Democratic and Republican lawmakers clashed on Wednesday at a House hearing into the security failures before the killings of four Americans at the U.S. consulate in Libya last month. Republicans have accused the Obama administration of failing to adequately protect the consulate, while Democrats have accused Republicans of cutting funding that would have paid for the absent security they now decry. On Wednesday, the State Department acknowledged rejecting appeals for more security at U.S. sites in Libya in the months before the deadly attack. A former U.S. official in Libya, Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Wood, said U.S. security operations in Libya had been “weak.”

Lt. Col. Andrew Wood: “The security in Benghazi was a struggle and remained a struggle throughout my time there. The situation remained uncertain, and reports from some Libyans indicated it was getting worse. Diplomatic security remained weak. In April, there was only one U.S. diplomatic security agent stationed there. The RSO [regional security officer] struggled to obtain additional personnel, but there was never — but was never able to attain the numbers he felt comfortable with.”