US Director for National Intelligence: Benghazi Attack ‘Deliberate and Organized’

DNI Office Admits They Called It 'Spontaneous'

It is now day 16 of the post-Benghazi debacle, and the Obama Administration’s repeated changing of the official story on the consulate attack has become an almost unprecedented example of incompetence. Today is a fresh day though, and that means a new story.

Enter the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), which is now publicly commenting, terming the attack a “deliberate and organized terrorist attack.” Perhaps more importantly, they took credit for the embarrassing previous comments in the administration.

DNI spokesman Shawn Turner conceded that the Obama Administration’s claims that the attack was “spontaneous” and just a public protest gone wrong were based on their office’s own assessment of the situation at the time. Now they say that was “premature” and they are changing their mind to the new statement.

But is it any less premature? The FBI was sent to investigate almost immediately after the attack and they still haven’t actually gotten inside the city of Benghazi, citing security concern. Officials have repeatedly conceded that they don’t have “proof” to back up their statements and more than two weeks in they still don’t seem to be speaking from anything but random guesses of what might have happened.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.