WASHINGTON — The Office of the Director of National Intelligence cut out references to al Qaeda and terrorism from information given to UN Ambassador Susan Rice on the Benghazi consulate attack, according to a new report.
It was neither the White House nor the State Department that made the changes — agreed to by the CIA and FBI — in the talking points given to Rice, CBS News reported.
Rice has been under fire from congressional Republicans for appearing on Sunday talk shows five days after the Sept. 11 attack and saying that the assault was the result of a spontaneous protest caused by outrage over an American film mocking the Prophet Mohammed.
Both Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said they would block any nomination of Rice for secretary of state.
Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed in the attack.
An intelligence source told CBS that the links to al Qaeda were deemed too tenuous to make public because of a lack of confidence in the person providing the information.
National Intelligence Director James Clapper reviewed the talking points before they were given to Rice, the network said.
McCain yesterday lashed out at the intelligence directors.
“I participated in hours of hearings in the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence last week regarding the events in Benghazi, where senior intelligence officials were asked this very question and all of them — including the director of national intelligence himself — told us that they did not know who made the changes,” McCain said in a statement.
“Now we have to read the answers to our questions in the media.”