In response to a question from Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-New Hampshire, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said he was aware of a cable sent in August by Ambassador Stevens that said security in Benghazi was not adequate.
"Unfortunately, there was no specific intelligence or indications of an imminent attack on that -- U.S. facilities in Benghazi," Panetta said. "And frankly without an adequate warning, there was not enough time given the speed of the attack for armed military assets to respond."
He also noted that the National Counterterrorism Center had identified some 281 threats to U.S. diplomats, diplomatic facilities, embassies, ambassadors and consulates during the six months before the attack in Benghazi.
"And to deal with that, I mean, that's not our responsibility," he said. "That's the State Department's responsibility."
Panetta said that U.S. officials learned in the months after the incident that "there were actually two short-duration attacks that occurred some six hours apart," the first on the consulate and the second on an annex two miles away.
"The bottom line is this: That we were not dealing with a prolonged or continuous assault, which could have been brought to an end by a U.S. military response, very simply, although we had forces deployed to the region," he said.
Dempsey said he could not have gotten troops on the ground within 13 to 15 hours.
Panetta was firm throughout his testimony that there were no "undue delays" in decision making and there was no denial of support from Washington or from the military combatant commanders when the attack happened.
"Quite the contrary: The safe evacuation of all U.S. government personnel from Benghazi 12 hours after the initial attack" and transfer to the Ramstein Air Base in Germany "was the result of exceptional U.S. government coordination."
He said the U.S. military response helped save lives.
anyone see the variation of Panettas response above on Feb 13th and the one he gave during the recent investigation?