Hillary Clinton: "I Take Responsibility"
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM. Happening now, looming over tonight's presidential debate, the political uproar over the deadly assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya. Hillary Clinton tells CNN, she is responsible for security at U.S. diplomatic posts. Will that put out the fire? The candidates have done all they can to get ready for their crucial rematch. We're taking a closer look at how both have prepared and what they might do differently. Plus, he stayed out of sight for months, but he hasn't stayed out of the headlines. Now, we're hearing for the first time from Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in the SITUATION ROOM.</s>BLITZER: It's debate night in America. We're counting down to round two, a town hall event between the presidential candidates in Hempstead, Long Island in New York. CNN's coverage begins just in two hours from now. Our own Candy Crowley will moderate this debate. With polls showing a very, very tight race right now, this showdown could be critical, and it comes amid growing controversy over the Obama administration's handling of the deadly attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, now says flatly the security of U.S. diplomatic posts around the world is her responsibility. She spoke bluntly with CNN's foreign affairs reporter, Elise Labott, during her current visit to Peru.</s>ELISE LABOTT, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS REPORTER: Secretary Clinton, thank you so much for joining CNN. I want to talk a little bit about the Benghazi attack, September 11th, the evening of this horrible day, you get a call that the consulate in Benghazi was attacked and the ambassador has died. What goes through your head at that moment?</s>HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, Elise, this was a many hour ordeal that we were all involved in. And I was, you know, deeply concerned as you would obviously assume to hear about an attack, an attack that --</s>LABOTT: On 9/11?</s>CLINTON: On 9/11. An attack that was just overwhelming -- many armed men, numbers not clear, not only at our post but at our annex. And then, we couldn't find Ambassador Stevens. And we were trying desperately to figure out what had happened to him and to Shaun Smith (ph) and the others who were there. So, it was an intense, you know, long ordeal for everybody at the state department and in Libya.</s>LABOTT: Now, I know the investigation is going to play itself out.</s>CLINTON: Right.</s>LABOTT: But in the short-term, the state department officials and diplomatic security admit that requests for security were denied because they said that it was adequate based on the threat level. Did you get that intelligence about the threat level or was this a bad security decision?</s>CLINTON: You know, Elise, one of the things we're going to explore in the accountability review that I have ordered is exactly what happened. And what can we do to make sure that we learn lessons from it. Nobody wants to get to the bottom of this more than I do. I knew Chris Stevens. I've had a chance to meet the families of the other three men who we lost. I take this very personally. So, we're going to get to the bottom of it. And then, we're going to do everything we can to work to prevent it from happening again. And then, we're going to bring whoever did this to us to justice.</s>LABOTT: I understand, but Eastern Libya, known to be a hub for extremist groups on 9/11 the ambassador clearly didn't have enough security.</s>CLINTON: Well, I'm not going to reach any conclusions. Obviously, what happened that night was unprecedented, the waves of armed attackers that went on for hours.</s>LABOTT: Well, do you think you got wrong intelligence then?</s>CLINTON: I'm not going to get into the blame game either about what we don't fully yet know from our own investigation. What I think is important is to make it clear that we were attacked. And what does that mean? That means that we have to do everything we possibly can to keep our people safe. At the same time, we have to continue to be out in the world. That's a very difficult balance to make. And, I'm trying to make that balance all the time because we can't retreat. We have to continue to lead. We have to be engaged. We can't hang out behind walls. Chris Stevens understood that better than anybody. He believed in what he was doing in Libya. And, we want to do this right in his honor and the honor of all the men who were lost.</s>LABOTT: You say you don't want to play a blame game, but certainly, there's a blame game going on in Washington. In fact, during the presidential debate, Vice President Biden said we didn't know. White House officials calling around saying, hey, this is a state department function. Are they throwing you under the bus?</s>CLINTON: Oh, of course not. You know, look, I take responsibility. I'm in charge of the state department, 60,000 plus people all over the world, 275 posts. The president and the vice president certainly wouldn't be knowledgeable about specific decisions that are made by security professionals. They're the ones who weigh all of the threats and the risks and the needs and make a considered decision.</s>LABOTT: Intelligence community initially called it a protest. State department never did. You never did. The story has changed now. I mean, as you know, Republicans are charging that this was a cover-up. Was it a rush to judgment? Or was it bad intelligence as Vice President Biden suggests?</s>CLINTON: You know, Elise, I take a very different view of this. I have now for 20 years been very much in the administration decision- making, first with my husband, then after 9/11 working with President Bush, now, of course, on President Obama's cabinet. In the wake of an attack like this, in the fog of war, there's always going to be confusion. And I think it is absolutely fair to say that everyone had the same intelligence. Everyone who spoke --</s>LABOTT: Bad intelligence, it seems then.</s>CLINTON: Well, everyone who spoke tried to give the information that they had. As time has gone on, the information has changed. We've gotten more detail, but that's not surprising. That always happens. And what I want to avoid is some kind of political gotcha or blame game going on because that does a disservice to the thousands and thousands of Americans, not only in the state department and USAID, but in the military who serve around the world. Everyone wants to make sure they are as safe as possible, but they are doing the job that they were sent out to do.</s>LABOTT: Well, Ambassador Stevens' father this week said his death is being politicized. Democrats are calling it a witch hunt. Is that what's happening here?</s>CLINTON: Well, I'm not going to get into the political back and forth. I know that we're very close to an election. I want just to take a step back here and say from my own experience we are at our best as Americans when we pull together. I've done --</s>LABOTT: Are you saying we're not doing that?</s>CLINTON: -- with Democratic presidents and Republican presidents. I've seen it happen where people say, look, first and foremost, we're Americans. We've lost four brave men. Dozens more had to fight for their lives over a very long battle. They had to get evacuated because of the dangers that they were facing.</s>LABOTT: Secretary Clinton, thank you so much for joining us.</s>CLINTON: Thanks very much, Elise.</s>LABOTT: Thank you.</s>BLITZER: All right. This programming note, more of Elise's interview with the secretary of state will air later tonight during our 8:00 p.m. Eastern hour. She is asked to give the president of the United States some advice on how he should prepare for tonight's debate. More of this interview with Hillary Clinton coming up here on CNN. Did the secretary of state get the president off the hook by taking responsibility for security failures in the Libya attack? Paul Begala and Ari Fleischer, they are both standing by. And we'll also hear why this town hall format is so tricky for the candidates and what they've been doing to try to get ready for tonight's rematch.