With everything we learn about Benghazi, the news gets worse:
The U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, was operating under a lower security standard than a typical consulate when it was attacked this month, according to State Department officials.
The mission was a rented villa and considered a temporary facility by the agency, which allowed a waiver that permitted fewer guards and security measures than a standard embassy or consulate, according to the officials.
There was talk about constructing a permanent facility, which would require a building that met U.S. security and legal standards, the officials said.
Allowing a waiver would have been a decision made with input from Washington, Libyan officials and the ambassador, according to diplomatic security experts.
"Someone made the decision that the mission in Benghazi was so critical that they waived the standard security requirements, which presents unique challenges to the diplomatic security service as you can imagine," said Fred Burton, vice president for Intelligence at STRATFOR, an intelligence analysis group.
While standards were lower at the compound, security had been enhanced at the post after a number of incidents this year that included a failed bombing attempt against the compound in June, according to sources.
Even worse:
The attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans has dealt the Central Intelligence Agency a major setback in its intelligence-gathering efforts at a time of increasing instability in the North African nation.
Among the more than two dozen American personnel evacuated from the city after the assault on the American mission and a nearby annex were about a dozen C.I.A. operatives and contractors, who played a crucial role in conducting surveillance and collecting information on an array of armed militant groups in and around the city.
"It's a catastrophic intelligence loss," said one American official who has served in Libya and who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the F.B.I. is still investigating the attack. "We got our eyes poked out."
The C.I.A.'s surveillance targets in Benghazi and eastern Libya include Ansar al-Sharia, a militia that some have blamed for the attack, as well as suspected members of Al Qaeda's affiliate in North Africa, known as Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
Also in that article is the statement, "The F.B.I. has sent investigators -- many from its New York field office -- to Benghazi, but they have been hampered by the city's tenuous security environment and the fact that they arrived more than a day after the attack occurred, according to senior American official."
But CBS News is reporting that "the F.B.I. isn't even in Benghazi yet, they haven't secured that site, which is how journalists can wander through."
Just how unsecured? Apparently, extremely unsecured:
But one question remains: How did CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon walk out of a "crime scene" with what would presumably be a piece of evidence needed for the investigation?
Damon, who described the consulate on Sept. 14 as "completely gutted," isn't commenting on finding the journal, but journalists who were at the consulate days after the attack told The Huffington Post that it wouldn't have been hard to remove something given the lack of security.
"We were astonished because this was a crime scene," said London Times foreign reporter Martin Fletcher, who arrived at the consulate on Sept. 13, a day before the journal was removed.
"If it had been in the West, there would be forensics experts picking over the rubble and ashes," Fletcher continued. "There was none of that at all."
In an interview with The Huffington Post, Fletcher said "there was no sign at all of any security or investigators from Libya or the United States. For that reason, he said, "there would have been no problem at all picking up something and putting it in a brief case."
Fletcher added that journalists were also free to tour the "annex," a U.S. safe house roughly a kilometer away that was also attacked. "Someone showed us where it was," Fletcher said. "We went in. The owner was there. He showed us around." There was no security or any sign of any investigator at the annex, according to Fletcher.
Now, this is a dangerous city. We pulled all of our nonessential diplomatic staff out of Libya, and our investigative teams can't just go traipsing through the country without approval from the Libyan government. There may be a genuine question of whether Libyan authorities can provide sufficient security for an FBI team on-scene. (I'm reminded of the surprisingly good 2007 film The Kingdom, in which a terrorist attacks housing for American employees in Saudi Arabia, then detonates a second bomb to kill the emergency workers and investigators responding to the first bombing. If you were one of these jihadists in Benghazi, wouldn't you love to attempt a second raid on the FBI team investigating the scene?)
But it has now been two weeks since the attack. One would think that the Libyan and American governments would have come up with a way to secure the site of a terrorist attack for investigation.
Ed Morrissey asks, "State won't answer questions, and the FBI hasn't gotten to the scene. However, reporters can apparently comb the rubble and come up with sensitive material and use it for broadcast. Shouldn't that raise a few questions about the American response to this attack, too, that State can ignore?"
We've been hit, again, and our people killed, and our government appears to be flailing in its response.
In other news, "The president brought Barbara Walters a birthday basket with White House beer, M&Ms, Marine One deck of cards and a WH golf ball."
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