2012 Benghazi attacks

2012 Benghazi attacks, assaults on a U.S. diplomatic compound and a nearby CIA annex in the city of Benghazi, Libya, on September 11–12, 2012, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya—the first violent death of a U.S. ambassador since 1988. The incident sparked controversy and ignited a political firestorm in the United States.

The attacks

As the Libyan uprising that began in February 2011 continued to escalate, U.S. envoy John Christopher (“Chris”) Stevens first arrived in Benghazi on April 5, 2011, in an outreach mission to the Libyan rebels. He was appointed U.S. ambassador to Libya in May 2012 and was based in Tripoli. On September 10, 2012, he went to the U.S. compound in Benghazi to continue work on the special mission there, including reconnecting with local contacts and filling staffing gaps.

On the night of September 11, about 150 Islamic militants associated with an al-Qaeda affiliate stormed the compound and set fire to the main building. Stevens, information technology specialist Sean Smith, and a security officer hid in a safe room. By the time rescuers arrived, Smith had died of asphyxiation, and Stevens could not be found in the heavy smoke before the rescue team was driven out. Stevens was later recovered by local Libyans and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The second and third attacks occurred at a nearby CIA compound. The second attack, about midnight, caused no casualties. The third attack occurred early in the morning: the compound was hit by mortar fire, and two security agents were killed. Soon afterward, local Libyan militias friendly to the United States arrived to escort the remaining Americans to the airport.

Reactions and investigation

As the U.S. government began to investigate the incident, initial remarks from officials were vague and at times seemed contradictory. In the days following the attacks, officials in the Obama administration reported that the incident was related to demonstrations that same day that occurred outside the U.S. embassy in Cairo, after an Egyptian-American had produced and posted an anti-Islam video on YouTube. But no evidence of similar protests in Benghazi could be substantiated, and other evidence emerged, suggesting that the attacks were a premeditated act by the al-Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia. Several investigations into the incident faulted insufficient bureaucratic measures responsible for the failure to prevent and respond properly to the attacks. As the 2012 U.S. presidential election loomed, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assumed responsibility for the bureaucratic failures as head of the Department of State and implemented all 29 institutional reforms recommended by the department’s Accountability Review Board. The incident continued to generate controversy, however, as various congressional committees conducted their own investigations; the final investigative report on the attacks was released nearly four years later, in the summer of 2016.