CBS: Three more officials to testify over Benghazi attacks

As the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. in Libya, Gregory Hicks was on the ground at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli on September 11, 2012, when terrorists launched two attacks on American compounds in Benghazi.

Hicks and two other government officials have been named as witnesses for a Congressional hearing Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee. The others are: Eric Nordstrom, the former lead security official for the State Department in Libya, and Mark Thompson, the acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism at the State Department. Other so-called "whistleblowers" from federal agencies, including the CIA, have provided information to Congressional investigators, but are said to be unwilling - so far - to speak publicly because they aren't authorized by their agencies to do so.

Some claim fear of retaliation.

It's been a remarkably long period of silence from the dozens of American survivors and eyewitnesses who were in Libya the night of the attacks. It's not publicly known what testimony the witnesses will give at this week's hearing, but in a series of interviews and communications, CBS News has obtained information about some of areas of knowledge the witnesses can address.

Hicks was number two to Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the attacks. With Stevens in Benghazi on September 11, Hicks was the top Foreign Service official at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. When the first U.S. compound in Benghazi fell under attack, Hicks reportedly took the frantic call.

"Greg, we are under attack," Ambassador Stevens told Hicks on the phone. Those were the last words he heard from Stevens.

According to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who appeared Sunday on "Face the Nation," Hicks recently testified privately to the House Oversight Committee: "I never reported a demonstration. I reported an attack on the consulate...I thought it was a terrorist attack from the get-go. I think everyone in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning."

Hicks was also on the receiving end of calls when Stevens went missing. Later, he was on the phone when an unidentified man called the U.S. Embassy using Stevens' own telephone to say the ambassador was at Benghazi hospital. Still later, Hicks said he was there when Stevens' body was turned over to U.S. personnel under circumstances that still remain mysterious.

Throughout the night, sources say Americans on the ground in Libya at times felt helpless and abandoned.

"We relied on Washington for dispassionate assessment," one eyewitness told CBS News. "Instead, they [Washington officials] were asking us what help we needed. We answered: 'Send reinforcements!' "

But they were told immediate help wasn't available.

Embassy personnel say they repeatedly asked the Defense Attache on site in Tripoli for military assistance.

"Isn't there anything available?" one Embassy official says he asked. "But the answer was 'no.'"

"What about Aviano?" the official pressed, referencing the NATO air base with US assets in northeastern Italy. "No," was the answer. (Continues)