Benghazi One Year Later

WHY HAVE OFFICIALS AT BOTH STATE DEPARTMENT AND CIA DESCRIBED INTIMIDATION EFFORTS CONCERNING BENGHAZI?

 

A 22-Year Foreign Service Officer Has Felt “Punished” And “Shunted Aside” For Questioning The Administration’s Benghazi Response

 

Gregory Hicks, Former Deputy Chief Of Mission In Libya: “I Feel That I Have Been Punished” By The State Department For Speaking Out About Benghazi. STEPHANOPOULOS: “You’ve had, you know, quite a journey yourself in this last year: decided to speak to Congress just back in May. Since then, it appears it had been in something of career limbo inside the State Department.” HICKS: “That’s correct. That’s true.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “The State Department says this was an assignment you requested. You’re getting the same pay as before. But do you feel you’re being punished for speaking out?” MR. HICKS: “Yes, I feel that I have been punished. I don’t know why I was punished. I don’t know why I was punished. (ABC’s ” This Week,” 9/8/13)

• Hicks: “I Don’t Know Why I Was Shunted Aside, Put In A Closet, If You Will.” HICKS: “I don’t know why I was shunted aside, put in a closet, if you will.” STEPHANOPOULOS: “Does the State Department know you’re speaking out now?” HICKS: “No, they don’t know I’m here with you.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 9/8/13)

Hicks, A 22-Year Foreign Service Officer, Testified That His Benghazi Questions Produced A Chill From State Department Superiors: “The Sense I Got Was That I Needed To Stop The Line Of Questioning.” “But within days, Mr. Hicks said, after raising questions about the account of what had happened in Benghazi offered in television interviews by Susan E. Rice, the United Nations ambassador, he felt a distinct chill from State Department superiors. ‘The sense I got was that I needed to stop the line of questioning,’ said Mr. Hicks, who has been a Foreign Service officer for 22 years.” (Scott Shane, Jeremy W. Peters and Eric Schmitt, “Diplomat Says Questions Over Benghazi Led To Demotion,” The New York Times , 5/8/13)   More   PTG