EXPLANATION

Benghazi Reports Outpaced Intel

Gap grew between new info and talking points.

Intelligence reports from the field lagged behind the talking points provided to government officials after the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last month. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has hammered the administration for what the GOP ticket considers the White House shifting explanation for the attack. Intelligence officials interviewed by The New York Times provide another explanation—the latest CIA intelligence didn’t land right in officials’ laps as they spoke on television. One intelligence official said that as more information became available, “people reconciled contradictory information and assessed there probably wasn’t a protest around the time of the attack.”