The well-armed attackers seized on the opportunity presented, as the event unfolded that evening into the morning hours of September 12. We do not know that a number of militants in the area are well armed and maintain those arms" (The Hindu). .
Just three days after the attacks, President Barack Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, claimed that the Benghazi attack was not planned. Susan Rise, the US ambassador to the United Nations, reiterated that immediate knowledge of the attacks did not show that the attacks were planned out in any form and that they most likely stemmed from the anti-Muslim film on YouTube. Carney continued to insist that the attacks were spontaneous: "Our belief based on the information we had was that it was the video that caused the unrest in Cairo and the unrest in Cairo that helped - that precipitated some of the unrest in Benghazi and elsewhere. Based on the information that we had at the time and have to this day, we do not have evidence that it was premeditated" (Hosenball). .
Almost two weeks after the attacks, Turner released a statement saying that US intelligence agencies now thought the attacks were organized and planned, but it was not clear if "any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate" (Hosenball).
However, FBI agents have not been granted access to Benghazi in order to secure the crime scene and investigate further. With so much time passed, even when agents reach the scene, it most likely will not be of much use. "They've gotten as far as Tripoli now, but they've never gotten to Benghazi," said CNN National Security Analyst, Fran Townsend. Additionally, the FBI requested to directly question individuals already in the custody of Libyan authorities, but their request was denied (CNN). .
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton falsely claimed that an FBI team had reached as far as Libya.
