>> we had been training local libyans and arming them for almost a year. >> let me interrupt. >> why do you think the request was denied? >> i don't know. i really don't know. in the case of the s.s.t., that was provided to them by d.o.d. the state department didn't have to pay money. i can't imagine why. i can't fill in the blank. that is part of what was trying to come out of a congressional investigation. >> were you flabbergasted like what can we do? we couldn't even keep what we had. >> i think what was motivating the state department was that if we had security that would have truly been appropriate, it would have been an admission that conditions on the ground in libya were not safe. and that would have violated the world view that this had been an administration success. >> bret: you left libya in august. less than a month before the attack. >> august 14. >> bret: how did you feel about the security situation when you left? >> i didn't like it.