No Briefings for Obama Before Egypt, Libya Embassy Attacks

In the week leading up to the stunning attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the murder of four Americans, including U.S.-Libyan Ambassador Chris Stevens, Obama did not attend intelligence briefings.The White House keeps a daily record of all the president's scheduled activities. According to Breitbart, the week before the attacks occurred Obama did not attend his intelligence briefings.

Called the Presidential Daily Brief, these daily meetings give the president a quick overview of what's happening in the world and, more importantly, potential security threats.

According to a report by the Government Accountability Institute, Obama has attended less than 44 percent of such briefings since he took office. The White House countered that saying he did not meet personally with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta or other intelligence officials, but he always daily read intelligent reports. 

However, a report in the Atlanta Constitution Journal points out that face-to-face meetings are important so the president can ask questions and they can tell him if a situation requires immediate action. Unless the president is actively participating in discussions, that isn't happening.

In a surprisingly neutral and well-written story in Aljazeera (the Middle East News Service) comments made by several  Libyan leaders would lead a reader to believe the U.S. and its allies had to have some intelligence that potential flareups could occur. The recent release of an anti-Muslim movie and the recent killing of the al-Queda second in command appear to have followed history and resulted in retaliatory incidents... as they have in the past.

The question that is now being asked is, given these incidents and unrest in the region, why was security not beefed up or important U.S. officials given enough military protection to prevent, or lessen, the attacks? New information has led U.S. officials to believe the Cairo and Libya attacks were coordinated and planned.