The Benghazi attacks, in which the [US] ambassador and three other Americans were killed, come at the end of a 10-year period in which...aggressive measures used by private contractors...led to shootings in Afghanistan and Iraq that provoked protests, including an episode involving...Blackwater [guards], that left at least 17 Iraqis dead...The ghosts of that shooting clearly hung over Benghazi...Earlier this year, the new Libyan government had expressly barred Blackwater-style armed contractors from flooding into the country...[G]iven the Libyan edict banning the contractors, the Obama administration was eager to reduce the American footprint there. After initially soliciting bids from major security companies for work in Libya, State Department officials never followed through...Instead...[relying] on a small British company to provide several unarmed Libyan guards...This week, [Patrick] Kennedy...faced [criticisms] for lax management and failing to provide more aggressive security in Benghazi.