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| Africa North |
| UK's Blue Mountain Group report local guard force placed Benghazi facility at risk |
| 2014-09-14 |
| [Hot Air] Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained 130 pages of new State Department documents revealing that local security guards working for Blue Mountain Group (BMG), the firm hired to protect the U.S. Special Mission in Benghazi, repeatedly abandoned their posts "out of fear of their safety " he months leading up to the deadly terrorist attack on the special mission compound. According to the documents, on June 30, 2012, three months before the Benghazi terrorist attack, a Quality Assurance Compliance Report from Blue Mountain Libya to Department of State Contract Specialist Neal Kern warned that the number of local security guards leaving their posts had put the U.S. Benghazi Mission at risk: Due to the amount of local guard force members leaving out of fear of their safety and the long process to security check individuals, it makes it very difficult to quickly react to a large drop in staff in quick succession as has been occurring with all the incidents especially when additional staff are requested. More smoke in the teepee. I'm confident BMG holds the key to what went wrong in Benghazi. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #14 #13 Steve wins! (As least for something you can print on a family blog) |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-09-14 20:53 |
| #13 I'd write it as "media shill". |
| Posted by: SteveS 2014-09-14 19:05 |
| #12 Agreed, Pappy - that's how I took it. But I think it shoult be written "professional" journalist. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-09-14 18:31 |
| #11 People like badanov do a pretty good job of doing what a journalist should be doing. We just need a lot more of them. Agree with that. The rest of us can help spread the word by posting links to the useful stuff & poking holes in the silly stuff. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2014-09-14 18:02 |
| #10 Maybe that should be "professional journalist." People like badanov do a pretty good job of doing what a journalist should be doing. We just need a lot more of them. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-09-14 14:09 |
| #9 "Then again, I'm not a journalist." And we thank God for it, Pappy! |
| Posted by: Barbara 2014-09-14 12:55 |
| #8 Interestingly enough, information obtained so far is all open-source. It didn't take much to find out that BMG's (first?) on-scene management had experience in "personal security" and no mention of being able to manage security of a government installation - in a threat zone with a history of attacks against embassy/NGO personnel - that involved foreign nationals (and local militia to boot) as part of the security force. Then again, I'm not a journalist. Maybe there's a secret handshake involved. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-09-14 12:32 |
| #7 Check out BMG's charming new website. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-09-14 11:46 |
| #6 And thanks to Beldar Sloque as well. Yes! Please start flipping rocks and dig here ! |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-09-14 11:19 |
| #5 4. Contracting with a small, relative unknown UK firm that had little to no experience in embassy security over other, more experienced security firms. Pappy Thanks Pappy. THIS my friends, is the rock that very desperately needs flipping over. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-09-14 11:08 |
| #4 Perhaps this will explain why some Republicans object to the Benghazi hearing: From Daily Caller: "Sussing out the White House’s response to Benghazi is a critical step in clearing the shadows from the incident, but there are other players in the drama as well, including Rep. Rogers, and possibly also including a private military contracting firm that until recently was run by his wife, Kristi Rogers. Mike and Kristi Rogers are quintessential Washington insiders. A seven-term Republican from Michigan, Mike Rogers climbed the political ladder to become chairman of the Intelligence Committee in January 2011. Kristi Rogers, after years of government service in mid-level administrative positions, moved to the private sector, joining the British-based security contractor Aegis Defense Services to help open its U.S. subsidiary. The newsletter Intelligence Online noted that thanks to Ms. Rogers’ efforts, “Aegis won several major contracts with the U.S. administration.” |
| Posted by: Beldar Sloque3832 2014-09-14 10:08 |
| #3 The arrow continues to point back to State. 1. "Temporary facility" designation. 2. Refusal of requests for additional security, security improvements, etc. 3. Refusal to make physical security improvements. 3. Blame Congress for not providing money, while doing such necessary improvements at other State facilities as solar charging stations for embassy vehicles in Austria. 4. Blame Congress for not providing money, yet build a "media center for public use" in a "temporary facility" (the ambassador was ostensibly there for opening ceremonies for the new media center.) 4. Contracting with a small, relative unknown UK firm that had little to no experience in embassy security over other, more experienced security firms. 6. Refuse to extend rotation of US military security teams to the temporary facility . Pull back to Tripoli what US military security teams were present. I've probably left a few out. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2014-09-14 08:59 |
| #2 Someone at Foggy Bottom obviously wanted the local guard force contract continued in spite of the warnings and pleas. The argument centering around the requested U.S. Special Forces personnel not being covered by a SOFA appears to be a red herring. Interestingly, the absence of a SOFA agreement has not hindered current troop deployments to the USEMBASSY Baghdad. The arrow continues to point back to State. I'd like to get Bangkok Billy's take on all of this. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-09-14 01:43 |
#1 Alternate link to Hot Air story
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2014-09-14 01:26 |