[Lamplighter]

This CNN report seems to me to deflate all of the Republican criticism
of White House and Susan Rice regarding her "talking points" last Sept.


CNN
Pam Benson
November 19th, 2012

Official: Changes to Benghazi talking points made by intel community

The intelligence community
- not the White House, State Department or Justice Department -
was responsible for the substantive changes made to the talking points
distributed for government officials who spoke publicly about the attack
on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, the spokesman for the director of national intelligence said Monday.

The unclassified talking points on Libya, developed several days after the the deadly attack
on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, were not substantively changed by any agency outside
of the intelligence community, according to the spokesman, Shawn Turner.

Republican criticism of the talking points intensified last Friday following
a closed door hearing with former CIA Director David Petraeus.

Rep. Peter King, R-New York,
told reporters after the hearing that the original talking parts drafted by the CIA
had been changed and it was unclear who was responsible.

"The original talking points were much more specific about al Qaeda involvement
and yet final ones just said indications of extremists," King said.
<snip>
The unclassified talking points were first developed by the CIA at the request of the House Intelligence Committee,
whose members wanted to know what they could say publicly about the Benghazi attack.

The initial version included information linking individuals involved in the attack to al Qaeda,
according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the drafting of the talking points
But when the document was sent to the rest of the intelligence community for review,
there was a decision to change "al Qaeda" to "extremists."
The official said the change was made for legitimate intelligence and legal reasons,
not for political purposes.

"First, the information about individuals linked to al Qaeda was derived
from classified sources," the official said.
"Second, when links were so tenuous - as they still are - it makes sense
to be cautious before pointing fingers so you don't set off a chain of circular
and self-reinforcing assumptions.
Third, it is important to be careful not to prejudice a criminal investigation in its early stages."

Some Republican members of Congress suggested the change came from within the Obama administration
- from the White House, the Justice Department, or another government agency.

Turner, the spokesman for National Intelligence Director James Clapper, said that was not the case.
<snip>
ETA

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, told CNN on Monday that
Petraeus explained why the talking points were changed.

"Gen. Petraeus made it clear that that change was made to protect classified sources of information,
not to spin it, not to politicize it and it wasn't done at the direction of the white house.
That really ought to be the end of it, but it isn't.
So we have to continue to go around this merry go round,
but at a certain point when all the facts point in a certain direction,
we're going to have to accept them as they are and move on," Schiff said.