Former DHS Official: Admin Should Have ‘Put Significant Amount of Priority’ on Benghazi Security

A former Obama-administration official said he would have “put significant amount of priority” on requests for increased security for the American facility in Benghazi prior to the September 11, 2012, attack, but that the State Department didn’t do so. 

During Wednesday’s inaugural hearing before the committee tasked with investigating the events, Todd Keil, former assistant Homeland Security secretary for infrastructure protection, confirmed that those on the ground in Benghazi were repeatedly denied increased security. Security was even reduced at one point, and had he been in Benghazi at the time, Keil said he would have been arguing for more security given the intelligence.

“I would probably be doing more than lobbying [for more security] — I’d be extremely frustrated, and trying to push every button I could possibly push,” he told Representative Jim Jordan (R., Ohio).