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The intelligence gathering effort is just part of a broader involvement by the American military in the aftermath of the September 11 attack, including providing security on Thursday to an FBI investigative team that traveled to Benghazi. The special operations units are employing various methods to investigate, including communications intercepts, satellite and drone imagery and face-to-face meetings with those who may have information, the official said.The official declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information.
The gathered information is being used to assemble proposed targeting packages for military action if ordered by the president. Those targeting packages have to include the latest intelligence demonstrating why a target would be attacked, what weapons would be used, and how the military would limit civilian casualties. A U.S. military strike, or capture of suspects in Libya, still remains highly problematic as the Libyan government has opposed U.S. intervention.
In the immediate days following the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, the military quickly prepositioned aircraft and military teams in Sigonella, Italy, to conduct a full evacuation of Americans from Libya had it become necessary, according to a U.S. military official. Those movements were in addition to the 50-person Marine security team that was flown into Tripoli, the capital, the day after the assault. Although Americans were able to leave the country via commercial air, the quick response is an indication of just how unsure the U.S. military was about the security situation on the ground and whether American citizens could be kept safe.
In addition, as CNN has previously reported, two Navy warships capable of firing Tomahawk missiles were quickly positioned off the coast of Libya, and surveillance of known militant strongholds by drones was stepped up. All of this is just part of an undisclosed, multifaceted effort by the Pentagon to position assets off Libya to protect Americans until they could leave Libya, be in position to conduct a military strike if ordered by the president, and collect constant intelligence on possible perpetrators of the attack and the militia movements they may have belonged to. Those warships had moved away from Libyan waters in recent days, but CNN has learned one ship was sent back and was close offshore during the entire time the military was securing the area around the Benghazi compound on Thursday, while the FBI conducted an investigation of the site.
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Three weeks after four Americans were killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in eastern Libya, an FBI team arrived at the site as the investigation continued in other places, too, a Pentagon spokesman said Thursday. "You should not assume that all we could do or have been doing is restricted solely to Benghazi," Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters in Washington. "There are a variety of other places in country and outside the country where relevant things could be done and have been done. This is a matter that's been under active investigation almost since the time of the incident and I'm satisfied with the progress that we have made."
Holder said the focus of the Justice Department was "to solve this matter, to hold people accountable. So that's what we will do." Pentagon spokesman George Little said Thursday that a U.S. military support mission accompanied the FBI team, which was in Benghazi "for a number of hours" before it left the city. "We have not been sitting around waiting, you know, for information to come to us," Little said, adding that U.S. investigators were "actively chasing leads in various ways."
U.S. Special Operations forces were in Libya and nearby countries aiding in the collection of intelligence regarding the assault, a U.S. military official told CNN Thursday. The official declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the information. The September 11 consulate attack killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. The incident heightened global scrutiny of the North African nation and sparked debate over whether the Obama administration has been forthcoming about the incident.
Officials said the military presence was an indication of ongoing security concerns in the region. Security concerns at the site had led the FBI to delay for more than three weeks its visit to Benghazi. FBI and military officials had cited the need for proper military protection in the event of another attack. Little described the security team accompanying the FBI as a "small footprint of military personnel." The visit took place after the Libyans approved the presence of the FBI and the U.S. military in Benghazi. The U.S. military force that provided security was approved by Libyan government, Little said.
Kevin Perkins, FBI associate deputy director, told a congressional hearing on September 19 that a "significant number of FBI agents, analysts and various support employees" had been assigned to the case. "We are conducting interviews, gathering evidence and trying to sort out the facts, working with our partners both from a criminal standpoint, as well as in the intelligence community, to try to determine exactly what took place on the ground that evening," he told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.
More FBI visits site of attack in Libya - CNN.com
