UNDER FIRE
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
FRED BURTON is Vice President of Intelligence and Counterterrorism at Stratfor, a leading geopolitical intelligence firm, and is one of the worlds foremost experts on security, terrorists and terrorist organizations. He is a former State Department counter-terrorism deputy chief and DSS Agent and the author of a bestselling memoir, Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent and Chasing Shadows.
SAMUEL M. KATZ is an internationally recognized author and expert on Middle East security issues, international terrorism, counter-terrorism, and special operations. His books include Relentless Pursuit: The DSS and the Manhunt for the Al-Qaeda Terrorists and The Hunt for the Engineer: How Israeli Agents Tracked the Hamas Master Bomber.
UNDER FIRE
First published in the United States in 2013 by
St Martins Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY10010
This edition published in the UK in 2014 by
Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre,
3941 North Road, London N7 9DP
email:
www.iconbooks.com
Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia
by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House,
7477 Great Russell Street,
London WC1B 3DA or their agents
Distributed in the UK, Europe and Asia
by TBS Ltd, TBS Distribution Centre, Colchester Road,
Frating Green, Colchester CO7 7DW
Distributed in South Africa by
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41 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925
Distributed in Australia and New Zealand
by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd,
PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street,
Crows Nest, NSW 2065
ISBN: 978-184831-728-4
Text copyright 2013 Fred Burton and Samuel M. Katz
The authors have asserted their moral rights
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
To the four Americans killed by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya
FROM THE DIRECTORS DESK
To the Diplomatic Security Service special agents who read this book: the courageous efforts of our brethren on 9/11 in Benghazi have in large part gone unheralded and unknown to the public. This has been the case for countless heroic acts by DSS and SY agents throughout our history. Regardless, I know you will remain as dedicated and selfless as always. Please be reassured that there are many of us, your colleagues past and present, who recognize and applaud your continuing sacrifices.
Greg Bujac, former director, Diplomatic Security Service, and special agent
Long before the attack the Benghazi victims knew their lives were at risk, yet they never wavered from their commitment to advancing the cause of liberty in a land overrun with extremist elements. Even when they were outnumbered, outgunned, and under attack, they stood strong and defended our mission. Their sacrifice must not go unrecognized.
Congressman Michael T. McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt
AUTHORS NOTE
The names, personal history, and backgrounds of the Diplomatic Security Service special agents who were in Benghazi on the night of September 11, 2012, are being concealed to protect them and their families from terrorist reprisals. As we have come to learn, some of the agents involved in the September 11, 2012, attack have already returned to duty in dangerous places overseas. Their involvement in such a high-profile incident can threaten their personal security while serving; it could threaten their wives and their children as well. One agent, severely injured in the Benghazi attack, has been publicly identified, but we dont intend to print his name for privacy purposes.
The special agents who were in Benghazi that fateful night were very young: all of them had less than ten years on the job, with most of them having been on the job less than five. Their careers will be forever marked by the terrorist attack that night in Libya, just as those special agents who came before them had their careers defined by the violent terrorist attacks they survived in places like Saigon, Beirut, Islamabad, Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Baghdad, Kabul, Karachi, Jeddah, Damascus, and Cairo. The world for a Diplomatic Security Service special agent is one marked by landmarks of terror and scar tissue. But of all the posts that these brave men and women travel to in order for American diplomats to be safeguarded and American interests secured, Washington, D.C., can ultimately be the cruelest and most vindictive place on the planet to live and work.
Benghazi will haunt the five forever. Their names will come up behind closed doors in onward assignments, whispered in the hallways as they walk by, and their actions will be game-boarded and second-guessed forever. Any hint of blame is, of course, unfounded, but second-guessing is an element of the job and something all five will mull over for the rest of their lives, just like the Secret Service agents at Dealey Plaza in Dallas who also lost a protectee. One agent we know was in Beirut when the embassy was blown up by Hezbollah. His career was marked by that eventan event that was clearly out of his control. Street agents would shake his hand, but the armchair generals along the Potomac would shake their heads. Things are always simpler from behind a desk. It would be unfair on our part to cause any more personal self-doubting and anguish to those who have already endured enough.
As a former agent of the service and an author who has covered the Diplomatic Security Service since 1995, we understand that the world that these five must now live and work in is a dangerous placeinside the Beltway as well as the far reaches of the globe. The murders of Ambassador Chris Stevens and IMO Sean Smith were not the fault of the five Diplomatic Security Service agents in Benghazi that violence-filled night. They did everything humanly possible, and repeatedly risked themselves, to save the lives of the men they protected. They encountered a tide of absolute and overwhelming violence in a location void of law and order. These men, unequivocally, are heroes.
If the five agents want to publicly identify themselves, it will be their decision. The five agents, without question, exemplify valor and selfless dedication. These five men personify the all-too-often-untold story of the Diplomatic Security Service and its courageous and often unheralded contribution to safeguarding this nation and its interests around the world.
