Report: Benghazi Guards Betrayed U.S. Diplomats in 2012 Attack

Multiple sources have told Fox News that the guards hired to protect the Americans in Benghazi betrayed them in the end. These sources claim the firm “hastily recruited locals with terror ties who helped carry out the attack” that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, Foreign Service Information Officer Sean Smith and CIA contractors and former Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

The sources also said the State Department hired these guards from the Wales-based Blue Mountain Group despite internal objections:

The explosive charge against Wales-based Blue Mountain Group comes from several sources, including an independent security specialist who has implemented training programs at U.S. Consulates around the world, including in Benghazi, where he trained a local militia that preceded Blue Mountain. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Blue Mountain used local newspaper ads to assemble a team of 20 guards, many of whom had terror ties, after securing a $9.2 million annual contract.

The source told Fox News that these locals belonged to the Ansar al-Sharia and al-Qaeda groups in Benghazi. The department allowed this firm to hire locals without vetting them:

“We kept asking for additional support, including a 50-caliber mounted machine gun, but the State Department would not give it to us, because they said it would upset the locals,” the source told Fox News. “Instead, the State Department hired a company that doesn’t have employees, which then hired terrorists.”

According to Charles Tiefer, a commissioner at the Commission on wartime Contracting, one of the guards “was the younger brother of the leader of Al Qaeda of Benghazi.”

Jairo Saravia of the Regional Security office for the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli told the State Department that Blue Mountain “is not licensed by the GOL (Government of Libya) to provide security services in Libya.” The group lost its security contracts with the Corinthian Hotel and Palm City complex in Tripoli. He wrote:

“I would advise not to use their services to provide security for any of our annexes and/or offices due to the sensitivity this issue has with the current GOL.”

CIA contractor John “Tig” Tiegen responded to the Benghazi attack and confirmed the sources story:

“Many of the local Libyans who attacked the consulate on the night of Sept. 11, 2012, were the actual guards that the State Department under Hillary Clinton hired to protect the Consulate in Benghazi,” Tiegen told Fox News. “The guards were unvetted and were locals with basically no background at all in providing security. Most of them never had held a job in security in the past.“Blue Mountain Libya, at the time of being awarded the contract by our State Department, had no employees so they quickly had to find people to work, regardless of their backgrounds,” he said.

Former guard Weeam Mohamed told the Citizens Commission on Benghazi “that at least four guards hired by Blue Mountain took part in the attack after opening doors to allow their confederates in.”

Tags: Benghazi, State Department, Terrorism

CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY