From top to bottom, and left to right: the President and Vice President being updated on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa night of September 11, 2012; President Obama, with Secretary of State Clinton, delivering a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sept. 12, 2012, regarding the attack on the U.S. consulate; two photographs released through a FOIA request showing (post-attack) burned automobile and spray paint graffiti of militant Islamist slogans on ransacked and destroyed consulate building; Secretary Clinton testifying before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on January 23, 2013; portion of “wanted” poster from FBI seeking information on the attacks in Benghazi.
According to Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz, authors of the book “Under Fire – The untold story of the attack in Benghazi”, operational security was a joke at the Annex compound where Ambassador Stevens and 3 others were killed on September 11, 2012.
“The outer perimeter of the diplomatic compound was guarded by a couple of Libyan guards armed only with Tasers and a pair of handcuffs” pg 101.
“There were no counter-surveillance agents on the perimeter of the facility due to the limited resources and a lack of MSD assets on the ground, this was a critical handicap in observing those who might be watching the compound. Just as dawn broke Sean Smith reportedly noticed someone in a police uniform photographing the special mission compound from an observation perch in the building across the street. The security staff was concerned that the compound was being observed as part of a pre-operational surveillance sortie. This sort of surveillance, classic terrorist tradecraft, was usually conducted before the launch of an attack” pg 87.
“The metal gate wasn’t a State Department spec FE/BR door, like the ones that were used at various entrance points and access areas in embassies and consulates that were Inman building. It was commercial, off the shelf steel door designed to keep intruders away…” pg 144
The book lists dozens of such example of lack security protocols. Clearly whoever was in charge of security at the compound was lacks in his responsibility and oversight as were the security personnel who should have seen the problems going in. In addition the State Department also acted irresponsibly in this regard.
See Amazon reference to book http://www.amazon.com/Under-Fire-Untold-Attack-Benghazi/dp/1250041104
See related article: Benghazi consulate attack: British contractors warned US repeatedly about security http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/10408176/Benghazi-consulate-attack-British-contractor-warned-US-repeatedly-about-security.html