Clinton: I Was ‘Aware of the Increasingly Dangerous Upsurge in Militant Activity’

WESTMORELAND: “You were briefed, and I think the CIA between January and September of 2012, at over 4,500 pages of intelligence. Were you aware of how many pages of intelligence? And I know you had a specific division, I guess, of the State Department under you that was called intelligence and research.”
CLINTON: “Mm-hmm.”
WESTMORELAND: “Did they keep you up to speed on all these 400 cables or different things that they were getting? Did they keep you up to speed on that, that you were aware of them?”
CLINTON: “Congressman, I can’t speak to specific reports, but I can certainly agree with you that I was briefed and aware of the increasingly dangerous upsurge in militant activity in Libya.”
WESTMORELAND: “And so what did you do to make sure that our men and women over there were protected, knowing how much the threat had grown, especially in Benghazi, because a lot of people say that really, in the summer of 2012, the security in Benghazi was worse than it was during the revolution.”
CLINTON: “Well, congressman, with respect to not only the specific incidents that you referenced earlier, but the overall concerns about Benghazi, I think I've stated previously, there was never any recommendation by anyone, the intelligence community, the Defense Department, the State Department officials responsible for Libya, to leave Benghazi. Even after the two incidents that you mentioned. Because, in part, as I responded to congressman Smith, we had so many attacks on facilities that, as I said, went back to 2001, that certainly also happened in other parts of the world while I was there. Each was evaluated. And there was not a recommendation. Furthermore, there was not even on the morning of September 11th, while Chris Stevens and John Smith were at the compound, Chris had spoken with intelligence experts. There was no credible, actionable intelligence threat known to our intelligence community against our compound.”