A former CIA deputy director says Republicans repeatedly distorted the agency's analysis of the Benghazi attack in 2012 that killed the US ambassador to libya and three other Americans. He also says US intelligence agencies failed to recognise that al-Qaida would rapidly regain strength after the killing of Osama bin laden.
In his new book, Michael Morell dismissed the notion that CIA officers and the US military "were ordered to stand down" and not come to the aid of their comrades in Benghazi, The New York Times reported.
Morell also says there is no evidence the Central Intelligence Agency had conspired with the White House to spin the Benghazi story to protect then-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Republicans in Congress have spent years investigating how the Benghazi attack was handled and have renewed their criticisms as Clinton has begun another presidential campaign. Democrats accuse Republicans of using the deaths of Americans to score political points.