MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala -- As a part of its Contemporary Crisis Planning and Response webinar series, the Air Force Global College of PME hosted retire Maj. Gen. Michael Repass, former commander of the Special Operations Command-Europe, and Dr. Ethan Chorin, former United States diplomat and witness, to speak at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, Mach 6, 2025.
Repass and Chorin spoke as panel members for a webinar discussing the attacks and events of September 11, 2012, in Benghazi, Libya. Dr. Bradley Podliska, Associate Professor of National Security Studies, will be hosting the panel.
The webinar was an apolitical discussion that focused on military operations and response to crises. General Repass and Dr. Chorin offered a unique, first-person perspectives on the events in North Africa. General Repass was commander of Special Operations Command-Europe, which included command of the Commander’s In-extremis Force. The CIF was one of four units selected by Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta to respond to the attack on the State Department compound. Dr. Chorin was posted as a diplomat to Libya following the US reconciliation with Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi in the early 2000s, and on the ground in Benghazi and in communications with Ambassador Christopher Stevens just prior to the attack. He is the author of Benghazi!: A New History (Hachette Books, 2022).
Repass and Dr. Chorin first discussed the events of September 11, 2012, when at 9:42 p.m. Eastern European Time, al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists, including Ansar al-Sharia (AAS), stormed the State Department’s mission compound in Benghazi and then proceeded to attack the CIA Annex located about a mile away. Killed in the attacks were Ambassador Stevens, Information Officer Sean Smith, and CIA operatives, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. Included in this discussion will be insight and analysis of US strategy in Libya and the military’s task organization, mission analysis, and operational approach.
Repass and Dr. Chorin offered insight into how the US can improve civil-military dialogue in terms of a whole-of-government approach to solving complex problems. They concluded the online seminar with lessons learned, the impact of military crisis planning and response, and Benghazi’s relevance within Great Power Competition.