Moreover, the report confirms that both CIA security personnel and State Department security agents knew they were ill-equipped and ill-trained and knew well before the attacks that they could not defend the State Department’s facility against an armed assault. In spite of repeated requests from State Dept agents and the CIA for additional resources, their request was given little attention or priority...and never acted on.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/usmc/msgbn.htm
On 11 September 2012, the Libyan consulate in Benghazi was attacked. The US Ambassador to Libya, J Christopher Stevens, and 3 other Americans were killed in the attack. Initially it was reported that the attack was conducted by protesters angered at a controversial film produced in the United States said to insult to Prophet Muhammad and Islam. While the film may have been the inciting incident, later reports suggested that the attack had been planned and coordinated at a higher level. Reuters, citing Libyan officials, reported that the attack might have been launched by Ansar Al-Sharia. It was later reported by Wired.com's Danger Room that there were no Marine Security Guards or other Marine Assets present at the consulate in Benghazi when the attack occurred. Security was being provided by local authorities and private contractors.
And just to place everything in the right perspective, what type of logistics are involved regarding Diplomatic Security :
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/88396.pdf
To add to the above that the State Department conveys its requests to the DoD based on a list of priority locations. Priority locations being diplomatic facilities storing highly sensitive material/data/information of a classified character.(keep in mind what the primary mission of MCESG Marines is) :
The primary mission of the Marine Security Guard (MSG) is to provide internal security at designated US diplomatic and consular facilities in order to prevent the compromise of classified material vital to the national security of the United States. The secondary mission of the MSG is to provide protection for US citizens and US government property located within designated US diplomatic and consular premises during exigent circumstances (urgent temporary circumstances which require immediate aid or action). All Marine Security Guards are members of the Marine Corps Embassy Security Group (MCESG).
(from the first link)
Meaning that such classified and sensitive material is usually NOT stored in temporary Consular missions such as it was the status of the Benghazi US Consular Mission. Rather in Embassies and Consulates General.That is where the vast majority of the limited military resources known as the MCESG will be assigned. And when I say "limited" I mean it : just about over 1000 Marines covering 174 detachments in some 135 nations.(and I did not deduct the number of MSG Marines stationed CONUS in Quantico , Va.) At the time of the Benghazi attack, there were less than 150 detachments covering 9 regions throughout the world.( an increase of 1000 Marines is expected to be completed by 2016)
What followed the Benghazi attack regarding the increase of Marine Security Detachments :
Changes to Marine Security Guard elements were mentioned as part of testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee delivered by Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta on 7 February 2013. Panetta announced that a review of US embassy security procedures conducted in the aftermath of attacks on the US Temporary Mission Facility in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012 had considered how the role, mission, and resourcing of the Marine Security Guards could be adapted to respond to the new threat environment. In Tunis, Tunisia; Cairo, Egypt; Khartoum, Sudan; Sana’a Yemen, the Department of Defense had initiated coordination with the Department of State to expand the Marines' role beyond their primary mission of protecting classified information. The Department of Defense had also subsequently agreed with the Department of State to add 35 new Marine Security Guard detachments, totally almost 1,000 Marines, over 2-3 years, in addition to the existing 152 detachments. The specific locations for the new detachments had not been decided on by that time.
Will the Marine Corps be able to augment its personnel to an additional 1000 MSG Marines? The new school facility in Quantico to support such increase of trainees was completed just this year. The additional 1000 personnel was authorized at the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year, for a duration of 3 years.
The goal to meet, being :
https://www.mca-marines.org/leatherneck/meeting-milestones-expansion-marine-security-guard-program
The logistics involved in covering each and all US Diplomatic and Consular facilities overseas are far more complex than you realize, Max. Failures always occur when dealing with complex logistics. But when it comes to the military, the DoD and SecDef, they are fully dependent on your Congress members to be able to benefit of appropriated funds to be directed to any increase and continuous maintenance of the "troops".
Towards whom, Max, should you point your finger? Do you actually *think* that the "Hillary Clinton team" is the party who had the power to appropriate funds supporting an adequate quota of USMC personnel dedicated to providing diplomatic security across 9 regions? Insuring that each and every diplomatic/consular mission in elevated threats areas would have a detachment of MSG trained and qualified Marines? To include the Temporary Mission in Benghazi?
Why is it, Max, that your Congress members up to that point did not bother looking into the depleted state of military resources dedicated and specially trained for Diplomatic Security?
You tell me....
