Politics

Will the Benghazi survivors finally be able to speak?

Allison Coyle Contributor
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The survivors from the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, may finally be given the chance to speak.

According to the latest column from Steve Hayes of The Weekly Standard,

CIA Director John Brennan said he would provide the “relevant information” to House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers on Sept. 3, The Weekly Standard reports.

Brennan’s letter “comes as four committees of jurisdiction in the House of Representatives prepare to reinvigorate separate inquiries into the events of September 11, 2012, and their aftermath,” the Standard reports.

In the letter, Brennan addressed several questions previously raised by Rogers in an Aug. 2 letter. The CIA director insisted that CIA officers on the ground at the time were not polygraphed, nor were they forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. Additionally, Brennan stated that CIA officers were not discouraged from speaking with House oversight committees.

“CIA leadership has consistently made clear to staff and contractors that they may communicate about the Benghazi attacks to our oversight committees,” Brennan wrote in the letter obtained by the Standard. “To this end, I sent a letter to each of the officers who were in Benghazi on the night of the attacks relaying the HPSCI and SSCI request to meet with them and indicating we would support such meetings. That letter has now been appropriately redacted and provided to your Committee as an unclassified document. While I cannot account for all conversations that employees and contractors may have had on the subject of speaking to Congress, my letter reflects the commitment of CIA leadership to communicate clearly to our staff officers and contractors that they may speak to our oversight committees about the Benghazi attacks.”

Brennan letter Brennan letter 2

“Finally,” Brennan wrote, “you asked that CIA provide a list of all officers in Libya on 11 September 2012 and arrange for the Committee to speak to any of those officers regardless of their current location. Information identifying those officers is classified. We will work with the Committee to provide the relevant information via classified channels.”

Brennan letter 3

The House Intelligence Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing later this week addressing why the investigation seems to have stonewalled.