>> charlene lamb. she denied the requests or didn't fill in. >> why was that? you knew about all these other attacks? >> we had been training local libyans and arming them. >> let me interrupt. >> why do you think the request was denied? >> i really don't know. >> in the case of the sgst, that would have provided by state department. state department didn't have to pay money. i can't imagine why. that was coming out of the congressional investigations. >> were you flabbergasted. what can we do. >> we can't even keep what we had. >> i think what was motivating the state department if we had security that would have truly been appropriate it would have been admission that conditions on the ground were not safe. that would have violated the view this was an administration success. >> lift libya in august less than a month before the attack. how did you feel about the security situation when you left? >> i didn't like it. >> bret: september 10th, the ambassador chris stevens arrives for a full day of meetings. his first trip since woods security team left the count

charlene lamb at the stated department. >> we extended the wall to 12 feet with razorer wire. >> a fortified saichb haven is built. you enter through a heavy metal grill. >> tell me about the safe haven? >> bars on windows, you are building a jail cell basically. its delay until you get some relief to get out of there. >> after the bombing in beirut we created a minimum standard for facilities across the world. >> bret: he serves on a committee on homeland security? >> this facility in benghazi didn't meet the minimum standards and didn't meet the minimum standards for personnel. >> bret: security consists of five diplomatic security special agents and four members of the libyan government security force called the 17th february bring gate. there is more security at the annex now, known to be a c.i.a. facility a mile away. based in tripoli but moving around the country is is a department of defense site security team. february 12th, 2012, lieutenant wood arrives there as the new commander. >> it had 16 members. >> what did they all do? >> special operations soldiers had extra skills and capa

>> charlene lamb. she denied the requests or didn't fill in. >> why was that? you knew about all these other attacks? >> we had been training local libyans and arming them. >> let me interrupt. >> why do you think the request was denied? >> i really don't know. >> in the case of the sgst, that would have provided by state department. state department didn't have to pay money. i can't imagine why. that was coming out of the congressional investigations. >> were you flabbergasted. what can we do. >> we can't even keep what we had. >> i think what was motivating the state department if we had security that would have truly been appropriate it would have been admission that conditions on the ground were not safe. that would have violated the view this was an administration success. >> lift libya in august less than a month before the attack. how did you feel about the security situation when you left? >> i didn't like it. >> bret: september 10th, the ambassador chris stevens arrives for a full day of meetings. his first trip since woods security team left the count

in fact, charlene lamb said money was not a consideration. she just thought they didn't need the security. and quite frankly, we believe they didn't want the appearance of needing the security. and we want to put real security ahead of the appearance of not needing security. >> schieffer: well, senator-- i mean, congressman, i do take your point. but let me also ask you about this. did not house republicans try to cult a hal cut a half billion dollars from embassy security budgets over the past two years? if we need the security why were your party members saying let's cut these budgets? it sounds like they didn't-- they didn't think you needed it, either. >> we've more than doubled over the last five years, the september budgets 115%. so there's no question at all we have been adding more money and we continue to add more money. there's a lot of talk and congressman-- >> schieffer: i'm sorry, i'm sorry, congressman. i'm not sure-- are you saying that house republicans did not try to cut a half billion dollars from embassy security over the p

charlene lamb at the stated department. >> we extended the wall to 12 feet with razorer wire. >> a fortifiedaichb haven is built. you enter through a heavy metal grill. >> tell me about the safe haven? >> bars on windows, you are building a jail cell basically. its delay until you get some relief to get out of there. >> after the bombing in beirut we created a minimum standard for facilities across the world. >> bret: he serves on a committee on homeland security? >> this facility in benghazi didn't meet the minimum standards and didn't meet the minimum standards for personnel. >> bret: security consists of five diplomatic security special agents and four members of the libyan government security force called the 17th february bring gate. there is more security at the annex now, known to be a c.i.a. facility a mile away. based in tripoli but moving around the country is is a department of defense site security team. february 12th, 2012, lieutenant wood arrives there as the new commander. >> it had 16 members. >> what did they all do? >> special operations soldiers had extra skills and capabi

testimony continues today we'll hear more from eric nordstrom and ambassador patrick kennedy and charlene lamb on behalf of the state department. katie marzullo, abc7 news. >>> mike any more showers or thunderstorms? >> definitely a possibility not a great possibility but unsettled pattern will continue today, tomorrow and end friday afternoon. cooler than average weather until then. >>> also, massive recall involving more than seven million vehicles. the problem that could cause a big scare. >>> playoff frenzy dripping both sides of the bay it is not too late to get tickets >>> new, more trouble for lance armstrong stripped of his titles and banned from competitive cycling. the anti-doping agency says 26 people have testified against armstrong, including 11 former teammates. members of the team admitted to doping and claim armstrong encouraged them to do it. the agency says it is the most sophisticated professional and successful doping perhaps the sport has seen. >> former nfl football star turned actor alex karras has died he starred in the hit sitcom webster in the 80s and in several movie

. >> charlene lamb of the state department. >> barbed wire. razor wire. >> inside the large residence a fortified safe haven is built. you enter through a heavy metal grill with several locks on it. >> tell me about the safe haven. >> bars on windows. bars -- building a jail cell. you are going to get inside. it's a delay. until you can get some relief. to get out of there. >> it consists of special agents and four member of the libyan government security force called the 17th february brigade. former u.n. ambassador john bolton. >> it is the responsibility of host governments to provide for security for all diplomatic establishments within their territory. from the u.s. point of view, we have to recognize that some countries are better able to do that than others. when you are in a high threat environment, we have to do what is necessary to protect our personnel on the ground. >> there is more security at what is called the annex. mile away. based in tripoli, but moving around the country is a department of defense site security team. februar

testimony continues today we'llhear more from eric nordstrom and ambassador patrick kennedy and charlene lamb on behalf of the state department. katie marzullo, abc7 news. >>> mike any more showers or thunderstorms? >> definitely a possibility not a great possibility but unsettled pattern will continue today, tomorrow and end friday afternoon. cooler than average weather until then. >>> also, massive recall involvin mor than seven million vehicles. the problem that could cause a big scare. >>> playoff frenzy dripping both sides of the bay it is both sides of the bay it is not too late to [ female announcer ] now get high speed internet at home on our newly expanded advanced digital network, a connection you can count on. introducing at&t u-verse high speed internet wi more speeoptions, reliability and wi-fi hot spots than ever. call at&t now to get u-verse high speed internet for as little as $14.95 a month for 12 months with a one-year price guarantee. it's the fastest internet for the price. our newly expanded advanced digital network gives you more of what you enjoy online. and with at&t,

. >> reporter: but back in washington deputy assistant secretary of state charlene lamb said no. >> sir, we had the correct number of assets in benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon. >> saying you had a correct number and our ambassador and three others are dead and people are in the hospital recovering because it only took moments to breach that facility somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> reporter: the state department now says two u.s. compounds were hit that night, one by a mortar that killed navy s.e.a.l.s who tried to save the ambassador. i'm steve handelsman, nbc news, washington. >>> now here's stories that are making news. we begin in california. a view owe rent scuffle broke out between opposing coaches after the game ended. it's unclear what started the may lay but it was stopped before any of the children or adults were injured. >>> two florida construction workers were killed in a parking garage collapse. one witness said the five story lot was under construction when it just fell like a house of cards. rescuers pulled one survi

it was for security and you voted against security -- >> but charlene lamb testified that was not the reason the request for more personnel was denied. >> was she the one that said it was done in real-time. they had real-time tape that showed there was no spontaneous uprising but a group of thugs came in to overthrow the embassy? >> she testified last week before the committee they would catch it in real-time and the ambassador walked out at 8:30 and the attack took place at 9:40 p.m. and the administration would tell you there was a protest outside. >> where did this story come from. that's why a lot of people -- i will ask you, you've been around a long time. was there any political campaign interference or creation of this story by ambassador susan rice that it was all about a video and a spontaneous protest that never occurred? where did this story come from? >> that's why we need to look at ambassador pickering's report. >> but you don't think it came from the campaign? >> in terms of your own judgment, you do not think it came from the campaign? >> no. absolutely not. in fact --

. >> charlene lamb said "no." >> we had the correct number of assets at the time of 9/11 for what was agreed upon. >> saying you had the right number -- and people are in the hospital. it took moments to breach the facility, doesn't ring true. >> the state department says two u.s. compounds were hit that night, that killed navy seals trying to save the ambassador. >> the white house denied a cover-up and say the investigation continues. wbal tv 11 news. >> this time tomorrow we will hear from the only untested debater, as paul ryan goes head to head with paul ryan. >> and one of the biggest issues is focused on meat. we explain. >> 11 news learned the >> 11 news learned the department of it's heavy lifting. you start with a democratic senator named ben. by getting bwi-marshall funding for new runways, he's helping us serve 21 million passengers a year, which helps keep 100,000 jobs that depend on the airport, and that means more cargo for more businesses and more skycaps unloading more taxis... welcome to bwi. ...carrying families with more luggage. thanks. it's like he's out here wit

. >> reporter: charlene lamb is the state department official who declined the security request and stood her ground. >> sir, we had the correct number of assets in benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon. >> to start off by saying you had the correct number somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> reporter: james carney echoed the criticism. >> there's no question when four american personnel are killed in an attack on a diplomatic facility that the security there was not adequate to prevent that from happening. >> reporter: republicans also addressed the controversy over why the obama administration initially portrayed the terrorist attack as a spontaneous outbreak. >> why did it take so long for all these highly briefed and intelligent people to try and figure out that it actually wasn't a 15 minute youtube video and actually was a 9/11 event, a terrorist attack. >> reporter: state department under secretary patrick kennedy said there was no pressure to spin the event, not at the state department and not from the white house. sharyl attkisson, cbs

. >> charlene lamb, the state deputy assistant secretary, testified that she and the department did not support the request for more security. according to lamb, given the information available, the number of security agents, called assets, was adequate. >> we had the correct number of assets in benghazi. >> as to the number of assets, chairman ice issa said this. people are in the hospital recovering because it only took moments to breach that facility somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> the chairman's point was reinforced this week by the dozens of heavily armed men. >> question. given the facts that have come out since the september 11th benghazi attacks, can it be sad with certainty that there was adequate forewarning of the security gaps but inadequate follow through by the department of state mort? >> that is the only conclusion you can take from it. plenty of warning, they wanted more police protection for the embassy and it was not given. in fact they had virtually nothing. they took away the plane that was standing by to take them out, in case of emerge

. >> reporter: charlene lamb is the state department official who declined the security request and today stood her ground. >> sir, we had the correct number of assets in benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon. >> to start off by saying you had the correct number somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> reporter: today, white house spokesman jay carney echoed the criticism. >> there is no question that when four american personnel are killed in an attack on an diplomatic facility, that the security there was not adequate to-- to prevent that from happening. >> reporter: republicans, including mike kelly, also addressed the controversy over why the obama administration initially portrayed the terrorist attack as a spontaneous outbreak. >> why in the heck did it take so long for all these highly briefed and intelligent people to try and figure out that it actually wasn't a 15-minute youtube video, it actually was a 9/11 event, a terrorist attack? >> reporter: state department undersecretary patrick kennedy said there was no pressure to spin the events

this is between darrell issa and charlene lamb.r it, because it gets testy. >> a compound owned by us in severing like a consulate was in fact breached less than 60 days before, approximately 6 d0 days before the murder of the ambassador in that facility. isn't that true? >> sir, we had the correct number of assets in benghazi at the time of 9/11 for what had been agreed upon. >> my time has expired. to start off by saying you had the correct number and our ambassador and three other individuals are dead and people are in the hospital recovering because it only took moments to breach that facility, somehow doesn't seem to ring true to the american people. >> i want to bring in wolf blitzer in washington. i want to get straight to hillary clinton. because my question is, you know, she has incredibly high approval ratings. she has been touted as a possible presidential candidate come 2016. where is she today and how might all of this cloud her legacy? >> those are great questions and there is no easy answers. i know what the chairman

at congressional hearings this week charlene lamb and eric nordstrom confirmed there were requests forore security. are you surprised biden's statement? >> there are 100 explanations we have gotten from them. isn't that stunning compared to what we have seen in the last four weeks. it is another reason why they are offering alternative on foreign policy american strengths and values. >> how dowdy fend vice president's comments on benghazi? >> i think the vice president made a very important point. there is an investigation underway right now so we can find out exactly what happened and if there were mistakes made. we shouldn't politicize the issue we should wait until it comes through. if people should be held accountable they should be. the president has been very tough on terrorists around the world, osama bin laden all of the top opportunities has been taken out the one responsible for the kenyan embassy bombing. the president has been tough. these attacks on the president's foreign policy record are unfair. >> the two candidates had conflicting statements on medicare. where is the

listen to charlene lamb. >> it has been suggested that the budget cuts were responsible for lack of security. i'd like to ask miss lamb, you made this decision personally. was there any budget consideration and lack of budget that led you not to increase the number of people in security force there? >> no, sir. >> dana: if you are in a crisis communication situation, you typically want your answers in a row before you go forward instead of repeating things. the situation the white house finds themselves was preventable. but instead they have the deputy campaign manager saying this is political. i looked to me like the reporters were finally starting to do what they needed to be doing, asking them questions they could have asked three weeks ago. >> andrea: the entire thing is political. here is what doesn't add up. if joe biden is going to shirk responsibility and say it wasn't us and blame the intelligence community for bad intel, the state department said we knew all along it was a terrorist attack. if i'm the president of the united states and the intelligence community is saying it's the

. >> charlene lamb was working that night in washington so she could follow the events in real time.> also alerted the quick reaction security team stationed nearby. the libyan 17th february brigade embassy in tripoli and dip platic security command center in washington. >> main resident the special agent reportedly david ubin comes here to get stevens from his bedroom and brings him along with shawn smith to this room for safe haven a big dark windowless closet. and then outside a locked gate for security. he radios the others to say they are fine. the other security scrambling amidst the gun fire and explosion gathering up machine gun body armor and ammunitions. as two head back they are cut off by a large group of armed men. they decide to go back and barricade themselves in. there are 7 americans at three different locations. ambassador stevens and two others in the main residence two special agents at the special residence cafeteria and here a tactical information center two more agents. attackers all around. one group penetrates the small residents. the attackers don't get to t

charlene lamb who is the deputy assistant secretary of state for the international programs testifiedrday that this had nothing to do with funding, that this was not a funding problem over in benghazi. so they may need more funding, but she did not attribute what happened on 9/11 to a funding issue. that's yet another thing they're going to argue about on capitol hill. panel, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> thank you, megyn. megyn: a new push to get american troops the recognition they deserve after major nidal hasan killed 13 and injured three dozen others at fort hood. sean manning was shot six times, he's got two bullets still in him, and his wife is here next on why she thinks victims are not getting what they deserve because it's still classified as workplace violence. [ male announcer ] there are only so many foods that make kids happy. and even fewer that make moms happy too. with wholesome noodles and bite sized chicken, nothing brings you together like chicken noodle soup from campbell's. it's amazing what soup can do. syou know, i've helped a lot off people save a lot of

there is one really key important point here is that charlene lamb, who is at the state department, was testifying what she saw as the situation was unfolding. susan rice has intel officers and security agents that are with her in her office that work in the same department as charlene lamb. so they should be talking. it's perplexing to me how susan rice's briefers, wouldn't have had the same information that others in the state department and other places would have had. so, i think that they're trying to, it both ways and pretend like the intel briefers didn't tell them something and yet susan rice was jumping out in front to pretend like she knew the facts when the facts were still developing. jenna: again, we're watching over a couple of weeks of this story developing, rick. are we hearing enough from either candidate on the way forward when it comes to libya, when it comes to engaging terrorists, when it comes to our national security? i know we have a debate coming up but up until this point do we know enough from either side? >> well i think the onus is on the president of the un

charlene lamb of the state department. >> we extended the height of the owed outer wall with mason ry concrete barbed wire. >> inside the large residents fortified safe haven is built. you enter through a heavy metal grill with several locks on it. >> tell me about the safe haven. >> bars on the windows. building a jail cell you are going to get inside. it's a delay until you can get some relief to get out of there. >> after the bombing in beirut decades ago we created a minimum standard for facilities across the world. >> utah republican congressman serves on the subcommittee of crime terrorism and homeland security. >> this facility didn't meet the minimum standards and didn't meet the number of standards for personnel. >> security on the compound consists of five diplomatic security special agents and four members of the liberty government security force called the 17th february brigade. there is another called the annex now known to be the cia facility to be a mile away. based in tripoli but moving around the country is a department of defense site security team. february 12th, 20

. >> that state department official, charlene lamb, along with another administration official in charge of diplomatic security, both admitting today that they never visited libya, but lamb insists the government had the correct number of assets in benghazi at the time of those attacks. critics clearly disagree with that. we have team fox coverage. ed henry covering criticism, the administration and its response. first, the katherine herrage with more on today's testimony and in that testimony, a lot of blame to go around. >> bill, thank you. through newly released e-mails and testimony, one theme dominated. official in washington was preoccupied with reducing the number of american security personnel and replacing with libyan guards even after attacks on diplomats. for the military and state department diplomatic security personnel on the ground, a terrorist strike on the consulate seemed inevitable. requests for more security ultimately rejected and the bureaucratic nightmare of political washington. >> it's not the hardships, not the gun fire, it's not the threats. it's dealing and fi

in fact, under testimony, we asked charlene lamb, who is in charge of the embassies and security, ande asked her, was there denial of more personnel in libya a result of a lack of funding? she said. no it's a red herring. something they put out there as a strawman to try to distract. when your budget is increased 118% over five years you have to make priorities, you have to make choices. we have over 6,000 private contractors in baghdad and, yet, we barely have two dozen in libya. >> laura: are you going to bring susan rice to capitol hill to testify. >> i want to hear from the president. i want to hear from secretary clinton. i want to hear from ambassador rice and i want the intelligence community to be able to voice this out because i think the administration should have known beforehand that this was going to happen. >> laura: congressman, thank you so much. directly ahead, things got prettied heated last night when the candidates discussed afghanistan. herald -- geraldo is going to way. in did martha raddatz bring up the abortion issue last night to reignite the war on women deba

regional security office charlene lamb. testified about pulling those out based on her orders to get them out based on normalization efforts. we asked what that is. that's an effort to try to make things normalize with the libyan population. basically, that's an effort to make sure that the situation was okay between the libyan population and the ambassador and the people on the ground. even though the situation was extremely volatile. the ambassador knew that it was getting worse by the day. and the security situation was not changing. yet, the state department did not put more people in. what we're going to also show you. >> bill: downgraded the security and i know because i read the transcript of some of your stuff you actually have one of the security guys saying it was insane to do that you don't downgrade security when it's so dangerous. all right. but we also have palkot on the ground in the compound in benghazi. you are going to see things. he will take you through the compound. >> bill: that's interesting. >> you h

. >> he probably didn't bother to watch the committee in which charlene lamb said, no, budget cuts hadhing whatsoever to do with it. >> i don't understand this. my problem is that they need to know, and they need to be aware of this. that is part of their job. he's an american ambassador, he's killed. >> we just heard that sound bite. it should have been obvious to everybody. your committee in fact learned that there were 230 documented security incident in libya in the year leading up to the terrorist murders. how could the white house not know of the obvious danger or is it perhaps a function of the president skipping hissen-person daily intelligence briefings? >> again, i think he should have known there are multiple cables that came in from benghazi begging for more help. i think it could have been a political motivation. maybe they didn't want too much security on the ground. historically marines are guarding the embassies and here we go with contract employees who actually told the native contract employees reported back that their friends were telling them to quit their job beca

the testimony on capitol hill indicated i believe charlene lamb, one of the undersecretaries in charge said it got the as high as her and she made a determination. i add there's an important distinction between tripoli, the capital, and benghazi. according to the testimony, even with additional forces in place, remember, additional forces, the question was for tripoli, not benghazi, that the heavy armor could not have been stopped by a fewer additional men on the ground. >> did you want to say -- >> some element of added security would have stayed with the embassador. he's the person -- >> he asked for more body guards. >> exactly. we can't know what effect that would have had on that night that, dreadful night in benghazi. the second point is the woman at the state department who made the call was acting, the framework of policy. the policy toward libya was, attitude was, this was now a country of friendlies. we helped depose the hated dictator and we normalized the situation, we had good ties. libya was a success story. so the idea of sending in extra security because the place was i

we know from testimony from charlene lamb they were following this in real time we know there was a drone overhead and for seven hours they did nothing to move any of the forces we had in italy to help protect our people. >> greta: according to the article in italy, it's about 480 miles from benghazi which is a little an hour flight. we didn't put any planes in the air. we didn't put our special ops in the air. we didn't start moving anything to the area should we decide to go in there and protect them. >> you've got a situation in the united states where you have obviously this huge news story of t t presidential election. there is two weeks now from tonight you are going to be voting and know what the outcome is. at the same time you have a major, major news story of president of the united states not having provided the security that was requested, not responding when the consulate was under attack and frankly lying to the american people for as long as ten days after the attack. i hope that if the media is doing its job tomorrow and white house press briefing president will be asked,