ccb program from sept. 16 conference

7/29/2019 CCB Program From Sept. 16 Conference

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CitizensCommission on

Benghazi

September 16, 2013Allison Auditorium

Te Heritage Foundation214 Massachusetts Ave., NEWashington, DC

CitizensCommission on

Benghazi

Accuracy in Media

Conference


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One year ago last week, the victims o the Benghazi, Libyaterrorist attacksAmbassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith,Glen Doherty, and yrone Woodslost their lives at the

Special Mission Compound and CIA Annex in Benghazi. Others wereseriously injured. Since then, no one has been held accountable or theinadequate security at the Mission, or or the ailure to ully anticipate

the attacks given Libyas deteriorating security environment. Tis inspite o numerous requests or increased security, which were ignoredby top ocials in Washington, D.C.

When the attacks were underway, a decision was made to not sendAmerican military assets to attempt to rescue those in danger. Tisoccurred exactly 11 years to the day ater the terrorist attacks in New

York and Washington. Tere wasnt enough time, we were told. Teintelligence was too murky to risk sending in troops or planes toattempt a rescue operation. o people who live by a military code oconduct, those were the wrong answers.

Te Benghazi attack was ollowed by a shabby, transparent attempt toclaim it was a spontaneous protest in response to an anti-Islam video.

When that story ell apart weeks later, the Obama administration toldus that they had said all along it was an act o terrorism. Te mediawent along or the ride, ailing to ask the tough questions; they didntwant to hurt President Obamas re-election bid.

Ater several congressional hearings, and an internal investigation by theState Departments own Accountability Review Board, many questions

remain unanswered, and no one has been held accountable, includingthe perpetrators o this terrorist act. We at Accuracy in Media (AIM)decided to see i we could play a role in bringing the acts to light,and to possibly holding people accountable We reached out to severalretired military ocersgenerals and admiralsand thankully, theyunhesitatingly said Yes. Te Citizens Commission on Benghazi was

Benghazi: One Year Later


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ormed this summer with that purpose in mind.

It didnt take long or the Commission to expand to include ormerintelligence agency ocials, as well as other military men, and today,with this conerence, we launch our pursuit o the truth. We have notime limit. And no one can vote us out. We plan to le Freedom o

Inormation Act requests, and work with other organizations that shareour goals, and our sense o purpose. We want to oer a place or peoplewho have been silenced in this process, to come orward.

AIM was ounded in 1969 by Reed Irvine, a ormer Marine intelligenceocer in World War II, who oten worked with military and nationalsecurity experts to deend their honor, and at the same time, the honor

o this country. Whether it was setting the record straight on Americasrole in various wars and other historical events, or battling to bringhome our POWs Missing in Action, AIM has always stood on the rontlines. It is with this spirit that we embark on this mission. We thank allthose who are participating in and helping to make this commissionpossible. Follow us at aim.org/Benghazi.

Roger Arono

EditorAccuracy in Media


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Citizens Commission on BenghaziConerence

10:00 a.m.Opening RemarksRoger Arono, Editor, Accuracy in Media,Conerence Moderator

10:05 10:20 a.m.Remarks by Commission MembersCol. Dick Brauer, USAF (Ret.)Clare Lopez, Former CIA OcerLt. Col. Allen West, USA (Ret.)

10:30 11:30 a.m.Featured Guests

Congressman Frank Wol(R-VA)Christopher Farrell, Judicial Watch

11:30 11:45 a.m.Remarks by Commission MembersLt. Gen. Tomas McInerney, USAF, (Ret.)

Adm. James Ace Lyons, USN (Ret.)

Lt. Col. Ken Benway, USA, (Ret.)

11:45 12:45 p.m.Featured GuestsKenneth R. immerman, Author,Investigative ReporterHowie Lind, Retired Naval Ocer

12:45 1:00 p.m.Remarks by Commission MembersMaj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, USA (Ret.)Capt. Larry Bailey, SEAL, USN, (Ret.)Lt. Col. Dennis Haney, USAF (Ret.)

Program


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1:00 2:00 p.m.Featured GuestsCharles Woods, ather o yrone WoodsLarry Ward, Political Director, Special Operations Speaks

2:00 to 2:10 p.m.Remarks by Commission MembersClare Lopez

Wayne SimmonsRoger Arono

2:10 2:40 p.m.

Featured GuestKevin Shipp

2:45 p.m.Closing CommentsRoger Arono


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Biographies

Capt. Larry Bailey, (SEAL), USN (Ret)

Captain Larry Bailey spent nearly 27years as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Obtaining his

commission rom Navy Ocer CandidateSchool in 1962, he was rst assigned tothe destroyer USS LEARY beore receivingorders to Underwater Demolition eamtraining in Little Creek, Virginia. Ater ayear in UD-22, he was assigned to SEALeam WO, where he spent almost ve

years during which he deployed to Vietnam, where he led the rst EastCoast SEAL platoon into combat. Since retirement in 1990 rom theU.S. Special Operations Command in ampa, Florida, Capt. Baileyhas been involved in national policy issues and has chaired Gatheringo Eagles since 2007. He is also co-chairman o Special OperationsSpeaks, a group that speaks out on deense-related issues, particularlythose involving special operations orces.

Roger Arono, is the Editor o Accuracy inMedia. He has worked as a journalist, Vproducer, director, writer and distributor.He also hosts AIMs ake AIM show onBlogalkRadio. Roger joined AIM in Mayo 1997 and has written, produced and dir-ected award-winning documentaries incl-udingConronting Iraq: Conict and Hope, TeClinton Legacyand WA 800: Te Search orthe ruth. He wrote or the Jewish Herald

Voice or more than 20 years. In 2008, Arono produced, directedand co-wrote an award-winning documentary that aired on manyPBS stations called Fighting Words: A ale o How Liberals CreatedNeoconservatism. In 2009 he produced a weekly public aairs show onPBS called Tink ank with Ben Wattenberg.


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Col. Richard (Dick) Brauer Jr., USAF (Ret)

Col. Richard F. (Dick) Brauer Jr. amassed5,200 hours o worldwide fying, attaining

the aeronautical rating o Master Navigator.His tours o fying duty and deploymentsincluded Southeast Asia/Vietnam (1967-68),Europe, Central and South America (1968-1971) and Australia (1971-1973), where herepresented the USAF and the United Statesas an Exchange Ocer, fying as an instructor

in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). Following his Pentagontour, he was selected as the 12th Commandant o the Air ForceSpecial Operations School (Hurlburt Field, FL) and served the jointSOF, conventional and interagency communities in that educationleadership position rom 1986 until his retirement in 1991. In 2010Col. Brauer was inducted into the Air Commando Hall o Fame.

Lt. Col. Ken Benway, USA (Ret)

Lt. Col. Ken Benway enlisted in the U.S.Army as a parachute inantryman in 1966.He underwent Army Special Forces trainingand deployed to Vietnam, serving rom 1967-68, as a Special Forces medic with a ChineseNung Company o the I Corps Mobile StrikeForce, 5th Special Forces Group. In 1970,

he was commissioned as Second Lieutenanto Inantry, serving in leadership assignments in both Germany andItaly with the 509th Parachute Inantry. Over the course o 27 yearsin uniorm, he served with the 3d, 5th and 10 Special Forces Groups,with the Special Operations Command (Europe), as an exchangeprogram ocer with the Susa Alpine Inantry Battalion (Italian Army)in northwest Italy, and with the U.S. Army JFK Special Warare Centerand School. Since retirement in 1993, he has served as a senior special

operations analyst and in a variety o contracted support arrangementswith the U.S. Army Special Operations community.


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Christopher Farrell, Director o Investigations and Research,Judicial Watch

Chris Farrellserved as a Military IntelligenceOcer, specializing in Counter-Intelligence

and Human Intelligence. His advancedtraining included the U.S. Army AdvancedCounterintelligence raining Course, andthe Combined Arms Services Sta Schoolo the U.S. Army Command and GeneralSta College, in addition to graduate work

in National Security Studies, specializing in unconventional warare

and terrorism. In civilian lie, Farrell has served as a contractor orthe deense and intelligence communities, and also as a Senior StaAssociate or Columbia Universitys National Center or DisasterPreparedness at the Mailman School o Public Health (2005 2008).Farrell joined Judicial Watch in 1999 as the organizations Director oInvestigations & Research, and serves as their main representative toUnited Nations Headquarters in New York.

John Clarke, Civil Rights and FOIA Attorney

John Clarke has spent 20 years litigating cases in state and ederal courtsin the District o Columbia, Virginia, and Maryland, concentrating onCivil Rights and FOIA cases rom 1996 to the present. In additionto nearly ten years prosecuting civil rights and FOIA cases involvingthe ederal executive branch, his litigation experience encompasses awide variety o civil disputes. Included are contract, personal injury,domestic relations, intentional torts, ederal appellate, grand jury, and

criminal deense cases. Clarke requently appears as a guest speakeron civil rights cases and the Independent Counsel Statute, and hasappeared hundreds o times on radio and V talk shows on the topicso the Whitewater grand jury probe, the Ethics in Government Act,and civil rights and FOIA cases regarding the WA Flight 800 tragedy.


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Lt. Col. Dennis B. Haney, USAF (Ret)

Lt. Col. Dennis B. Haney, USAF (Ret) wasa program manager, a U.S. Air Force jetghter aircrat operations director, fight testdirector, and combat-experienced ElectronicWarare Ocer with 22 years o experienceas an Electronic Combat technical expert.He served three years on the 52nd actical

Fighter Wing Sta in Spangdahlem AB,Germany, and has served in a number o positions at the Johns HopkinsUniversity Applied Physics Laboratory. He assisted the CooperativeEngagement Capability (CEC) Program Manager in managing 185technical personnel in positions including Assistant Program Manageror the CEC Program. Ater retiring, he joined Special OperationsSpeaks (SOS) as the Operations Coordinator.

Howie Lind, Retired Naval Ofcer

Howie Lind served our country in theUnited States Navy or two decades as anaval surace warare ocer. He retired asa Commander and was appointed by theBush administration to the Department oDeense in 2003 to work on reconstructionissues in Iraq and also serve the reconstruction eorts in Iraq andAghanistan. He ormerly served as Vice Chairman o the Board o

Directors at International Stability Operations Association (ISOA).An active participant in Virginia politics or over 15 years, Lindis currently running or the seat o Sen. Mark Warner in 2014.


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Adm. James Ace Lyons, USN (Ret)

Adm. James Ace Lyons, USN (Ret.) wasU.S. Navy Ofcer for 36 years, serving mostrecently as Commander-in-Chief of theU.S. Pacic Fleet, the largest single militarycommand in the world, where his initiativesdirectly contributed to the economicstability and humanitarian understanding inthe Pacic and Indian Ocean regions, and

brought the U.S. Navy Fleet back to China. As the Deputy Chief ofNaval Operations from 1983-1985 he was the principal advisor on allJoint Chiefs of Staff matters, and was the father of the Navy Red Cell,

an anti-terrorism group composed of Navy SEALs he established inresponse to the Marine Barracks bombing in Beirut. Admiral Lyonswas also Commander of the U.S. Second Fleet and Commander ofthe Striking Fleet, which were the principal eets for implementingthe Maritime Strategy. He is President and CEO of LION Associates,which provides strategic consulting in the areas of foreign policy andsecurity affairs.

Clare Lopez, ormer CIA ofcer

Clare M. Lopez is a strategic policy andintelligence expert with a ocus on nationaldeense, Islam, Iran, and counterterrorismissues. Currently a senior ellow at the Centeror Security Policy, the Clarion Project, andthe Canadian Meighen Institute and vicepresident o the Intelligence Summit, she

ormerly was a career operations ocerwith the Central Intelligence Agency, a proessor at the Centre orCounterintelligence and Security Studies, Executive Director o theIran Policy Committee rom 2005-2006, and has served as a consultant,intelligence analyst, and researcher or a variety o deense rms. Shewas named a Lincoln Fellow at the Claremont Instute in 2011.


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Gen. Tomas McInerney, USAF (Ret)

Lt. Gen. Tomas McInerney served as aghter pilot, commander and strategicplanner in the Air Force or 35 years He isa command pilot with more than 4,100fying hours, including 407 combat missionsduring the Vietnam War. He also took partin the Berlin and Cuban crises in 1962,

fying escort missions in the Berlin Corridorand escort reconnaissance missions over Cuba. In April 1963 he wasone o the rst orward air controllers assigned to South Vietnamwith a Vietnamese army division.In addition to his Vietnam service,Gen. McInerney served overseas in NAO; Pacic Air Forces, and ascommander o 11th Air Force in Alaska. A respected military analyst,he appears regularly on Fox News, is a nationally syndicated lecturer,and has written or Te Wall Street Journal, Te Washington imes,

Te Washington Post and USA oday.

Kevin Shipp, Former CIA Ofcer

Kevin Shipp, a decorated CIA agent, revealed inhis critically acclaimed book, From the Companyo Shadows, how he and his amily led a

personal injury lawsuit ater a series o threatsto his career and amily, including severe toxicexposure while living in government assignedhousing. Te CIA signed a court ordered,mediated settlement, which they not onlyreused to honor, but ultimately they used the State Secrets privilege toshut the case down in a secret court and place a seal on it so that noone could have access to the evidence. Te majority o the chapter that

discussed the cover-up was blacked out by the CIA, but Shipp built acode into the manuscript, revealing the cover-up. He recently decided torelease the code, and is taking a severe personal risk by doing so. Shippbelieves that the same system o secrecy and cover-up is being used tosilence witnesses o the Benghazi attack, and prevent the amilies o Amb.Stevens and the other three Americans rom nding out the truth abouttheir loved ones.


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Kenneth R. immerman, Author,Investigative Journalist

Ken immerman, an investigative journalistand best-selling author, has spent more than

three decades interviewing dissidents behindthe Iron Curtain, covering numerous MiddleEast wars, interviewing suicide bombers, anddebrieng deectors rom Iranian intelligenceorganizations. During the latter hal o the

1980s, he covered the Iran-Iraq war, gaining rst-hand knowledgeo Iraqs deadly weapons buildup. In 1995, he helped establish theFoundation or Democracy in Iran (FDI), which has become a rallyingpoint or Iranian democrats seeking an end to brutal, clerical rule inIran. His most recent work o non-ction, Shadow Warriors: raitors,Saboteurs, and the Party o Surrender, exposes a secret intelligence war,ought not against our enemies abroad, but by partisan bureaucrats andtheir allies in Congress and the media against a sitting United Statespresident.

Wayne Simmons, Former CIA Ofcer

Wayne Simmons acquired extensive govern-ment experience which was gathered during27 years in the intelligence business with theCIA. Recruited by the CIA in 1973 while inthe U.S. Navy, Simmons became part o anoutside paramilitary special operations groupwhere, in addition to working against narco-

terrorists, he ran special operations againstarms smugglers, countereiters, cyber-terrorists and industrial andeconomic espionage. Simmons sits on the Advisory Council or theIntelligence Summit, is a contributor to the conservative publicationHuman Events and has been a terrorism analyst or the Fox NewsChannel since 2002.


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Larry Ward, Political Director, Special Operations Speaks

Larry Ward, the political director o SpecialOperations Speaks, which represents over1,000 Special Operations veterans, recentlyclaimed that the reason House Speaker JohnBoehner (R-OH) is not creating a committeeto investigate the September 11, 2012 terroristattacks in Benghazi is because he is protectingthose who know what really happened.Appearing on Te Wilkow Majority on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125 with Breitbart News

Executive Chairman and guest host Stephen K. Bannon, Larry Ward,the political director, said that the current standing committees onBenghazi cant get to the bottom o what happened because they donot have power to subpoena inormation about the CIA and possiblegun-running programs in Benghazi. He suggested that House SpeakerBoehner may have ulterior motives or not creating a Select Committeeto investigate the matter urther.

Maj. Gen. Paul E. Vallely, USA (Ret.)

During Maj. Gen. Paul Vallelys distinguished

32-year Army career, he served in manyoverseas theaters included Europe and thePacic Rim countries, as well as his two toursin Vietnam. His combat service in Vietnamincluded positions as inantry companycommander, intelligence ocer, operationsocer, military advisor and aide-de-camp.

He has over 15 years experience in Special Operations, Psychologicaland Civil-Military Operations. He retired in 1993 as DeputyCommanding General, Pacic Command. In 2004, he co-authoredthe book Endgame: Te Blueprint or Victory in the War on error,together with retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tomas McInerney He is thechairman o Stand Up America and the Nemo Arms Company. Hisnew book, Betrayed, Exposing the High Cost o the War on error:TeShocking Sacrifce o Americas Special Ops Forces, co-authored with Billy

Vaughan,is available on his website, standupamericaus.org/.


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Congressman Frank Wol (R-VA)

Congressman Frank Wol, who has repre-sented the Northern Virginia suburbs since

1981, has not only become the dean o Vir-ginias congressional delegation, but is also theonly Republican who currently represents theWashington D.C. area. While his support orglobal human rights and transportation und-ing has earned a high degree o constituent

loyalty, Congressman Wol has also been an outspoken proponent olegislation to create a Select Committee to investigate the Benghaziattack, and demand accountability rom those responsible or intel-ligence ailures. His commitment to pursue this issue inspired him towrite Accuracy in Medias Chairman Don Irvine a personal letter tocongratulate him and AIM or establishing the Citizens Commissionon Benghazi.

Lt. Col. Allen West, USA (Ret)

Lt. Col. Allen West served 22 years in theU.S. Army beore being elected to the Houseo Representatives by the constituents oFloridas 22nd district. Beore taking oce, hewas an adviser to the Aghan National Army.Troughout his time in Congress, Westconsistently stood or policies that wouldmake the United States prosperous, strong

and ree, even when speaking up was not easy. Col.West was also amember o the ea Party Caucus and has been reerred to as one o thechampions o the ea Party movement. He earned his undergraduatedegree at e earneHe earned deg the University o ennessee, and aMasters degree rom Kansas State University, both in political science.He also holds a Master o Military Arts and Sciences rom the U.S.Army Command and General Sta Ocer College in political theory

and military operations. Lt. Col. West is a current contributor or FoxNews and P.J. Media.op o FormBottom o Form


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Charles Woods, Father o yrone Woods

Charles Woods is the ather o yroneSnowden Woods, Senior Chie Petty Ocer,US Navy SEAL (Ret.), who died on Septem-ber 12, 2012, while deending the U.S. Dip-lomatic Post and the CIA annex in Benghazi,Libya. A retired attorney, Charles Woods hasbeen trying to get answers to questions about

his sons death rom the Obama administra-tion or over a year. His most important question is: Who made the de-cision not to save y Woods and the other Americans who died undersiege? Woods question becomes even more compelling since denials ohelp came rom ocial sources that knew, in real time, that the attackswere terrorist attacks, and still the military and CIA were ordered tostand down. Te news that his son yrone disobeyed orders does notsurprise his ather, who said: My son was an American hero . . . and

he had the moral strength to do what was right . . . even i it wouldpotentially cost him his lie.


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Accuracy in Media

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Email: [email protected]

What They Say About AIM

I am grateul or the always vigilant and watchul eye o Accuracy

in Media.- Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.

I commend you or your hard work, determination and commitmentto excellence in exposing stories that are misreported or ignored inthe mainstream media.

- Sen. James Inhoe, R-Okla.

AIM has been a consistent and important orce in delivering our message-- and ensuring it is delivered better by the media powers-that-be.

- Brent Bozell, IIIMedia Research Center

Tank you or your insight into the issues o the day, and or giving

us always reliable inormation.- Phyllis SchlafyPresident, Eagle Forum

ccb program from sept. 16 conference

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