Senior American officials acknowledged the intelligence setback, but insisted that information was still being collected using a variety of informants on the ground, systems that intercept electronic communications like cellphone conversations and satellite imagery. NY Times

Within months of the start of Libyan revolution in February 2011, the CIA began building a meaningful but covert presence in Benghazi. NY Times

Though the agency has been cooperating with the new post-Qaddafi Libyan intelligence service, the size of the CIA’s presence in Benghazi apparently surprised some Libyan leaders. The deputy prime minister, Mustafa Abushagour, was quoted in The Wall Street Journal last week saying that he learned about some of the delicate American operations in Benghazi only after the attack on the mission, in large part because a surprisingly large number of Americans showed up at the Benghazi airport to be evacuated. NY Times

The attack has raised questions about the adequacy of security preparations at the two American compounds in Benghazi: the American mission, the main diplomatic facility where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and another American diplomat died of smoke inhalation after an initial attack, and an annex a half-mile away that encompassed four buildings inside a low-walled compound. NY Times

The State Department chose to maintain only limited security in Benghazi, Libya, despite months of sporadic attacks there on U.S. and other Western missions. And while the U.S. said it would ask Libya to boost security there, it did so just once, for a one-week period in June, according to Libyan officials. WSJ

President Barack Obama's administration initially said it believed extremists had not really planned the attack in Libya but simply taken advantage of a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic trailer to mix in and attack. AFP

The White House for the first time Thursday described the assault as a "terrorist attack" and said it could have links to al-Qaeda. AFP

But a Republican lawmaker, Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, cast doubt Sunday over whether the protests even happened. AFP

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced last week the creation of a review board to examine the attacks. NY Times

The attacks cost the State Department its ambassador, it cost the Obama campaign the claim of Libya as a big “win” and it cost the Libyan government the pretense of security. Antiwar.com