In part from CBSNews: The U.S. has been unable to secure thousands of potentially dangerous shoulder-fired missiles known as “MANPADS” that were leftover from the Qaddafi regime in Libya, CBS News has learned.
MANPADS stands for “Man-portable air-defense systems.” According to a well-placed source, hundreds of the missiles have been tracked as having gone to Al Qaeda Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an Algeria-based Sunni Muslim terrorist group fighting for control in Mali.
“I would imagine they’re trying to get their hands on as many weapons such as MANPADS as they can,” says CBS News national security consultant Juan Zarate. “It’s a danger both to the military conflict underway in Mali and a real threat to civilian aircraft if, in fact, terrorists have their hands on these MANPADS.”
Before his overthrow and death in the fall of 2011, Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi was believed to have purchased 15,000-20,000 Soviet MANPADS. Concern over the whereabouts of the missiles – and the possibility that terrorists could buy them on the black market and even use them to shoot down American passenger jets – drove a U.S. effort to recover as many as possible. But only about 2,000 were accounted for prior to the Sept. 11, 2012 terrorist attacks on Benghazi, Libya, according to the source. He describes those working to locate the missiles as “beside themselves” and “frustrated.”
The program to recover MANPADS in Libya was funded by the U.S. and said to have been run by South African contractors. The contractors attempted to appeal to Libyans, many of them ex-Gaddafi loyalists, to turn over or destroy the MANPADS as a matter of patriotism and pride.
“We told them that ‘if planes start dropping out of the sky, it will trace back to you and you’ll have the international reputation for terrorism,'” says the source. “We offered them money, we tried talking them out of it … The only successes they had were in western Libya, the Tripoli area. In the eastern half toward Benghazi, they were getting nowhere.”
In part, 2 pages are below, the interaction between the State Dept. OpsCenter and Benghazi
Sent:
To:
Subject:
Classification:
SensitivityCode:
Tuesday, September 11, 2012 7:27 PM
DSCC_Watch Team; DSCC_Management_ Team
Benghazi Contractors
UNCLASSIFIED
Sensitive
Further regarding Contractors on the ground in Benghazi
SBU
This email is UNCLASSIFIED.
From: Operations Center
Sent: Tuesday. Seotember 11. 2012 7;26 P:
To:l.__ __________ _,j
Cc: SES-0
Subject: RE: proposed teleconference call – PM/WRA– Libya Thursday
‘c:!llo gentlemen,
~—–~ RELEASE IN PART
B7(C),B6
~-i (..• .. \ ‘”‘ ;1 J
86
B7(C)
rhe Operations Center spoke with! ~arlier this evening ~nd has noted that he and [ [are in the
hotel in Benghazi. Please let us know if there are any further updates, and do not hesitate to call the Operations Center
if you need anything at all.
Take care,
Esther
Esther Pan Sloane
From:I
To
Subject: proposed teleconference call – PM/WRA- Libya Thursday
Date: Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:35 :06 +0000
Hello All,
PM/WRA, led by Jim Lawrence, would like to host a conference call to discuss our current and future work on the ground
in Easf and West Libya, as well as other relevant issues regarding the coordination with our Libyan and UN partners.
I liave scheduled the call for 1000 EST (Washington) on Thursday, September 13. I am waiting for details to ·pass on to
the participants to .call in. I should have those shortly. –
I just wanted to give you a heads up and we hope you can participate. For participants in our o~ce CC’d on this mail,
this call will be held in WRA’s Conference Room. ·
Thanks,
D
SBU
This email is UNCLASSIFIED.
*** Taken in part from page 7 of the journal marking the retirement of Jim Lawrence.
His quiet brand of leadership has been as effective in waging peace as his father’s efforts were in waging war; consequently, PM/WRA and the Department of State are prepared as never before to face the evolving challenges in the fields of humanitarian demining and the destruction/disposition of MANPADS [man-portable air-defense systems] and other conventional weapons.
