Schakowsky Statement on Renewed Allegations of a supposed "Stand Down" Order in Benghazi, Libya

CHICAGO– Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, released the following statement in response to renewed allegations of a supposed “stand down” order during the unfortunate Benghazi tragedy.

“As Ranking Member on the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, I was intimately involved in our committee’s extensive investigation into what went on during the tragedy on September 11, 2012 that cost Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans their lives.

The committee spent thousands of hours examining a wide variety of documentation and conducted hours upon hours of interviews with eyewitnesses and intelligence officials, including the same individuals stating that their annex chief issued a ‘stand down’ order.

I strongly disagree with their characterization of the situation. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence unanimously approved its bipartisan report that conclusively lays this and other issues to rest once and for all. The committee found no evidence that a “stand down” order was issued.

Instead, what occurred that September night was a series of decisions and judgment calls made by individuals trying desperately to save American lives. The committee found that our personnel in Benghazi reacted to the attack in a heroic manner as they worked to take control of the situation. We rely on our personnel stationed abroad each and every day to make tough decisions in dangerous, stressful, and often life-threatening circumstances. The September 2012 attack in Benghazi was one of these cases. Throughout our exhaustive investigation, we found no evidence whatsoever that the decisions made on the ground that night cost American lives, or that different decisions would have achieved a better result. I have full confidence in the actions taken by the annex chief during this attack and I am certain he did whatever he could to meet the challenges of the situation.”

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