Attack on consulate in Libya now called 'deliberate and organized'

WASHINGTON – Extremists from groups linked to al-Qaida struck the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in a "deliberate and organized terrorist attack," the top U.S. intelligence agency said Friday, as it took responsibility for the Obama administration's initial claims that the deadly assault grew from a spontaneous protest against an anti-Islam video.

The unusual statement from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence appeared to have two goals: updating the public on the latest findings of the investigation into the assault, and shielding the White House from a political backlash over its original accounts.

"In the immediate aftermath (of the assault), there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo," spokesman Sean Turner said in the statement. "We provided that initial assessment to executive branch officials and members of Congress, who used that information to discuss the attack publicly."

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which coordinates and sets policies for the 16 other U.S. intelligence agencies, is led by retired Air Force Gen. James Clapper, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in August 2010.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans died in the assault staged by scores of assailants armed with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, have accused the administration of misleading the country about the nature of the attack to protect Obama's campaign claim that his policies have hurt al-Qaida's ability to launch attacks and eased anti-U.S. hatred in the Muslim world.

In his statement, Turner said that U.S. intelligence agencies' understanding of what happened in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, has evolved as they've collected and analyzed information on the incident.

The statement did not quiet the political backlash.

Shortly after it was issued, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., called for the resignation of Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who was the first senior official to detail the administration's initial account that the attack was spontaneous during appearances on Sunday morning television talk shows.

Rice "was the vehicle by which they transmitted this misleading message to the American people and the world," King told CNN.

Rice's spokeswoman, Erin Pelton, responded by noting that Rice's comments "were prefaced at every turn with a clear statement that an FBI investigation was under way" and that she was providing "the best information … that the administration had at the time … provided by the U.S. intelligence community."

In their initial accounts, Rice and other senior administration officials insisted there was no indication the attack was "pre-planned." It grew, they said, from a spontaneous protest outside the consulate that was inspired by the violent demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Cairo against a video denigrating the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. The video, which has triggered a rash of violent anti-American protests across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, was made in the United States.

The accounts, however, were quickly challenged. President Mohammad Magarief, the head of the Libyan National Congress, the recently elected interim government, said the assault was organized and planned by foreigners, some with links to al-Qaida, involved members of a local Islamist militant group, and was deliberately timed for the anniversary of 9/11.

Witnesses corroborated Magarief's account in interviews with McClatchy Newspapers, saying there was no protest before the attack, which they described as complex and well-organized.

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