Multiple Sources Already Answered This Question

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  Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Bipartisan Report

  The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence bipartisan report documented the conflicting intelligence in the days following the attacks, describing almost a dozen reports that, according to the CIA, “all stated or strongly suggested that a protest occurred outside of the Mission facility just prior to the attacks”:
  
  "Of the 11 reports cited by the CIA’s Analytic Line Review, six were press articles, two were the public statements of Ansar al-Sharia, and the three others were intelligence reports. Specific open source reports and intelligence on which analysts appear to have based their judgments include the public statements by Ansar al-Sharia that the attacks were a 'spontaneous and popular uprising.' Also, there was protest activity in Egypt and approximately 40 other cities around the world and violent attacks against U.S. diplomatic facilities in Tunisia, Yemen, and Egypt from September 11-20, 2012. In addition, there were intelligence reports in the days following the Benghazi attacks that al-Qa’ida-associated terrorists hoped to take advantage of global protests for further attacks."
  
  The report further stated: "Some intelligence suggests the attacks were likely put together in short order, following that day’s violent protests in Cairo against an inflammatory video, suggesting that these and other terrorist groups could conduct similar attacks with little advance warning."
  Source: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Bipartisan Report, Jan. 15, 2014
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  House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Bipartisan Report

  The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s “report, and the nearly two years of intensive investigation it reflects, is meant to serve as the definitive House statement on the Intelligence Community’s activities before, during, and after” the Benghazi attacks. That report documents the conflicting intelligence received by CIA analysts in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, including “21 reports that a protest occurred in Benghazi – fourteen from the Open Source Center; one from CIA, two from DoD, and four from NSA.”
  
  “After reviewing hundreds of pages of raw intelligence, as well as open source information, it was clear that between the time when the attacks occurred and when the Administration, through Ambassador Susan Rice, appeared on the Sunday talk shows, intelligence analysts and policymakers received a stream of piecemeal intelligence regarding the identities/affiliations and motivations of the attackers, as well as the level of planning and/or coordination. Much of the early intelligence was conflicting, and two years later, intelligence gaps remain.”
  
  As the Committee report found: “The CIA only changed its initial assessment about a protest on September 24, 2012, when closed caption television footage became available on September 18, 2012 (two days after Ambassador Susan Rice spoke), and after the FBI began publishing its interviews with U.S. officials on the ground on September 22, 2012.”
  Source: House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Report, Nov. 21, 2014
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  Director of National Intelligence Spokesperson

  “In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo. We provided that initial assessment to Executive Branch officials and members of Congress, who used that information to discuss the attack publicly and provide updates as they became available. Throughout our investigation we continued to emphasize that information gathered was preliminary and evolving.”
  Source: Director of National Intelligence Spokesperson:, Sept. 28, 2012
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  U.S. Army Lt. Colonel at Embassy Tripoli

  A U.S. Army Lt. Colonel who was working at Embassy Tripoli on the day of the attacks told congressional staff about the night of the attacks: “During that time we weren't sure what we had. We were aware of protests during that night. A lot of us thought – didn't know what was going on, could be a protest.” He further explained: “All we knew was that the Ambassador mentioned that the consulate was under attack. We weren't sure by what. And the term ‘attack’ has a pretty broad meaning. It could be, you know, vandals are attacking. So we did not have a definition of what this was at the time.”
  Source: Transcribed Interview with Congressional Staff, Feb. 28, 2014
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  AFRICOM Deputy Commander for Military Operations

  Retired Vice Admiral Charles “Joe” Leidig, Jr. told congressional staff that the initial report he received that night was at 10:15 p.m. local time and described that there had been a protest: “The initial report was that there were protesters at the Ambassador’s residence where he was staying in Benghazi, and that the protesters had overrun the facility he was in, and that he had went to a safe room with one other gentleman, and that they were fine in the safe room.”
  Source: Transcribed Interview with Congressional Staff, March 20, 2014
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  Ambassador Susan Rice

  On ABC’s This Week, Ambassador Rice stated that “first of all, it’s important to know that there’s an FBI investigation that has begun and will take some time to be completed. That will tell us with certainty what transpired.” Then she said she was relaying the “current best assessment, based on the information that we have at present.”
  Source: ABC News, Sept. 16, 2012
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  Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs

  During a transcribed interview with congressional staff on July 11, 2013, then-Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Elizabeth Jones, explained that Deputy Chief of Mission Gregory Hicks initially informed her that Ansar al-Sharia had publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks, but that the group withdrew its claim days later. Before Ansar al-Sharia withdrew its claim, however, Acting Assistant Secretary Jones spoke with the Libyan Ambassador to the U.S. and conveyed that “the group that conducted the attacks—Ansar Al Sharia—is affiliated with Islamic extremists.” Acting Assistant Secretary Jones explained: “I had no judgment on whether they had undertaken the attack. Taking responsibility and undertaking the attack are two different things.”
  Source: Transcribed Interview with Congressional Staff, quoted here, July 11, 2013