Days after terrorists attacked the U.S. mission in Benghazi, a State
Department official ordered an executive at the security company charged
with protecting the special compound not to respond to media inquiries,
according to documents obtained by Judicial Watch.
The order was delivered via electronic mail and it’s part of a new
batch of State Department documents obtained by JW in an ongoing
investigation of the September 11, 2012 Benghazi attack and subsequent
cover-up by the Obama administration. Islamic jihadists raided the U.S.
Special Mission Compound in Benghazi, Libya and murdered Ambassador
Christopher Stevens—the first diplomat to be killed overseas in
decades—and three other Americans.
The Obama administration has worked hard to keep details of the
attack—and the negligence that led to it—from the American public, but
JW has gone to court and filed a number of public records requests to
expose the truth. JW has also published two in-depth special reports on
Benghazi, the last one on the first anniversary of the terrorist attack.
Read the special reports here and here.
The latest batch of documents obtained by JW include a scandalous
email from a State Department contracting officer named Jan Visintainer
to an unidentified executive at Blue Mountain Group (BMG), the
inexperienced foreign company hired to protect the U.S. mission in
Benghazi. In the email, dated September 26, 2012, Visintainer writes:
“Thank you so much for informing us about the media inquiries. We
notified our public affairs personnel that they too may receive some
questions. We concur with you that at the moment the best way to deal
with the inquiries is to either be silent or provide no comments.”
Some of the records were redacted or simply not included. For
instance Visintainer received a cryptic email from a redacted source
with an attachment that was not provided to JW by the State Department.
The exchange, just two days before the attack, received a lot of
attention from both the State Department and BMG, which could indicate
that perhaps it contained a more specific concern or warning about the
U.S. mission’s vulnerability.
Last month JW released the Benghazi security contract that
paid BMG, a virtually unknown and untested British company, $794,264
for nearly 50,000 guard hours. The Benghazi security deal had not been
available to the public because it was not listed as part of the large
master State Department contract that covers protection for overseas
embassies. JW had to take legal action to get it.
The deal is for one year and includes very specific requirements for
things like foot patrols, package inspection, contingency and
mobilization planning. The total guard force was 45,880 with an
additional 1,376 guards for “emergency services,” the contract shows. It
also includes one vehicle and 12 radio networks. The guards were
responsible for protecting the U.S. government personnel, facilities and
equipment from damage or loss, the contract states. “The local guard
force shall prevent unauthorized access; protect life; maintain order;
deter criminal attacks against employees; dependents and property
terrorist acts against all U.S. assets and prevent damage to government
property.”
(Click link below to read more)
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- This site is the inspiration of a former reporter/photographer for one of New England's largest daily newspapers and for various magazines. The intent is to direct readers to interesting political articles, and we urge you to visit the source sites. Any comments may be noted on site or directed to KarisChaf at gmail.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
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