Benghazi updateAdministration: attack on consulate was a pre-planned terrorist attack

The administration yesterday (Thursday) began to move away from its initial description of the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi as a spontaneous reaction to the anti-Islamic movie, to suggest that the attack was a terrorist act  planned in advance. It now appears that the terrorists attacking the consulate found it convenient to launch the attack during the period of heightened anger in the Muslim world over the movie, anger which found expression in anti-American demonstrations and violence in Egypt Yemen, Pakistan, Tunisia, and other places.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, for the first time, called the attack terrorism. “It is, I think, self evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack,” Carney said Thursday. “Our embassy was attacked violently and the result was four deaths of American officials. That is self evident.”

Other people with knowledge of the initial intelligence investigation agree. Fox News reports that Rep. Adam Smith (D-Washington), ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, also said that from what he has learned there was “some pre-planning” involved. Further, he said that Sufyan Ben Qumu — an al Qaeda-tied former Guantanamo inmate whom Fox News was first to report as a possible suspect — did come up in the briefing as a “person of interest.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and other top officials were involved in the extensive briefings on Capitol Hill late Thursday. It is unclear how much of the lawmakers’ claims afterward were based on information learned in the briefing.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack, administration officials appeared reluctant to call the attack a terrorist attack, preferring to portray it as part of the spontaneous eruption of Muslim anger. This initial reading of the attack reflected lack of specific information, but also a recognition that if the attack were to be portrayed as a preplanned terrorist attack, then questions about potential intelligence failure would likely be raised.

The Libyan government, from the outset, insisted this was a preplanned attack, pointing to the type of weapons used in the attack, the number of people involved, and the rehearsed manner in which the attack unfolded across the compound.

The United States has sharply increased intelligence gathering operations in eastern Libya in the last six months. More surveillance drones are loitering over the vast area, and CIA and special forces personnel collect information on the ground. These operations have been launched in response to a marked increase in the presence of operatives from al Qaeda and al Qaeda-affiliated groups in the region.