Benghazi witness joins Kasich national security team

The former No. 2 ranking American in Libya, a key witness at the congressional hearings on the Benghazi attack, has joined Republican presidential candidate John Kasich’s new national security advisory group, the campaign announced Tuesday.

{mosads}Gregory Hicks, who served in the State Department for 22 years and was the deputy chief of mission in Libya, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee he knew the 2012 assault was a terrorist attack but did not get military support when he requested it.

“If we had been able to scramble a fighter or aircraft or two over Benghazi as quickly as possible after the attack commenced, I believe there would not have been a mortar attack on the annex in the morning because I believe the Libyans would have split,” Hicks told committee staffers, according to PJ Media.

“The Libyans would have split. They would have been scared to death that we would have gotten a laser on them and killed them.”

The White House campaign for Kasich, governor of Ohio, announced 25 new members to join his national security advisory group this week. The team will help advise the campaign on policy development.

“The growing support that Kasich is receiving from America’s national security establishment reflects the expertise that he brings to the issue and which he continues to demonstrate,” Kasich’s campaign said in a news release.

Other members joining Kasich’s team include Richard Allen, former national security advisor to President Reagan; Alvin “Buzzy” Krongard, former executive director of the CIA; George Beebe, former chief of the Russia Analysis Group; Frank Cilluffo, former special assistant for homeland security to President George W. Bush; and Joseph DeTrani, former national mission manager for North Korea counterproliferation at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.