State Dept.: After Compound Sounded Alarm, Additional Security Forces Mobilized In Benghazi And Tripoli

AP: Agents At Benghazi Compound Alerted Authorities In Benghazi, Tripoli, And Washington To The Attack. In an October 9 conference call, a group of State Department officials reportedly told media outlets that additional forces came to the aid of the Benghazi compound as it was attacked. The Associated Press reported that in a control center at the compound, “agents watched on cameras as a large group of armed men flowed into the compound. They immediately sounded the alarm and made telephone calls to the embassy in Tripoli, officials in Washington, the Libyan authorities and the U.S. quick reaction force located at a second compound a little over a mile away.” [Associated Press, 10/10/12]

AP: Six-Member Quick Reaction Team And 60 Libyan Militiamen In Benghazi Responded. The AP reported that a “six-member quick reaction security team arrived on the scene from its compound across town, the officials said. About 60 Libyan militiamen accompanied the team, and it again tried to secure a perimeter around [Ambassador Chris] Stevens' building, taking turns searching inside.” [Associated Press, 10/10/12]

AP: Reinforcements From Embassy In Tripoli Arrived The Same Night. The quick-response team returned to its compound across town and the same night, a “team of reinforcements from the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli arrived on a chartered aircraft at the Benghazi airport and reached the security compound,” the AP explained. [Associated Press, 10/10/12]

Yet McFarland Claims That No Additional Security Was Requested And That It Was “Probably A Political Decision”

McFarland Claimed That “Nobody” Sent Security From Benghazi Or Tripoli To Aid Compound During Attack. Appearing on the October 10 edition of America Live, Fox News national security analyst K.T. McFarland expressed outrage that no additional security forces came to the aid of the U.S. consulate in Benghazi when it was under attack:

McFARLAND: Something that nobody has asked yet, that I want to hear the answer to. OK, I understand they didn't provide adequate security. But once that attack was going down, they knew it was happening. They did not know how long it would last, what the result would be. Would Americans be killed? Would they be captured? Would they be held hostage? Why did nobody try to send other security guards that were -- security that was in Benghazi. There was security in Tripoli. We had forces in Sicily. Why did no one try to -- as that attack was going down, go find out what was going on and see if they could be useful to protect Americans? So, that's a whole second line of unanswered questions. [Fox News, America Live, 10/10/12]

McFarland: “It Was Probably A Political Decision Not To Rescue Them.” McFarland later claimed the supposed absence of aid to the consulate was “probably” politically motivated. From America Live:

ALISYN CAMEROTA (guest host): K.T., who is responsible for answering all of these questions?

McFARLAND: Well, that's the question you want to know. I mean, here's what's happened is, bad stuff happened, all right? So what is the administration doing? They're throwing a lot of dust up in the air to try to make sure you're not sure quite what happened, who to blame. Is it the movie's fault? Is it the intelligence community? Is it the security? Is it the State Department diplomats? We don't know the answers to that. I've got a guess that it's something that was a political decision. And not only a political decision not to give them the kind of security they wanted, but it was probably a political decision not to rescue them. And finally, is it a political decision to try to put a lot of blue smoke and mirrors in front of everybody so they don't know what really happened, and they won't know what really happened until after the election? [Fox News, America Live, 10/10/12]