By Adam Housley

Despite a carefully narrated version of events rolled out late this week by  the CIA claiming agents jumped into action as soon as they were notified of  calls for help in Benghazi, security officials on the ground say calls for help  went out considerably earlier — and signs of an attack were mounting even  before that.

The accounts, from foreign and American security officials in and around  Benghazi at the time of the attack, indicate there was in fact a significant lag  between when the threat started to show itself and help started to arrive.

According to the CIA, the first calls for assistance came at 9:40 p.m. local  time from a senior State Department official at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi,  to the CIA annex about a mile away.

But according to multiple people on the ground that night, the Blue Mountain  Security manager, who was in charge of the local force hired to guard the  consulate perimeter, made calls on both two-way radios and cell phones to  colleagues in Benghazi warning of problems at least an hour earlier. Those calls  allegedly went to local security contractors who say that the CIA annex was also  notified much earlier than 9:40 p.m. U.S. military intelligence also told Fox  News that armed militia was gathering up to three hours before the attack  began.

One source said the Blue Mountain Security chief seemed “distraught” and said  “the situation here is very serious, we have a problem.” He also said that even  without these phone and radio calls, it was clear to everyone in the security  community on the ground in Benghazi much earlier than 9:40 p.m. that fighters  were gathering in preparation for an attack.

Many of these security contractors and intelligence sources on the ground in  Benghazi met twice a week for informal meetings at the consulate with Blue  Mountain and consulate staff, and at times other international officials. They  were all very familiar with security at the consulate — and said the staff  seemed “complacent” and “didn’t seem to follow the normal American way of  securing a facility.”

Both American and British sources say multiple roadblocks set up by fighters  believed to be with Ansar al-Sharia were in place in Benghazi several hours  before the 9:40 p.m. timeline and that communications also alluded to “heavily  armed troops showing up with artillery.” Fox News was told by both American and  British contacts who were in Benghazi that night that the CIA timeline rolled  out this past week is only “loosely based on the truth” and “doesn’t quite add  up.”

Fox News was also told that the local guard force meant to protect the  consulate perimeter “panicked” and didn’t know what to do as the attackers took  up positions. Sources say other guards simply “walked away”.

Read more at Fox news with video

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