'He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,' an unnamed official told McClatchy News. | REUTERS Report: Stevens declined security

U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens — one of the four people killed in the Sept. 11, 2012, terrorist attack at in the U.S. post in Benghazi, Libya — twice declined a senior U.S. military official’s offer to have added security assistance, according to a McClatchy News report.

McClatchy News reported Tuesday that two unnamed government officials told them that it’s still unclear why Stevens would turn down the offer.


In the weeks before the attack, Stevens met in Germany with Army Gen. Carter Ham, then-head of the U.S. Africa Command, and Ham told Stevens he could provide him more military security. But Stevens declined the offer.

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“He didn’t say why. He just turned it down,” an unnamed defense official told McClatchy.

Conservatives have heavily criticized President Barack Obama’s administration — including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — for their handling of the Benghazi attack, in part because of what they say was a lack of security at the post.

One of the most outspoken critics, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), told McClatchy that he found it “odd” that Stevens wouldn’t want additional military assets.

“That is odd to me because Stevens requested from the State Department additional security four times, and there was an 18-person special forces security team headed by Lt. Col. Wood that Gen. Ham signed off on that the State Department said no to,” Graham told McClatchy.

He added: “The records are very clear that people on the ground in Libya made numerous requests for additional security that were either denied or only partially granted.”