Under the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, Marines were prohibited from providing security at any U.S. diplomatic installations in Libya, including the embassy in Tripoli and the mission in Benghazi.

The State Department denied a Friday request by Breitbart News to obtain a copy of the State Department Rules of Engagement for Libya, the document that contains the answers to the security arrangements at the Benghazi mission at the time of the September 11, 2012 attack. Later that day, Breitbart News filed a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain the document. Usually, FOIA requests are processed within a month.

The Wall Street Journal confirmed Friday that the Libyan security guards provided by Blue Mountain, the British-Libyan private security firm hired by the State Department to provide security at the American mission in Benghazi, were unarmed:

Most likely a bias source- but no unbiased source(outside the WSJ on that one subject of marines or no marines on location) wishes to touch this story apparently...



In her press briefing on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the American security presence inside the mission perimeter was "robust." However, she declined to reveal how large that presence was at the time of the attack, whether they were armed and authorized to carry ammunition, and whether they were provided as subcontractors by the British security firm hired to secure Benghazi or if they were independently hired by the State Department.