INTERVIEWS OF WITNESSES BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE EVENTS SURROUNDING THE 2012 TERRORIST ATTACK IN BENGHAZI - VOLUME 2

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by  Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi

INTERVIEWS OF WITNESSES
BEFORETHE
SELECT COMMITTEE ON
THE EVENTS SURROUNDING
THE 2012 TERRORIST
ATTACK IN BENGHAZI
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, 2012–2016
VOLUME 2 OF 11
Printed for the use of the Select Committee on the Events Surrounding the
2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi
(
Available on the Internet:
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HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON BENGHAZI
TREY GOWDY, South Carolina, Chairman
LYNN WESTMORELAND, Georgia ELIJAH CUMMINGS, Maryland
JIM JORDAN, Ohio Ranking Minority Member
PETER ROSKAM, Illinois ADAM SMITH, Washington
MIKE POMPEO, Kansas ADAM SCHIFF, California
MARTHA ROBY, Alabama LINDA SA´NCHEZ, California
SUSAN BROOKS, Indiana TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois
PROFESSIONAL STAFF
PHILIP G. KIKO, General Counsel and Staff Director
SUSANNE SACHSMAN GROOMS, Minority Staff Director
(II)
PREFACE
This volume includes transcripts of interviews conducted before
the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the House of
Representatives. The records of these interviews became records of
the Select Committee pursuant to H. Res. 567 (113th Congress)
and are included in the publication of witness interviews conducted
by the Select Committee for completeness of the record.
(III)

CONTENTS
Page
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#25 ......................................................... 1
InterviewofVictoriaNuland .................................................................................. 159
InterviewofRegionalDirector,NearEastBureau,DiplomaticSecurity ........... 275
InterviewofJacobSullivan .................................................................................... 443
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#3 ........................................................... 545
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#23 ......................................................... 801
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#6 ........................................................... 883
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#9 ........................................................... 1023
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#27 ......................................................... 1135
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#28 ......................................................... 1173
InterviewofDiplomaticSecurityAgent#7 ........................................................... 1367
InterviewofPrincipalOfficer#1 ............................................................................ 1549
(V)

INTERVIEW OF DIPLOMATIC SECURITY
AGENT #25
BEFORETHE
COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONEHUNDREDTHIRTEENTHCONGRESS
FIRSTSESSION
HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, AUGUST 8, 2013
2
APPEARANCES
FOR THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM
JOHN OHLY, Senior Professional Staff Member
JONATHAN J. SKLADANY, Senior Investigative Counsel
BRIEN A. BEATTIE, Professional Staff Member
JASON POWELL, Minority Senior Counsel
CHRIS KNAUER, Minority Senior Investigator
FOR THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
THEODORE CHUANG, Special Counsel
ROBERT CHOO, Attorney Adviser
Office of the Legal Adviser
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Mr. Ohly. This is a transcribed interview of
conducted by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
This interview was requested by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa as a
part of the Committee's investigation into the attacks on U.S.
diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya, and the subsequent ARB.
Could the witness please state your name for the record?
Mr. Certainly. My name is .
Mr.Ohly. Thankyou. MynameisJohn Ohly. Iamaprofessional
staffmemberwiththecommittee'smajoritystaff,andI'llaskeveryone
else at the table to introduce themselves.
Mr. Beattie. Brien Beattie with the Oversight committee.
Mr. Skladany. Jonathan Skladany from Chairman Issa's staff.
Mr. Powell. Jason Powell with the minority staff.
Mr. Knauer. Chris Knauer, minority staff.
Mr. Chuang. Theodore Chuang, State Department.
Mr. Choo. Robert Choo, State Department.
Mr. Ohly. We appreciate your appearance at the interview today.
Your position and public service offers a unique insight that's
extremely valuable to the committee.
Before we begin, I would like to go over the ground rules of how
the interview will proceed. The way the questioning proceeds is the
majority staff will ask questions for up to an hour and then our
colleagues on the minority side will ask questions for a period of time
uptoanhour. We'lldoourbesttolimitthenumberofpeopledirecting
questions at you during any given hour to simply the staff who's turn
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it is to ask questions. We'll rotate back and forth in that manner
until all questions have been asked.
If you'd like to take a break whenever it's convenient, whether
it's every hour or even in the middle of a round, whatever you need,
if you need to get some water, step out for a few minutes to confer
with counsel, please just let us know. We'd like to make this process
as easy and comfortable as possible.
This interview is unclassified, so if a question calls for any
information that you know to be classified, respond only with
unclassified information. If we need to have a classified session at
a later date, that can be arranged.
We encourage witnesses who appear before the committee to freely
consult with counsel, and you do have counsel present today. Could
your counsel please state his or her name for the record.
Mr. Choo. Robert Choo.
Mr. Ohly. As you can see, an official reporter is taking down
everything you say to make a written record, so we ask that you give
verbal responses to all questions -- yes, no, versus nod of the head.
Do you understand this.
Mr. . I do understand.
Mr. Ohly. And we are going to ask the reporter to jump in, in
case you do respond nonverbally.
Also, we should try not to talk over each other so that we can
make sure we have a clear record. We want you to answer our questions
in the most complete and truthful manner possible, so we will take our