- We had these reports coming in
that the US embassy in Libya had been attacked.
- The attackers were Muslim protesters,
apparently angry about an Internet film
produced in the United States.
[indistinct shouting]
- There were up to 60 individuals gathered
outside the embassy.
[indistinct shouting]
They came armed with AK-47s, guns.
They gathered gasoline canisters
so that they could burn it.
That fire was tremendous.
This was anything
but a protest gone bad.
The news comes across that the ambassador is missing.
- My name is Chris Stevens,
and I'm the new US ambassador to Libya.
- We're trying to figure out exactly
who was behind this attack.
It's like a 10,000-piece puzzle.
[dramatic music]
But you don't have the pieces.
And you don't even have a picture
to try and put it together.
- There were about ten employees inside the building.
- They still haven't accounted for everyone
and haven't secured the consulate.
- I don't know that there can be
any greater motivating factor than to bring to justice
those individuals who are responsible.
But our challenge now is trying to figure out who they are.
[gunfire]
♪
- In the FBI, we make a lot of headlines...
♪
Drug busts,
mob stings,
terrorists takedowns.
- Get down! Get down!
- We understand why people want to tell stories about US.
- Mark it.
- Freeze! - FBI.
- FBI! - Action!
- But they don't know the half of it.
[indistinct radio chatter]
What really goes down,
we save that for each other,
when we're talking agent to agent.
♪
This is "FBI True."
[tense music]
♪
- Cindy Coppola is a 23-year veteran of the FBI.
She worked on cases that included organized crime
and terrorism and took part
in multinational investigations
into drug trafficking and money laundering.
Coppola finished her career with the Los Angeles division,
running two offices, supervising investigations,
and providing undercover security for special events.
- September rolls around, the anniversary of 9/11.
What are you doing? - September 11th, 2012,
it wasn't lost on anyone,
the significance of that day. - No, of course.
♪
- The antennas are up.
New York is always a target,
and we wanna make sure, you know--
- No copycat.
- No copycat attack. - Yeah.
- Ari Mahairas joined the FBI in 1996.
He worked in the Special Operations
and Criminal divisions in New York,
later joining the Counterterrorism Division
and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
He retired as Special Agent in Charge of New York's
Counterintelligence Cyber Division.
- You know, we're thinking everything is going okay
and wrap up the day.
I'm listening to the news driving home,
and we have these reports coming in
that the US embassy in Libya had been attacked.
- On Tuesday, dozens of protesters attacked
the US embassy in Egypt and burned down
the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
- I get home and turn on the TV immediately,
just trying to absorb and understand
exactly where we are, because I know, no doubt,
that CT3 is gonna open a case on this.
- Of course, because New York handles that territory.
- So CT3 had the extraterritorial
responsibility for criminal activity
that took place against US interests in North Africa.
So this would fall within our area of responsibility.
- And it wasn't really an embassy at the time, right?
- That's how it was being reported in the news.
But in reality, what was attacked was
the US temporary mission facility in Benghazi,
or the special mission.
♪
And so we hear the news, and there's a report
that Ambassador Chris Stevens had gone missing.
♪
We're in New York. This is taking place...
- Yeah, of course. - 5,000 miles away in Libya.
The news comes across that the ambassador is missing.
So I get in the car, and I start making phone calls
to the different supervisors,
the agents that are on the squad.
We got to the office,
and we began gathering as much information as we can.
The initial reports that were coming
from the US government side was that this was a result
of a protest stemming from a video.
[indistinct shouting]
- The attackers were Muslim protesters,
apparently angry about an Internet film
produced in the United States
that ridicules the prophet Muhammad.
- And as a result of that video
that was found to be offensive,
there was a spontaneous protest in Egypt.
[indistinct yelling]
And the initial reports that was being given
by the government at the time was that the events in Egypt
sparked what had taken place in Benghazi, Libya.
[indistinct yelling and chanting]
- And the other thing is,
what was the ambassador doing there?
What was his role?
- Asalaam alaikum.
My name is Chris Stevens,
and I'm the new US ambassador to Libya.
- So there was a lot going on in Libya.
As we know, it was just after the fall of Gaddafi.
♪
There were a lot of militias operating
in the vacuum of authority,
and everybody was vying
to get a piece of the pie, if you will.
Ambassador Stevens in Benghazi was there
doing what diplomats do.
He was there to establish relationships,
meet with the locals, his counterparts,
and build those relationships
that advance the mutual interests
of both the United States and the Libyan government.
- I am excited to return to Libya
to continue the great work we've started,
building a solid partnership
between the United States and Libya to help you,
the Libyan people, achieve your goals.
- And that night, he actually had dinner
with some of his local counterparts.
After the meeting had concluded,
the ambassador retired to his residence.
And it was about that time
when the attack actually started.
- What were you hearing that you weren't hearing--
like, seeing on the news?
- One of the toughest things
you do in this type of an investigation
is to gather the intelligence and make sense of it.
♪
Intelligence work-- well, especially in this case,
is like putting a puzzle together.
It's like a 10,000-piece puzzle,
but you don't have the pieces.
And you don't even have a picture
to try and put it together.
But the initial intelligence we were receiving,
I think it was fairly reasonable to conclude
that this was anything but a protest gone bad.
The reports were, there were 30 and up to 60 individuals
who had gathered outside the embassy.
But one of the telltale signs was,
they came armed with AK-47s and RPGs.
♪
Right, so that doesn't follow the script...
- Correct. - Of a protest gone bad.
- Of a "protest," right.
Do you know where the ambassador is at this point?
- The first indication we had of any whereabouts
of the ambassador came in a social media post,
which depicted the ambassador's lifeless body in a picture.
[indistinct chatter]
And we didn't know exactly what was happening.
But we began to sort of flesh that out--
- Right, through the intel community.
- And what we were able to determine
was that the ambassador was found
inside a room of a safe house.
And despite appearing to be lifeless,
he was taken to the Benghazi Medical Center,
where attempts to resuscitate him failed.
- The US ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens,
died yesterday when Muslim protesters stormed
and set fire to the US consulate in Benghazi.
- So you're at the office,
getting everybody broken into different teams.
What's our plan of attack?
- As we're strategizing in the office,
we're still receiving intelligence.
And we're trying to figure out exactly what happened.
And so what we did was,
deployed the investigative team.
They went to Ramstein,
where we spun up the forward operating base,
where they would eventually rendezvous
and meet up with the victims...
- Sure. - Of the attack,
who were just out of the danger zone,
who had been evacuated.
- And a law enforcement source said the FBI would
begin the investigation by interviewing
the 30 American survivors of the attack,
who are now at a US military base in Germany.
- The survivors painted a terrifying picture
of what unfolded that night.
- So at some point in Benghazi,
there's a group of militants gathered.
They breach the C1 gate.
They start moving through the compound unimpeded.
After setting fire to the guardhouse,
they made their way to the main house.
Inside the main house, there was a safe room.
That's where the DS agent was
with Ambassador Stevens and Sean Smith,
another diplomat who was the information management officer
for the embassy.
The militants try to break into the safe room.
Unable to do so,
they gather gasoline canisters...
And put everything that they could together
so that they could burn it.
That fire was tremendous.
As the fire burned and raged,
burning everything in its path,
smoke started getting into the room
where the ambassador was with Sean Smith and the DS agent.
The DS agent, believing he had the ambassador
and Sean behind him, climbs out of the window,
gasping for air, barely conscious.
Realizing though, that he did not have
the ambassador and Sean with him,
he climbed back in to find them.
He was unable to do so.
The GRS units from the CIA annex arrive.
And as they arrived at the special mission,
they were met with gunfire.
[gunfire]
But they were able to push back the attackers
and were able to gain entry into the special mission...
where they eventually find Sean Smith.
Unfortunately, he had already passed.
But they were unable to find the ambassador.
And realizing that the situation was deteriorating,
they make their way back to the CIA annex.
And almost immediately, the battle starts again.
[gunfire]
But this time, with heavy weapons,
small arms fire, and even a mortar attack.
Those direct mortar hits resulted in the death
of Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty of the GRS units.
Even not being there, just hearing the story,
and then with media reports actually showing you
the burned down buildings...
I don't know that there can be any greater motivating factor
than to bring to justice those individuals
who are responsible for the deaths of the Americans,
Ambassador Chris Stevens, Sean Smith,
and Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.
- Are you getting any information
that you might be able to use
to start putting together a piece of an investigation?
- We're beginning to collect evidence.
[tense music]
We're trying to figure out exactly
who was behind this attack.
Some of the information that was developed early on
were the militias who may have had a part in this,
Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi faction;
Ansar Al-Sharia, Darnah faction;
and then Ubaydah bin Jarrah, or UBJ,
was the third faction
because of their strength in that area
and their intent on establishing Sharia law.
So these three groups rise sort of to the top
of your suspect list.
So the information is coming in fast and furious.
One of the things that early on we were able
to get our hands on was the video surveillance system
of the mission.
That proved to be critical.
And what we were able to gather was not only
a sort of better picture of what actually happened.
- Sure. - That was corroborated
by the statements given
of the victims who had been evacuated.
But we were able to get some still photos now
of individuals who were there.
- Potential suspects.
- But our challenge now is trying to figure out
who they are, trying to identify those subjects.
But once we're able to get the actual photos, the stills,
we give them off to the intel analysts,
and they did a tremendous job actually
in putting names to faces.
- Where are they getting those names from?
Like, how are they figuring that?
Is it from older cases, or is it,
you know, collection of intel from the past?
- All of the above, right? - Right.
- You know, you gotta go to the old
classic detective work.
And so you start researching older cases.
You start passing those photos around
to sources for identification. - Sure.
- And you start getting these names back.
But you know, despite the progress we made there,
there was still many faces without names.
- That you didn't know who they were?
- No, we had no idea. But you know though
that typically what we would do,
we would reach out to the host nation,
who's best suited to identify their own citizens,
and say, hey, who is this person?
- But unfortunately, you can't--
there's no host-- - There's no host nation.
The ability to collaborate with them was limited at best.
- Which is a shame. - And so now we have
to find a creative way.
How do we do that?
Well, one of the things that they did
was coordinate with state department DS agents...
- Yeah. - Who were previously
on the ground and had established
relationships with locals.
Whether they're going three months or six months
or a year, there's people that had been
previously assigned there, just left,
and hopefully established a relationship
with some locals who we can now reach out to.
- Great idea.
- So we had some positive responses.
And so people who were willing to help, right,
because not everybody was a bad guy.
There were some people on that video that moved around
with a little bit more air of authority.
They appear to be directing others on the compound.
- Interesting. - And at some point,
the FBI did put out a wanted poster
based on the stills that were taken.
As the pieces of the puzzle began to draw
a clearer picture, one image came to the forefront
of their possible ringleader.
And that was Ahmed Abu Khattala,
the leader of Ubaydah Bin Jarrah, or UBJ.
- So you have potential ringleader.
What, in your mind, did you guys wanna do?
Can you arrest anybody?
You know, it's not our country.
- These cases are always difficult to do, even at home.
But in this particular case,
working in a hostile, non-permission environment,
it wasn't the same old thing.
But the first thing that the case agents did,
along with their US attorney counterparts,
they presented the case to the judge,
who approved an arrest warrant for Abu Khattala.
And in this particular case with Abu Khattala,
it was gonna prove to be a little bit more difficult,
not only in actually being able to do it,
but challenging because you also
have to know where they are.
And he wasn't an easy individual to track.
While in country, and while tracking Khattala,
we also have some fidelity on Anas Al-Liby.
Now, Al-Liby, as you know, was the individual indicted
for his participation in the 1998 embassy bombings
in Kenya and Tanzania. - Yes, yeah.
- Resulted in the death of over 220 people.
[sirens wailing]
- [sobbing]
- But approval wasn't given for both,
a dual operation,
a simultaneous capture operation
of Al-Liby and Khattala.
And so the decision was made to pursue Al-Liby.
And after the capture operation
becomes public on Al-Liby...
- He is believed to have once been close to Osama bin Laden
and is accused of playing a role in the 1998 bombings
of two American embassies in Africa,
which left more than 200 dead.
- All chaos breaks loose on the streets of Libya.
[indistinct chatter and singing]
- Of course, because they're pissed off again.
- It was a little too hot, and the US government,
the officials weren't comfortable
in authorizing that operation at that time.
- So that put your arrest plan on hold, which wasn't helpful.
- Well, it wasn't helpful that Khattala was free
to move about, right? - Sure.
- And it certainly wasn't helpful
when he was sitting in a hotel lobby,
sipping on his fruit juice, giving interviews.
- We met with Ahmed Abu Khattala in public
at the coffee shop of a well-known hotel
here in Benghazi for around two hours.
And he agreed to let us film audio
but not video of our conversation.
- He didn't implicate himself
in any of the wrongdoing, right?
But what he did say was, he was there that night,
but he didn't participate.
- [speaking Arabic]
- As we look at this and try to say,
well, can we get any good out of that?
The truth of the matter is, yeah,
because now we have Abu Khattala
on film saying he was there.
- He thinks he's gotten away with this.
- It's almost like a mockery.
For me, Abu Khattala's actions
was thumbing his nose
to US government... - US government, yeah.
- To the acts of violence
and the terrorism that he was a part of.
Certainly wasn't a good look.
But he wasn't free from being monitored.
When he showed up, he gave us a starting point
that we could continue to track his movements.
Not only did we have something coming out of his own mouth,
but we know where he is now.
And so he may have felt comfortable,
but we were certainly moving towards a day
where he would not feel comfortable.
It's not until a few months later
where we start developing plans to execute the arrest warrant.
And so the FBI case team worked hand in hand
with their USIC counterparts,
developed a source who can get close to Khattala.
- Placement and access. - Placement and access.
And eventually, an individual was identified who,
based on his credibility in and around the Benghazi area,
who was capable of getting close to Khattala
and developing the finer points of a capture mission.
- So was that source working well for--
- The source is doing a tremendous job,
absolutely phenomenal job.
As you know, these capture operations,
meticulous planning is required.
- Of course. It's gotta be all lined up.
- One of the things the source was able to do
was speak with Khattala
and get him to visit a seaside villa.
The idea that was being pitched was,
Khattala could use this place as a safe house
and a place to rest,
because as powerful as he was,
somebody always wants the crown.
- Yeah. - So he was targeted as well.
There were rival militia factions there
that were not necessarily in line.
- Yeah, he's not stupid. - Right, he's not stupid.
He knows he has enemies.
He agreed to it.
And so with the capture operation now approved,
the plan is put into motion.
As arranged, the source meets Khattala,
and they drive towards the seaside villa,
about a 20 or 30-minute ride.
- Nice. - It's nighttime.
As they arrive, the source gets out of the vehicle,
starts leading Khattala into the house,
where US Special Operations Forces were inside and waiting.
As Khattala entered into the home,
he was engaged by our operators.
Khattala was armed, and he was a big guy.
And he fought back violently.
But in short order, the operators were able
to disarm him and get him under control.
And that's when they effected the capture.
On that night, US Special Operations Forces
went fishing,
and they caught a big fish.
Eventually, the team moves towards the sea,
where they get on a boat, and then they take a ride
and connect with the USS New York out at sea.
But the ship now is making its way back to the US.
And while on the ship, they're conducting interviews.
The first set of investigators have a different,
more urgent mission.
They're trying to figure out whether Khattala's
involved with or knows of another imminent attack.
When that kind of settles down, then the investigative team,
who had been pursuing this relentlessly,
they were next up on deck.
And they began their interview process.
But their objective,
as you know, is totally different.
They're trying to conduct an interview in such a way that--
- For the criminal prosecution. - For the criminal prosecution.
- Yeah, sure, of course. - That's right.
I'm at an off-site facility
knowing that the operation is gonna go down.
And they stayed focused and dedicated to their mission...
- Sure. - Which is to develop
the case and bring Khattala to justice.
But why that day?
And why this facility?
During the course of the investigation,
we determined that he believed
that the special mission was an actual spy base.
And so wanting to rid his city...
- Of a spy base. - Of this American spy base,
that-- - Was his motive.
- His other motive was to kill Americans.
And in fact, he said, if he could
have killed more Americans, he would have.
♪
- Well, Ari, my hat's off to you guys and the team.
- Thank you. - A year and a half,
I mean, the guy is finally captured alive
so he can face prosecution.
- It's a tremendous feeling of satisfaction.
All the hard work, not only for me personally,
but a tremendous relief for those who survived
and for the families. - And the families.
- And this investigation,
it doesn't end with the capture of Abu Khattala.
It continues on for those who are responsible
for the deaths of the Americans.