Correspondence from Hillary Clinton's personal email account made public Friday by the State Department raises questions about why sensitive information regarding the U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi was not designated officially as classified.
One of the Clinton emails, first reported by the New York Times, concerns the whereabouts of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens while he was stationed in arguably one of the most dangerous zones in the world for any American diplomat.
About a year-and-a-half before the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack in Benghazi, one email forwarded to Clinton from her senior aide, Huma Abedin, detailed Stevens' movements while Libya was descending into chaos and al-Qaida-linked groups were gaining territory.
The email contained what the State Department designated as “sensitive” information, or “SBU,” sensitive but unclassified. It is not immediately clear why Stevens' movements in a war zone where anti-American extremists were helping to wage an insurgency were not classified.
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“The envoy’s delegation is currently doing a phased checkout (paying the hotel bills, moving some comms to the boat, etc.),” wrote Abedin. “He (Stevens) will monitor the situation to see if it deteriorates further, but no decision has been made on departure. He will wait 2-3 more hours, then revisit the decision on departure.”
Sensitive documents not classified
It's just the latest example of sensitive information regarding the U.S. Benghazi special mission contained in government documents that was not officially classified.
The mission itself reportedly contained sensitive documents and information that was not officially classified, either.
U.S. missions that house classified materials usually require the protection of a U.S. Marine contingent.
The U.S. Benghazi facility was protected by the Martyrs of the 17th Brigade militia, an offshoot of the Ansar al-Sharia terrorist organization that took responsibility for the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.
In her memoir, “Hard Choices,” Clinton claims the reason Marines were not posted to the Benghazi compound was because the job of Marines is to protect classified documents, and the Benghazi facility did not process classified documents.
“Many Americans and even members of Congress were surprised to learn that there were no U.S. Marines assigned to our Benghazi compound,” she wrote. “In fact Marines are assigned to only a little over half of all our diplomatic posts around the world, where their primary mission is the protection and, if necessary, the destruction of classified materials and equipment.”
Continued Clinton: “So while there were Marines stationed at our embassy in Tripoli, where nearly all of our diplomats worked and which had the capability to process classified material, because there was no classified processing at the diplomatic compound in Benghazi, there were no Marines posted there.”
Debate over security
While Clinton claims no classified documents were processed at the facility, questions have been raised as to why sensitive information housed there was not officially designated as classified.
The question of the security designation of documents and information contained at the Benghazi facility was prompted by a debate within the intelligence community.
In July 2014, Fox News quoted sources in Washington and on the ground in Libya, including a witness, confirming computers were stolen during the Sept. 11, 2012, attack.
“They took computers, computer devices. And I saw M-16 rifles, American rifles. I know they are American – we don’t have them, we just have AK-47s – and a suitcase,” the Libyan witness told Fox News.
Two days after the attack, the London Independent reported documents inside the U.S. mission were said to “list names of Libyans who are working with Americans, putting them potentially at risk from extremist groups.”
Three weeks after the attack, the Washington Post reported documents inside the U.S. mission contained “delicate information about American operations in Libya.”
The Post reported one of its journalists visited the facility weeks after the attack to find scattered across the floors “documents detailing weapons collection efforts, emergency evacuation protocols, the full internal itinerary of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens’ trip and the personnel records of Libyans who were contracted to secure the mission.”
The July 2014 Fox News report said that after the U.S. mission was looted, some of the Libyans employed there received death threats via text message. It is unclear whether the threats were prompted by the stolen documents and computers.
In another example of the strange classification of documents at the facility, the federal indictment of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, suspected of helping to lead the attack, raised major questions regarding a central claim by Clinton about security at the mission.
Khatallah was a senior commander and Benghazi-based leader of the Ansar al-Sharia terrorist organization implicated in the attack. He is the only person taken into U.S. custody over the Benghazi attack.
The 21-page, 18-count indictment against Khatallah was reviewed in full by WND.
The indictment accuses Khatallah of stealing “documents, maps and computers containing sensitive information” from the Benghazi mission.
It further states that before the assault, Khatallah conspired to “plunder property from the Mission and Annex, including documents, maps and computers containing sensitive information.”
It clearly meant that part of his motivation for the attack was to obtain sensitive documents inside the U.S. compound.
Contacted by WND, two former CIA agents said they were perplexed as to why such reported sensitive information housed inside the Benghazi mission was not designated as classified. The agents’ assessments were based on news media descriptions of the information, not on any firsthand knowledge.