TerrorismFirst charges filed in Benghazi attack

Eleven months after the attack, U.S. federal officials have filed the first charges in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11 September 2012.

CNN reports that, according to people briefed on the matter, among those charged is Ahmed Abu Khattala, a prominent Libyan militia leader. Others named as defendants were not disclosed.

The charges initially were sought in New York months ago, and are still under seal. Attorney General Eric Holder had promised congressional leaders earlier this year that the Justice Department would soon publicize the action the Justice Department would be taking.

The attack on the Benghazi compounds took the lives of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens. There have been no arrests stemming from the attacks.

During the time of the investigation, which is still under way, Republican lawmakers have complained about the inaction on the part of the investigators. They pointed out that Ahmed Abu Khattala, for example, was not exactly hiding in the desert. He lives in Benghazi, and gave interviews not only to CNN, but the Reuters, the New York Times, and other media.

“One of the pertinent questions today is why we have not captured or killed the terrorist who committed these attacks?” Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), told reporters. “News out today that CNN was able to go in and talk to one of the suspected terrorists, how come the military hasn’t been able to get after them and capture or kill the people? How come the FBI isn’t doing this and yet CNN is?”

GOP lawmakers have demanded more aggressive steps be taken by incoming FBI director James Comey,

“Rumors continue to swirl about the whereabouts of suspects involved in the attack,” GOP lawmakers wrote in their letter to Comey.

“The FBI continues to add pictures of potential assailants to its website and asks the Libyan people to assist with identifying the alleged perpetrators. We struggle to understand why we don’t know more about those who attacked two U.S. compounds and murdered four brave Americans. ”

Republican lawmakers have raised questions from the start about the Obama administration’s handling of the Benghazi attack. Among the issues raised have been administration failure to beef up security at the U.S. compound in Benghazi, failure to respond to the attacks while they were underway, and the fact that with the exception of President Obama describing the attack as an “act of terrorism” the day after it occurred, other administration officials appeared, for six or seven days, reluctant to label the attack a terrorist act. Then-U.S. ambassador to the UN, and now national security advisor, Susan Rice famously said on a 16 September talk show that the attack was the result of spontaneous public anger at an anti-Muslim video, anger which gave rise t attacks n other U.S. diplomatic facilities in the region.

Republicans charge that this reluctance was an effort to mislead the public, the result of political calculations two months before a presidential election.’

Administration officials, and  supporters of the administration’s position, many of whom military and intelligence professionals who served in other administrations, point out that the Benghazi compound was not a diplomatic facility, but a CIA station under State Department cover, and as such the CIA was responsible for its security; that there were no military options available to intervene while the attack was going on; and that the reluctance to define the attack as a terrorist attack was the result of bureaucratic infighting between the CIA and the State Department, not political calculations.

CBS News reports that the State Department has taken steps to fix  security procedures in U.S. diplomatic missions following an investigation by the appointed Accountability Review Board.