Contrary to claims by the Obama administration, a top aide to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the day after the Sept. 11 killings of four Americans that it appeared to be the result of a terrorist attack.
Patrick F. Kennedy, the Under Secretary of State for Management, disclosed the news in an unclassified conference call to Capitol Hill staffers on Sept. 12,
Fox News reports. Kennedy manages all departmental personnel, facilities, and operations.
The half-hour call was with aides to House and Senate lawmakers from various relevant committees and leadership offices. Several Capitol Hill sources described the call to Fox News.
Kennedy, according to Fox, is one of the State Department’s most respected civil servants. He served in the same position in the George W. Bush White House.
Kennedy’s swift assessment – and coming from a State Department official with direct oversight of the facilities and staff stationed in Benghazi – flies in the face of initial Obama administration reports on the assaults, which were linked to a video that Muslims found offensive.
The attacks killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
On the conference call, the sources told Fox that Kennedy cautioned that he was not a "security expert" before disclosing the presence of light and heavy weapons outside the U.S. consulate and annex in Benghazi.
“He made clear that this was a sophisticated attack," one Hill staff aide with a security clearance, told Fox. "He indicated this was fairly complex, and not, like, a protest that got out of hand. ... These were not the kind of weapons you tote around."
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