Under pressure to explain whether the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya could have been prevented, the White House spokesman said on Friday there was no intelligence to act on anticipating the attack or the ongoing protests across the Middle East.
“We were not aware of any actionable intelligence” ahead of the attack that killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “We have no information to suggest that it was a pre-planned attack. The unrest we have seen around the region has been in response to a video.” The attacks on the U.S. consulate in Libya were “not a reaction to the 9/11 anniversary, that we know of,” he added.
“There may be lessons learned, as there always are when there are investigations into incidents like this,” Carney said of the protests. The U.S. is working to beef up security at diplomatic outposts around the globe, he said.
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