Benghazi Attack, 9/11/2012

On September 11, 2012, armed attackers attacked U.S. government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, killing four Americans and injuring several others. The attack occurred amid a deteriorating security environment in post-revolution Libya, where the central government had limited control over armed militias and extremist groups. The State Department’s Accountability Review Board reported that there was no specific warning of the attack and that security deficiencies existed. The Black Vault’s Benghazi archive includes records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, government releases, and congressional investigations, focusing on what the U.S. government knew about threats in the region before the attack. The archive includes FOIA responses and records from agencies like the Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, FBI, and CIA, covering security conditions, threat intelligence, and government responses. These records allow researchers to examine the actual information available, rather than relying on later public accounts.

• The State Department accepted 29 recommendations addressing diplomatic security and protection of personnel at high-risk posts.
• The NSA collection includes internal communications about the developing situation during the attack.
• The archive documents how information about Benghazi was communicated inside the government and presented publicly after the attack.
• The FBI’s FOIA responses show that agencies acknowledged locating responsive records but withheld some due to classified information, statutory protections, or law-enforcement proceedings.
• The archive includes documents from the House Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi, examining the events leading up to the attack, the military and civilian response, and government communications.

The archive preserves primary records, FOIA responses, and investigative material so they can be reviewed directly and compared against claims surrounding the attack. The document index includes FOIA requests still open and being processed, and they will be made available when processed. The archive also includes officially released photographs from the attack scene and a 130-page State Department collection concerning the Blue Mountain Group, the security contractor that provided local guards at the Special Mission compound. The archive includes material from the congressional investigations that followed, including the 2016 report of the House Select Committee.

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