” and “extremely concerned” about escalating violence.
On the 6th of June, the same brigades released a video of a bomb they said they had detonated outside the consulate gates. Nobody was injured, but the blast tore a hole in the perimeter wall, described by one person as “big enough for forty men to go through.” The group said the attack answered the killing of a Libyan al-Qaeda leader and was timed to an American diplomat's imminent arrival. It left leaflets behind promising more attacks against the United States.
Other countries' diplomats were targeted too. British Ambassador Dominic Asquith survived an assassination attempt in Benghazi on the 10th of June 2012, when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his convoy 300 meters from the consulate office. Two British protection officers were injured. On the 18th of June, individuals affiliated with Ansar al-Sharia attacked the Tunisian Consulate, allegedly over “attacks by Tunisian artists against Islam.” The British Foreign Office withdrew all its consular staff from Benghazi in late June.
Three days before the attack, a local security official and a battalion commander met American diplomats. The official later told CNN that he had said, “The situation is frightening; it scares us.” Stevens' own diary, found later at the compound, recorded his concern about a growing al-Qaeda presence and his worry that he was on an al-Qaeda hit list. Security officer Eric Nordstrom twice asked the State Department for more protection in Benghazi and was refused. According to Nordstrom, State Department official Charlene Lamb wanted the security presence kept “artificially low.”
On the 30th of December 2012, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs released a report titled “Flashing Red: A Special Report on the Terrorist Attack at Benghazi.” It found that intelligence had shown Benghazi growing more dangerous, with a significant attack on Americans becoming much more likely. That intelligence reached key State Department officials, yet it produced neither a commensurate increase in security nor a decision to close the mission. The regional security officer in Libya had logged 234 security incidents between June 2011 and July 2012, and 50 of them took place in Benghazi. The department's wish to keep a low profile has been cited as the reason it circumvented its own Overseas Security Policy Board standards.
After the attack, Hillary Clinton sought to take responsibility for the security lapses and expressed personal regret. Yet in her January 2013 testimony before Congress she said, “I didn't see those requests, I didn't approve them, I didn't deny them.” Four career State Department officials were criticized for turning down requests for added security. Eric J. Boswell, the Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security, resigned under pressure, and three others were suspended.
At 8:30 on the evening of the attack, Stevens walked a Turkish diplomat, Consul General Ali Sait Akın, to the main gate. The street outside was calm, and the State Department reported nothing unusual during the day. The compound measured roughly 300 yards long and 100 yards wide, and no more than seven Americans were inside, Stevens among them. He went to his room at about 9:00.
Around 9:40, large numbers of armed men shouting “Allāhu Akbar” approached from several directions. They threw grenades over the wall and then entered with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and heavier weapons. A wounded Libyan guard later said there “wasn't a single ant outside” before it began. A Diplomatic Security Service agent watched on the security cameras as “a large number of men, armed men, flowing into the compound.” He hit the alarm and shouted “Attack! Attack!” over the loudspeaker. Calls went out to the embassy in Tripoli, the Diplomatic Security Command Center in Washington, the February 17th Martyrs Brigade, and an American quick reaction force at the CIA annex a little more than a mile away.
Special Agent Scott Wickland secured Stevens and Smith in the safe haven of the main building while the other agents ran for their weapons. The attackers entered the building and tried to break into the safe haven. They spread diesel fuel in the room and set fires. Stevens, Smith and Wickland retreated to a nearby bathroom, but smoke overcame them and they decided to leave. Wickland climbed out through a window. Stevens and Smith did not follow him. Severely wounded by gunfire, Wickland went back several times but could not find them in the smoke. He then climbed to the roof and radioed the other agents.
At the annex, the Global Response Staff, which included Tyrone S. Woods, decided to attempt a rescue. By 10:05 the team was briefed and loaded into armored Toyota Land Cruisers. According to the Annex Security Team, the CIA's top officer in Benghazi had delayed them. At the compound they tried to secure the perimeter and find the ambassador. Diplomatic security agent David Ubben found Smith unconscious, and Smith was later declared dead. The smoke-filled building hid Stevens from them. On the way back to the annex, rifle fire and hand grenades struck their armored vehicle. It arrived on two flat tires, and the annex gates closed behind it at 11:50.
Stevens was found by chance. A group of Libyans entered his room through a window without knowing who he was. Abdel-Qader Fadl, a freelance photographer with them, told the Associated Press that Stevens was unconscious and “maybe moved his head, but only once.” A 22-year-old arts student, Ahmed Shams, said they were happy to find him alive. Freelance videographer Fahd al-Bakoush published a video of the men pulling the ambassador out, and he said Stevens was breathing, with his eyelids flickering.
Around 1:00 a.m., Stevens was taken in a private car, because no ambulance was available, to the Benghazi Medical Center. The hospital was controlled by the Ansar al-Sharia militia. There Dr. Ziad Abu Zeid gave him CPR for 90 minutes. The doctor said Stevens died of asphyxiation from smoke inhalation and had no other apparent injuries. State Department officials said they do not know who took Stevens to the hospital or who carried his body to the airport.
Just after midnight, the CIA annex came under machine gun, rocket and mortar fire, and its defenders held out until morning. In Tripoli, a small CIA and JSOC element that included Glen Doherty was hunting for a way to Benghazi. A team of two active-duty JSOC operators and five CIA personnel finally commandeered a small jet by paying the pilots $30,000 and forcing them to fly. Libyan forces held the group at the Benghazi airport for a few hours.
At about 5:00 a.m., the newcomers and the Libyan forces went to the annex to help carry roughly 32 Americans back to the airport. Minutes after they passed through the gates, heavy fire began. During a lull, Doherty went looking for his friend Woods and was told he was on the roof. He found Woods there with two other agents. A mortar round hit the position and fatally wounded Woods. As Doherty tried to take cover, a second round killed him. Woods and Doherty were both former Navy SEALs, and ten people were wounded in all. Diplomatic Security Service Special Agent David Ubben, 31, and CIA contractor Mark Geist, 46, suffered shrapnel injuries and several broken bones.
A JSOC operator at the annex followed images from a Predator drone overhead on a handheld device, sent after a request to the Defense Department's US Africa Command. The defenders agreed to evacuate to the airport, and small arms fire followed them along the route. About 30 Americans left, including six State Department personnel and Smith's body. They had not found the ambassador.
Back in Washington, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had been briefed by 4:30 p.m. Eastern. A surveillance drone pulled from watching militant camps reached Benghazi at 11:10 p.m. local time and began sending video home. At 5:41 p.m. Eastern, Clinton telephoned CIA Director David Petraeus to coordinate. The military mobilized three teams. One was a Commander's In-Extremis Force from central Europe, one was a Marine Security Force Regiment team from Rota, Spain, and one was a special operations force in the United States. Africa Command was the only combatant command without such a force of its own and had to ask European Command for help. The teams staged at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily, and officials said they arrived after the attack was over.
Later testimony from senior commanders exposed gaps. No attack aircraft had been placed on high alert for the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. The closest fighters to North African trouble spots sat unarmed at Aviano, Italy, with no aerial refueling planes within a 10-hour flight. No AC-130 gunships were within 10 hours of Libya, and their crews did not reach a staging base in Italy until 19 hours after the attack began. Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates called some critics' view of military capabilities “cartoonish” and said he would have responded with equal caution.
In March 2013, Representative Duncan D. Hunter introduced legislation to award Congressional Gold Medals to Doherty and Woods. Marine Gunnery Sergeant Tate Jolly received the Navy Cross for his actions in Benghazi, and Army Master Sergeant David R. Halbruner received the Distinguished Service Cross.
The four bodies went from Benina International Airport to Tripoli, then to Ramstein Air Base in Germany aboard a C-17. From there they reached Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, where President Obama and members of his cabinet held a ceremony. Stevens was the first American ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs died in Kabul in 1979. The diplomatic staff moved to Tripoli, and nonessential personnel left Libya. Sensitive papers stayed behind, among them documents listing the names of Libyans working with the Americans.
Libyan Prime Minister Mustafa Abushagur's office condemned the attack and offered condolences. It rejected the use of force to terrorize innocent people, even as it condemned any insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, President of the General National Congress, went further. “We apologize to the U.S., to the American people and to the government and also to the rest of the world for what happened yesterday,” he said.
On the 12th of September, demonstrators in Benghazi and Tripoli carried signs reading “Chris Stevens was a friend to all Libyans” and “Benghazi is against terrorism.” Other signs apologized to Americans for acts done in their name and in the name of Muslims. The next day in Washington, Libyan ambassador Ali Aujali apologized to Secretary of State Clinton. He called Stevens a “dear friend” and a “real hero,” and he urged continued American support for his young government. The New York Times reported that young Libyans flooded Twitter with pro-American messages.
A Gallup poll taken in March and April 2012 found that 54 percent of Libyans approved of American leadership, among the highest figures Gallup had ever recorded in the region outside Israel. A 2011 poll in eastern Libya found that 90 percent of respondents viewed the United States favorably, even though the population was deeply religious and conservative. President Obama later told Americans that Libyans “helped our diplomats to safety.” A New York Times editorial criticized Egypt's government for not doing “what Libyan leaders did.”
On the 21st of September, about 30,000 Libyans marched through Benghazi demanding the rule of law and an end to the militias formed in the war against Colonel Gaddafi. Those militias had never disbanded and kept menacing the government and the public. Marchers carried signs such as “We Want Justice For Chris” and “Libya Lost a Friend,” and they stormed several militia headquarters, including that of Ansar al-Sharia. At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded when militiamen fired on demonstrators at the headquarters of the Sahaty Brigade, a pro-government militia. By early the next morning, protesters had forced the militiamen to flee, seized a number of compounds and freed four prisoners. Some militia members accused the protesters of being Gaddafi loyalists.
On the 23rd of September, the Libyan president gave every unauthorized militia 48 hours to disband or come under government control. Bearing arms in public and running armed checkpoints became illegal. The task was awkward, because the government had relied on some of those militias for protection. On the 24th, it raided a former military base held by a rogue infantry militia and formed a “National Mobile Force” to evict illegal groups. In Misrata, militias met and agreed to submit, handing the city's three main jails to the Ministry of Justice. In Derna, the two main militias, one of them Ansar al-Sharia, withdrew and left their military bases behind.
Hundreds of Libyans, mainly former rebel fighters, gathered in the city centers of Tripoli and Benghazi on the 29th of September to hand over their weapons. The Obama administration also set aside $8 million to begin building an elite Libyan commando force over the following year. Results were uneven. The Emirati news agency The National reported on the 23rd of September that arms were being hoarded in the Nafusa Mountains, home to a Nafusi-speaking Berber minority. It reported hoarding in Misrata as well, even as other outlets described militias there surrendering.
On the 10th of September 2012, at least 18 hours before the attack, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video timed to the anniversary of the 2001 attacks. It called for strikes on Americans in Libya to avenge Abu Yahya al-Libi, who had died in a drone strike in Pakistan in June 2012. How much Zawahiri knew in advance is uncertain, but he praised the attackers in another video on the 12th of October. On the 14th of September, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula called the attack revenge for al-Libi without claiming official responsibility. It was later reported that three of its operatives took part. An intercepted phone call from the Benghazi area reportedly linked the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb commander Mokhtar Belmokhtar to the assault. Even so, there is no definitive evidence that al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organization participated.
A 20-year-old neighbor, Mohamed Bishari, told David Kirkpatrick of The New York Times that the assault came without warning or protest and was led by the Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia. Kirkpatrick also reported that Ansar al-Sharia said it was retaliating for the anti-Islamic video Innocence of Muslims. This Libyan militia is separate from the Yemen-based group of the same name that the United Nations and the State Department designated a terrorist organization.
Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader by both witnesses and authorities, though he insisted he played no part at the American compound. He said he was close to Ansar al-Sharia but not an official member, and that he commanded an Islamist brigade, Abu Obaida ibn al-Jarrah, some of whose members had joined the group. Noman Benotman of the Quilliam Foundation implicated the Brigades of the Imprisoned Sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman, a pro-al-Qaeda militia that several news outlets and think tanks listed as a chief suspect.
On the 7th of October 2013, the State Department designated Muhammad Jamal and his network as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Two weeks later, the United Nations Security Council noted that some of the Benghazi attackers were identified as associates of Jamal, and that some reportedly trained at his camps in Libya. Jamal, a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, was freed from an Egyptian prison after the fall of the Mubarak regime. He built a terrorist network with financing from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and Egyptian authorities detained him in December 2012. A Libyan suspect linked to the network, Karim el-Azizi, was found dead in his Egyptian apartment in October 2012 after he detonated a bomb during clashes with security forces.
Some suspects slipped away. Ali Harzi, a Tunisian whom a US intelligence official linked to Ansar al-Sharia and Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb, was arrested in Turkey in October 2012 and sent to Tunisia. Tunisian authorities released him on the 8th of January 2013 for lack of evidence. Faraj al-Shibli, a former member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, was detained in March 2013 and questioned by the FBI. Libyan authorities released him on the 12th of June 2013 for lack of evidence, and he was found dead in Libya in July 2014.
On the 6th of August 2013, it was reported that the United States had filed criminal charges against several people, including militia leader Ahmed Abu Khattala. In January 2014, the State Department designated Ansar al-Sharia as a terrorist organization. In June 2014, Army Special Operations Forces acting with the FBI captured Khattala in Libya. Mustafa al-Imam, accused of scouting for the attackers, was captured in October 2017 and sentenced in January 2020 to over 19 years in prison. On the 6th of February 2026, the United States announced the capture of Zubayr al-Bakoush, who was moved from Misrata and landed at Manassas Regional Airport in Virginia at 3 a.m. He is believed to have conducted surveillance after entering the compound once the fires were set, and to have tried to reach the vehicles on the grounds.
On the 16th of September 2012, Susan Rice, the American ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on five major interview shows. She carried talking points drawn from a CIA memo. It said the demonstrations in Benghazi were spontaneously inspired by protests at the American embassy in Cairo, and that extremists may have joined in. Rice told viewers that, on the best information available, the violence began spontaneously as a reaction to events in Cairo. She added that the government had no information leading it to conclude the attack was “premeditated or preplanned.”
Inside the government, the picture was less uniform. Security agents in Benghazi told headquarters from the start that this was a terrorist attack. At 6:07 p.m. Eastern on the night of the attack, a State Department Operations Center email went to the White House, the Pentagon, the intelligence community and the FBI. Its subject line read, “Update 2: Ansar al-Sharia Claims Responsibility for Benghazi Attack.” CIA analysts, meanwhile, maintained through the 16th of September that the demonstrations were spontaneously inspired by Cairo. The day after the attack, Clinton told Egyptian Prime Minister Kandil, “It was a planned attack, not a protest.” Ansar al-Sharia itself said it did not participate as a sole entity and called the event a spontaneous popular uprising. A later report from an independent review board concluded that “there was no protest prior to the attacks.”
Libya's own president rejected the spontaneous story. On the 16th of September, Magariaf said the attack was planned months in advance and called the idea of a protest that spun out of control “completely unfounded and preposterous.” At congressional hearings, Hicks testified that Rice's remarks insulted Magariaf in front of his own people and slowed the FBI investigation.
On the 14th of September, White House press secretary Jay Carney said there was no concrete evidence that the attack was not a reaction to the film. By the 20th, he called it “self-evident” that Benghazi was a terrorist attack. On the 18th, Obama told David Letterman that extremists and terrorists had used the video as an excuse to attack a variety of embassies. At the United Nations on the 25th, he said the attacks in Benghazi were attacks on America. On the 28th, a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence said the initial assessment of a spontaneous protest had been revised to a deliberate and organized terrorist attack.
The second presidential debate on the 16th of October 2012 turned on a single phrase. Mitt Romney claimed it took the president 14 days to call the attack an act of terror. Obama replied that he had done so in the Rose Garden the day after the attack and told Romney to “get the transcript.” Moderator Candy Crowley agreed that Obama “did call it an act of terror.” A CNN analysis found that Obama had indeed used the term, but that Romney was right that the administration delayed in stating conclusively that the attack was not a spontaneous protest. In May 2013, Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post accused Obama of “revisionist history” for saying he had called it an “act of terrorism.”
FBI investigators were not allowed onto the scene until the 4th of October, 22 days after the attack, and the site went unsecured in the meantime. CBS News reported that video from the more than 10 security cameras at the compound was not recovered until 20 days after the attack. On the 19th of October, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa posted 166 pages of sensitive but unclassified State Department communications on a public website. Administration officials said the unredacted documents exposed Libyans working with the United States and endangered their lives.
On the 28th of October, Senator John McCain called the matter either a massive cover-up or incompetence and suggested it was worse than Watergate. Democrats accused Republicans of politicizing the attack in the final two months of the election campaign. Stevens' father called on both campaigns to keep it out of the race. Obama called the criticism a “sideshow” and later lumped it among “phony scandals.”
Clinton's scheduled testimony of the 20th of December was postponed after she fainted from dehydration during a bout of flu and suffered a concussion. Representative Allen West called the illness a ruse, and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton called it a “diplomatic illness.” When she testified on the 23rd of January 2013, Senator Ron Johnson pressed her on why no one asked evacuees whether there had been a protest. She answered, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
On the 2nd of November 2012, the Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University described an unpublished study of news coverage in the days right after the attack. It concluded that leading American newspapers framed the attack as a spontaneous protest over the film four times as often as a planned terrorist attack.
In all, ten investigations did not find that Obama, Clinton, Rice or other high-ranking administration officials had acted improperly. When the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence released its report in November 2014, the Associated Press reported that it did not conclude any official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people. On the 10th of December 2014, Committee Chairman Mike Rogers still wrote that administration actions had ranged from incompetence to deplorable political manipulation.
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Common questions
What happened in the 2012 Benghazi attack?
Armed men attacked the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, at about 9:40 p.m. on the 11th of September 2012. A mortar attack on a nearby CIA annex followed at about 4:00 a.m. on the 12th of September, and four Americans died.
Who died in the 2012 Benghazi attack?
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith, and CIA contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty died. Stevens was the first American ambassador killed in an attack since Adolph Dubs in Kabul in 1979.
Who was responsible for the 2012 Benghazi attack?
The Islamist militia Ansar al-Sharia is blamed, and Ahmed Abu Khattala was called a ringleader by witnesses and authorities, though he denied taking part. There is no definitive evidence that al-Qaeda or another international terrorist organization participated.
Why was Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi during the 2012 Benghazi attack?
Deputy Gregory N. Hicks testified that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wanted the Benghazi post made permanent. Stevens also wanted to make a symbolic gesture of American support for Libya's new democracy and was reviewing plans for a cultural center and a hospital.
Did Susan Rice lie about the 2012 Benghazi attack?
None of the ten Benghazi investigations determined that Susan Rice lied. She used talking points from a CIA memo that described the attack as spontaneously inspired by protests in Cairo, an assessment later revised.
Who has been captured or convicted for the 2012 Benghazi attack?
Ahmed Abu Khattala was captured in Libya in June 2014 by United States Army Special Operations Forces working with the FBI. Mustafa al-Imam was captured in October 2017 and sentenced in January 2020 to over 19 years in prison. Zubayr al-Bakoush was captured and brought to the United States in February 2026.
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- 88NewsCIA Takes Heat for Role in LibyaAdam Entous et al. — November 1, 2012
- 89NewsFox News mangled huge Benghazi storyErik Wemple — The Washington Post blog — November 16, 2012
- 90NewsWho was Glen Doherty? Details emerge on former SEAL's final actions in BenghaziJennifer Griffin — Fox News Channel — July 26, 2013
- 93NewsVideo shows Libyans helping rescue U.S. ambassador after attackAl-Khalidi, Suleiman — September 17, 2012
- 94NewsLibya witness: Stevens was alive when foundOctober 18, 2012
- 95NewsVideo shows Libyans trying to rescue U.S. ambassadorSeptember 17, 2012
- 96Travel Warning – LibyaU.S. Embassy in Tripoli, Libya — September 12, 2012
- 97President Obama on the Attack in BenghaziInternational Information Programs, U.S. Embassy — September 12, 2012
- 99NewsVideo shows Libyans trying to save U.S. ambassadorMichael, Maggie — September 17, 2012
- 100NewsUS ambassador killed in Libya attack: Chris Stevens 'given CPR for 90 minutes', says Benghazi doctorSeptember 13, 2012
- 101NewsDiplomats' Bodies Return to U.S., and Libyan Guards Recount Deadly RiotPeter Baker et al. — September 14, 2012
- 102NewsBenghazi timeline: How the attack unfoldedNovember 2, 2012
- 103NewsRevealed: inside story of US envoy's assassinationSengupta, Kim — September 14, 2012
- 104NewsStatement on the Death of American Personnel in Benghazi, LibyaDepartment of State — September 12, 2012
- 105Statement on the Deaths of Tyrone S. Woods and Glen A. Doherty in Benghazi, LibyaHillary Rodham Clinton — Department of State — 13 September 2012
- 106NewsFormer Navy SEALs identified as consulate attack victimsFox News Channel — September 14, 2012
- 107NewsTwo ex-SEALs from SD killed in LibyaBaker, Debbi — September 13, 2012
- 108NewsLibya Attack Brings Challenges for U.S.Kirkpatrick, David D. — September 12, 2012
- 112Terrorist Designations of Ansar al-Sharia as an Alias for Al-Qaida in the Arabian PeninsulaOffice of the Spokesperson, U.S. Department of State — October 4, 2012
- 115NewsPro-al Qaeda group seen behind deadly Benghazi attackRobertson, Nic — September 13, 2012
- 116NewsUS ambassador killed in Libya: investigators probe whether Benghazi assault was plannedFoster, Peter et al. — September 13, 2012
- 117NewsLibya Attack Pre-Planned By Terror Group?Goodman, Alana — September 13, 2012
- 118The Wrath of Libya's SalafisWehrey, Frederic — Sada — September 12, 2012
- 119NewsDeadly embassy attacks were days in the makingLynch, Sara et al. — September 12, 2012
- 120JournalMuslim Brotherhood Fox Was Hired To Protect Our Benghazi Consulate Henhouse – InterviewBell, Larry — December 2, 2012
- 121NewsA Deadly Mix in BenghaziDecember 28, 2013
- 122The Benghazi Timeline, Clinton Edition - FactCheck.orgJune 30, 2016
- 123NewsClinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hardMark Hosenball — October 24, 2012
- 124NewsClinton: Facebook post about Benghazi attack not hard "evidence"October 24, 2012
- 126NewsEgyptians angry at film scale U.S. embassy wallsTamim Elyan — September 11, 2012
- 128NewsObama: U.S. consulate attack in Libya not an act of warWorld Wide Pants — September 19, 2012
- 129NewsRemarks by the President at Univision Town Hall with Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena SalinasWhite House — September 20, 2012
- 136Terrorist Designations of the Muhammad Jamal Network and Muhammad JamalU.S. Department of State — October 7, 2013
- 137NewsSecurity Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) concerning Al-Qaida and associated individuals and entitiesUnited Nations Security Council — United Nations Security Council — October 21, 2013
- 138MUHAMMAD JAMAL NETWORK (MJN)United Nations Security Council — 2013-10-21
- 141NewsWhere are the Benghazi suspects?Jomana Karadsheh et al. — CNN — July 15, 2014
- 143NewsFBI arrests 'key participant' behind Benghazi attack, Bondi saysHannah Rabinowitz — CNN — February 6, 2026
- 144NewsSuspect in 2012 Benghazi attack arrested and brought to the U.S.Kathryn Watson — CBS News — February 6, 2026
- 145NewsWhat Muslim nations' leaders are saying – and not – about embassy violenceAshley Fantz — 14 Sep 2012
- 146News15 Photos Of Libyans Apologizing To AmericansTesta, Jessica — BuzzFeed.com — September 12, 2012
- 147NewsStruggle for Ideological Upper Hand in Muslim World Seen as Factor in AttacksWorth, Robert F. — September 12, 2012
- 150Remarks at Reception Marking Eid ul-FitrDepartment of State — September 13, 2012
- 151NewsClinton: Libya Attacks By A 'Savage Group,' Not Libyan Government Or Its PeopleBen Armbruster — September 12, 2012
- 152NewsOpinion Briefing: Libyans Eye New Relations With the WestLoschky, Jay — Gallup World Polling — August 18, 2012
- 153NewsEastern Libya poll indicates political Islam will closely follow democracyMurphy, Dan — December 26, 2011
- 154NewsSurvey of Public Opinion in Eastern LibyaInternational Republican Institute
- 157NewsLibya: Islamist militia bases stormed in BenghaziSeptember 22, 2012
- 158NewsAngry Libyans Target Militias, Forcing FlightSeptember 22, 2012
- 160NewsLibyan protesters force Islamist militia out of BenghaziConal Urquhart — September 22, 2012
- 161NewsUPDATE 3-Libyan Islamist militia swept out of Benghazi basesSeptember 22, 2012
- 162NewsLibya orders militias to operate under government control or disbandOsama Alfitory — September 24, 2012
- 163NewsLibyan forces raid militia outpostsAl Jazeera — September 23, 2012
- 164NewsDisbanding Libya's militiasAl Jazeera — September 24, 2012
- 165NewsLibyan troops raid rogue brigade's baseKaradsheh, Jomana — CNN — September 24, 2012
- 166NewsLibya's army evicts unauthorized militiasCNN — September 25, 2012
- 167NewsHundreds of Libyans hand over their weaponsSeptember 29, 2012
- 168NewsLibyan militias amass weapons as rivalries surfaceSeptember 23, 2012
- 169President Obama Discusses the Attack in Benghazi, LibyaCompton, Matt — The White House — September 12, 2012
- 170Remarks by the President on the Death of U.S. Embassy Staff in LibyaWhite House — September 12, 2012
- 171NewsMarine anti-terrorism team dispatched to Libya after diplomats killedSeptember 12, 2012
- 172NewsU.S. launching apparent terrorist hunt in LibyaSeptember 13, 2012
- 173NewsObama vows to track down ambassador's killersSpetalnick, Matt et al. — September 12, 2012
- 174Remarks on the Deaths of American Personnel in Benghazi, LibyaHillary Rodham Clinton — Department of State — 12 September 2012
- 175NewsYears of warning about embassy security preceded Libya attackSolomon, John — September 12, 2012
- 176NewsU.S. vows to hunt down perpetrators of Benghazi attackCNN — September 12, 2012
- 177NewsU.S. struggles to determine whether Libya attack was plannedCNN — September 13, 2012
- 178Remarks by the President in Golden, COThe White House — Sep 13, 2012
- 179Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 9/14/2012The White House — September 14, 2012
- 180NewsExplanation for Benghazi Attack Under ScrutinyEric Schmitt — October 21, 2012
- 181NewsText: The Benghazi Talking Points28 November 2012
- 182News"Face the Nation" transcripts, September 16, 2012: Libyan Pres. Magariaf, Amb. Rice and Sen. McCainSeptember 16, 2012
- 183NewsAmbassador Susan Rice: Libya Attack Not PremeditatedSeptember 16, 2012
- 184NewsAmbassador Rice spends Sunday reinforcing White House position that Middle East violence was 'spontaneous'Fox News Channel — September 16, 2012
- 185NewsTranscripts, State of the Union with Candy Crowley, interview with Susan RiceCNN — September 16, 2012
- 187Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney, 9/18/2012September 18, 2012
- 188Press Gaggle by Press Secretary Jay Carney en route Miami, FL, 9/20/201220 September 2012
- 189NewsAs Carney labels Libya strike terrorism, Obama continues to incorrectly cite anti-Islam filmFox News Channel — September 20, 2012
- 190NewsObama's Responses To Libya Questions At Univision Forum Contradicted By Reports Of The AttackMediaite — September 20, 2012
- 191NewsObama pressed on failures at Univision forumSeptember 20, 2012
- 192NewsObama defends embassy security during Univision town hallChristi Parsons — September 20, 2012
- 193NewsUnivision's Town Hall Meeting With President ObamaReal Clear Politics — September 20, 2012
- 194NewsRepublican senators decry 'useless, worthless' Clinton briefing on Libya attackRogin, Josh — September 20, 2012
- 195NewsSenate GOP furious newspaper got better briefing on LibyaBolton, Alexander — September 22, 2012
- 196NewsAnti-film ads in Pakistan feature Obama, ClintonSeptember 24, 2012
- 197NewsTranscript: President Obama Talks to the U.N. about Mideast Peace, IranSeptember 27, 2012
- 198Remarks by the President to the UN General AssemblyWhite House — September 25, 2012
- 199NewsTranscript: Obama address to U.N. General AssemblyFox News Channel — September 25, 2012
- 202NewsProducer of anti-Islam film arrested, ordered held without bailCNN — September 28, 2012
- 204NewsFBI came to Benghazi and left in past 24 hoursOctober 4, 2012
- 205NewsWhistle-blower: Botched talking points hurt FBI probe of Benghazi attackFox News Channel — May 8, 2013
- 206NewsU.S. to Help Create an Elite Libyan Force to Combat Islamic ExtremistsEric Schmitt — October 15, 2012
- 207NewsCNN Fact Check: A day after Libya attack, Obama described it as 'acts of terror'CNN — October 17, 2012
- 208NewsThe truth about what Candy Crowley saidBryan Monroe — CNN — October 20, 2012
- 209NewsIssa's Benghazi document dump exposes several Libyans working with the U.S.Josh Rogin — 19 October 2012
- 210News"Face the Nation" transcripts, October 28, 2012: McCain and EmanuelOctober 28, 2012
- 211Interview with Senator McCain re BenghaziHugh Hewitt — October 29, 2012
- 212NewsHillary Clinton Benghazi Testimony Postponed After Secretary Of State Sustains ConcussionDecember 15, 2012
- 213NewsRep. Allen West accuses Hillary Clinton of faking concussion to avoid Benghazi testimonyDecember 20, 2012
- 214NewsIn Context: Hillary Clinton's 'What difference does it make' commentMay 7, 2013
- 215NewsMedal Proposed for Ex-SEALsWalker, Mark — March 15, 2013
- 216NewsAfter Benghazi, Marines approved for crisis response forceStarr, Barbara — CNN — April 2, 2013
- 217NewsSpain authorizes U.S. rapid reaction force in southGannett Government Media — April 19, 2013
- 218NewsObama's claim he called Benghazi an 'act of terrorism'Glen Kesller — May 14, 2013
- 219NewsAbout the Fact CheckerGlen Kesller — March 1, 2011
- 220H.R. 2848 – All ActionsUnited States Congress — September 30, 2013
- 221House Report 113-226United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs
- 222NewsSources: 15 days after Benghazi attack, FBI still investigating from afarSeptember 26, 2012
- 223NewsCongressman: Consulate attack in Libya was coordinatedGreen, J.J. — WTOP — September 13, 2012
- 224NewsIntelligence chairman doubts Libya attack linked to videoCNN — September 23, 2012
- 225NewsThe Benghazi Transcripts: US military woefully unprepared for attack, documents showFox News Channel — January 14, 2014
- 226NewsRomney Campaign, Media Collude in Unprecedented Politicization of Benghazi AttackWayne Barrett — October 22, 2012
- 227MagazineWhite House: GOP Focus On Benghazi Tied To Mitt RomneyZeke J Miller — May 10, 2013
- 228NewsAmbassador's dad says son's death in Libya shouldn't be politicizedMargaret Talev — October 15, 2012
- 230NewsPresident Obama Dismisses Benghazi Criticism as 'Sideshow'Saenz, Arlette — May 13, 2013
- 231NewsCarney Identifies Which Scandals Obama Thinks Are Phony: Benghazi And IRSIan Schwartz — RealClearPolitics — July 31, 2013
- 232Investigative Report on the Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Facilities in Benghazi, Libya, September 11–12, 2012United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
- 233NewsThe House Intelligence Committee's report on Benghazi (op-ed)Mike Rogers — December 10, 2014
- 234NewsNavy SEALs secret medals reveal heroism during past 15 yearsTom Vanden Brook — May 16, 2016
- 235Libyan tied to Benghazi attack sentenced to 19 and a half yearsJanuary 23, 2020
- 236NewsStudy: Media accepted Obama version of Benghazi attackDinan, Stephen — November 2, 2012
- 237NewsThe Rachel Maddow ShowMSNBC — September 13, 2012
- 238NewsWhite House told of militant claim two hours after Libya attack: emailsHosenball, Mark — October 23, 2012
- 239NewsE-Mails Offer Glimpse at What U.S. Knew in First Hours After Attack in LibyaSchmitt, Eric — October 23, 2012
- 241NewsBenghazi: No 'October Surprise'October 31, 2012
- 243NewsTom Ricks to Fox News: The network operates 'as a wing of the Republican Party'Weinger, Mackenzie — Politico — November 26, 2012
- 244NewsRicks: Fox doesn't care about story behind Benghazi storyWemple, Erik — November 27, 2012
- 245NewsDoes Fox News's Ed Henry agree with Tom Ricks?Wemple, Erik — December 6, 2012
- 246NewsEd Henry: Some Fox News Shows Covered Benghazi 'More Than It Needed To Be'Bauder, David — December 6, 2012
- 247House Republicans repudiate Kevin McCarthy comments - CNNPoliticsManu Raju et al. — CNN — September 30, 2015
- 248Rep. Kevin McCarthy how he would differ from John BoehnerSeptember 29, 2015
- 251ReportAccountability Review Board (ARB) Report Benghazi Report of December 19, 2012December 19, 2012
- 253House Benghazi committee files final report and shuts downDecember 13, 2016
- 254NewsThe 5 most serious accusations from Republicans' Benghazi reportAmber Phillips — 28 June 2016
- 257Judicial Watch: Benghazi Documents Point to White House on Misleading Talking PointsJudicial Watch — April 18, 2014
- 258NewsBenghazi emails: Proof Obama White House put politics ahead of truthJay Sekulow — Fox News Channel
- 261NewsThe missing Benghazi emailApril 30, 2014
- 262NewsLies, Damned Lies, and Garden-Variety Self-DeceptionJohn Dickerson — 30 April 2014
- 263NewsUS won't rule out Islamist militant link to attack on US consulate in LibyaSeptember 12, 2012
- 264NewsUS Marine anti-terrorism team heads to Libya: officialSeptember 12, 2012
- 265Statement regarding the events at US Consulate in BenghaziLibyan Prime Minister's Office — September 12, 2012
- 266NewsEgypt May Be Bigger Concern Than Libya for White HouseHelene Cooper — September 14, 2012
- 267NewsBelated Response From EgyptSeptember 14, 2012