Benghazi Security Contractors: About 25 Americans are Still Alive Because We Broke 'Stand Down' Order

Photo Credit: FNCThe Obama administration, the CIA, and even some congressional committees—they all said there “was no ‘stand down’ order.”

But now five men who helped ward off the terrorists that attacked U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya two years ago say it’s only because they defied such an order that as many as 25 Americans are alive today.

“There’s quite a few—the soft-skins, we call them, or the non-shooters,” Kris “Tanto” Paronto, one of the security contractors that fateful evening, said in a phone interview on early Monday afternoon. “They’re all still working. I can’t give their names out or give their call signs out. The only ones I can are like me and Oz and Tig who have come out. We’re all on board with the project and we are all a team together, but some want to remain anonymous.

“As far as the numbers, you’ve got—and I’m going to be approximate—but there’s about 25 people that came out there and then there’s however many that left from Tripoli from the State Department when we got there,” Paronto continued. “There’s a lot of them. I haven’t stayed in touch with all of them, and haven’t felt the need to. But a lot of them are staffers for the most part. A lot of them are still working.”

Terrorists who stormed the compound that evening killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and Foreign Service Office Sean Smith. As the attack was beginning, Paronto, John “Tig” Tiegen, Mark “Oz” Geist, Jack Silva, Dave “D.B.” Benton, and Tyrone “Rone” Woods—the security team at the CIA Annex—were ready within minutes to head over to a nearby diplomatic compound, where terrorists from Anshar Al-Sharia armed with AK-47s and other powerful weapons had stormed the building. Inside the compound were Smith, Stevens, and five other Americans.

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