The Senate Intelligence Committee is holding up a proposal that would grant death benefits to the families of Benghazi hero Glen Doherty and other CIA contractors who have died in the line of duty,
reports Brandon Webb on the website SOFREP.
Webb, a former Navy SEAL, quotes a source close to Doherty's family as saying CIA Director John Brennan authorized retroactive payments of $400,000 to more than 50 families of paramilitary contractors killed supporting American interests overseas since the Beirut bombing in 1983.
Brennan made the authorization months ago, but the committee, chaired by Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and ranking Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, has taken no action.
Doherty had paid into a life insurance policy not knowing it paid off only if the contractor was married or had children. Doherty's family received nothing from the policy.
He was killed during the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya along with four other Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
The Defense Base Act (DBA) of 1941 does not allow for a death benefit for a contractor without a spouse or children.
"Until Benghazi, it was not clearly understood in the contracting community that DBA only allows a death benefit to be paid in cases where the individual was married or had dependent children," Webb writes. "Since Glen was unmarried, the policy paid no death benefit, and his family and estate were left to pay the bill. An American hero was buried without help from the government."
Webb urged people to share the story on social media to pressure the government to help the families of contractors.
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