A top State Department official scheduled to give congressional testimony Wednesday on the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, says he knew immediately the attacks were terror strikes, not a protest turned violent, according to interview transcripts released Sunday, Fox News reports.
“I thought it was a terrorist attack from the get-go,” says Greg Hicks, the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. “I think everybody in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning.”
Mr. Hicks is scheduled to testify before the Republican-led House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee, as is Mark Thompson, the deputy coordinator for operations in the State Department’s Counterterrorism Bureau.
Another “whistle-blower,” Eric Nordstrom, an agency diplomatic security officer who was the regional security officer in Libya, already has testified, Fox News reports.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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