The CIA Probably Had Authority To Hold Prisoners At The Secret Benghazi Annex

In October Paula Broadwell told an audience that the CIA in Benghazi "had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner" at its secret annex.

The CIA flatly denied the claim, saying that the agency "has not had detention authority since January 2009, when Executive Order 13491 was issued. Any suggestion that the Agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless."

Marc Thiessen of the American Enterprise Institute points out that the denial is factually incorrect because while Obama ordered the closure of all CIA detention facilities (i.e. “Black Sites”), the order states that it "does not refer to facilities used only to hold people on a short-term, transitory basis." 

Since “short-term, transitory basis” is left undefined, Thiessen concludes that "if CIA was holding detained militia fighters in the Benghazi annex on a short-term, transitory basis, it would not be in violation of Executive Order 1349."

A source confirmed to Fox News that "there were Libyan militiamen being held at the CIA annex in Benghazi," and multiple intelligence sources who have served in Benghazi told Fox News that prisoners from additional countries in Africa and the Middle East were also held and interrogated by CIA contractors at the Benghazi annex in the days prior to the attack.

SEE ALSO: Suddenly There's Talk Of A New Motive For The Benghazi Attack >

The Broadwell Revelation Reminds Us How The CIA Annex In Benghazi Was Exposed >

Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.

Join the conversation about this story »