Report: U.S. Said to be Tracking Libyan Embassy Attackers

(Newsroom America) -- U.S. intelligence is tracking those responsible for attacking the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya, last month, ahead of possible retaliation, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Citing U.S. officials, the paper said the top-secret Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has been collecting information on the deadly Sept. 11 attack, in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed.

President Obama has faced harsh criticism for what earlier reports said was a lack of security for the embassy despite clear evidence of the existence of external threats. Obama has vowed to track down those responsible.

The Times said the information gathered on those responsible could lead to a decision to launch a drone or commando strike against them, but that one had not been made yet.

"They are putting together information on where these individuals live, who their family members and their associates are, and their entire pattern of life," the paper quoted a U.S. official as saying.

During the current presidential election cycle, Obama has touted his foreign policy credentials as one reason why he should be reelected. But in the days and weeks following the attack, the administration has botched the narrative, at first characterizing the attack as a spontaneous response to an anti-Islam video posted online in the U.S., then defining it as a "terrorist" incident linked to al Qaeda.

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