Westmoreland Leads Fact-Finding Delegation to U.S. Military Facilities in Europe

December 1, 2015
Press Release

Washington, D.C. — U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, a member of the Select Committee on Benghazi, today offered insights into his recent visit to U.S. military facilities in Germany and Italy that potentially would be involved in responding to terrorist attacks on America’s diplomatic outposts.

“Talking to our military men and women on the ground, asking them questions, and getting a firsthand look at how our crisis response assets are equipped, readied and deployed is a critical part of completing our investigation into the Benghazi terrorist attacks,” said Westmoreland, R-Ga. “We learned new information that we simply couldn’t get from bureaucrats in Washington, and witnessed the greater emphasis placed on monitoring social media overseas and the dedicated aircraft that now belong to crisis response units at AFRICOM and EUCOM, which are two improvements initiated after Benghazi. It’s good to see our military is learning from that tragedy, and these valuable insights will help inform the rest of the Select Committee’s inquiries and our final report.”

Westmoreland, who also serves as Chairman of the Subcommittee of the NSA and Cybersecurity on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and one member of the Benghazi Select Committee Majority staff traveled by commercial coach for a series of briefings, meetings and working lunches at U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, on November 20, Ramstein Air Base in Germany on November 21, the U.S. Embassy in Rome, Italy, on November 22, and U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy, on November 23.   

Westmoreland said the visits demonstrate the Select Committee is conducting a thorough, fact-centered investigation into all aspects of what happened before, during and after the Benghazi attacks and seeking to fully understand the relevant military and intelligence issues in the region. He also noted that the recent improvements underscored the limits of America’s military capabilities in the region prior to September 11, 2012. He went on to add that it was unfortunate that Select Committee Democrats chose not to participate in this fact-finding mission and gather the same information for themselves.

Westmoreland met with U.S. Marines at Naval Air Station Sigonella and took a photo with Lance Corporal Cameron Robertson from Georgia.

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