In the CIA’s original set, the first bullet point included a reference that the Benghazi attack was “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and evolved into a direct assault against the U.S. consulate and subsequently its annex.”
It noted assessments could change “as additional information is collected and analyzed.”
The second bullet point noted the attackers in Benghazi were comprised of “a mix of individuals from across many sections of Libyan society.”
It specified that intelligence officials did not know whether Islamic extremists, including those aligned with al Qaeda, had participated in the attack.
This bullet was later changed after a CIA analyst questioned whether the current intelligence supported the assertion that extremists had participated in the attack.
Another CIA officer agreed, stating intelligence placed extremists at a protest but could not support the notion that extremists were responsible for the American deaths.
The editing team revised it so that talking point read, “The crowd almost certainly was a mix of individuals from across many sectors of Libyan society. The investigation is on-going as to who is responsible. That being said, we do know that Islamic extremists participated in the violent demonstrations.”
The second CIA change was to the swap out the word “attacks” with “demonstrations” in the first bullet point, which an administration source said was to eliminate an awkward and illogical account of events.
A third change the CIA made was to remove the name al Qaeda from the second talking point, which was done because it didn’t want to get ahead of the FBI’s investigation of the attack.
White House releases Benghazi e-mails - CNN.com: