Washington---The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today announced hearings into the circumstances—including the intelligence and security situation—surrounding the recent terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the intelligence and security situation in other Arab Spring countries.

          The committee will hold a closed oversight hearing on Thursday, November 15, with additional hearings to follow.

          To facilitate this review, the committee has already received initial briefings and is examining relevant information and documents. In order to fully understand the events surrounding the September 11 attack and to help improve intelligence capabilities, the U.S. response to events on the ground, and the security of U.S. facilities in the region, the committee’s review is focused on:

• The intelligence collection and threat reporting relating to Libya and other Middle East countries prior to the September 11 attack, how and when that information was disseminated, and what actions were taken in response;

  
  

• What is now known about the events of September 11, who was responsible for the attack, and what efforts are being made to find and hold those responsible to account;

  
  

• The Intelligence Community’s collection capabilities in the Middle East and North Africa, to include the levels of funding and availability of intelligence personnel with language and other skills necessary to operate in that part of the world; and




• The level and adequacy of security at the State Department and other U.S. government facilities in the Middle East and North Africa, and whether current arrangements for providing security at these facilities are appropriate.

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