{CIA chieftains were caught off guard by the spiraling Islamic violence in postwar Libya, suddenly realizing that analysts had never brainstormed what the country would look like and that the White House had not asked.}

The agency also acknowledged in a classified report that Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s U.S.-deposed dictator, had long suppressed a variety of radical Islamic groups, including al Qaeda, from taking root in his country and endangering North Africa.

Today, absent Gadhafi’s iron fist since October 2011, Libya is in a civil war and has become a coveted destination for Islamic extremists, including the Islamic State in and around Benghazi. Based in Syria and Iraq, the Islamic State boasts its largest franchise in Libya, where it wants to destabilize a fledgling democratic government in the capital of Tripoli and export terrorism. President Obama, who approved the intervention, has called Libya a “mess.”

The CIA views are among the interviews and documents compiled by the House select committee that investigated the Islamic extremist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi and on a nearby CIA base on Sept. 11, 2012. The attacks killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens, his aide and two former Navy SEALs defending the CIA compound.

Released last week, the report details Mr. Stevens‘ repeated requests for more security, only to be turned down by the State Department, then led by Hillary Clinton. Republicans also said the evidence showed there was much focus inside the White House on blaming a U.S. anti-Muslim video for the attack, at the same time Americans were under fire in Benghazi and asking for Washington’s help. Washington sent no troops or rescue planes to Benghazi.

Sirte and other parts of Libya became destabilized after the death of Moammar Gadhafi, and President Obama acknowledged that a lack of planning after the U.S. intervention was his worst mistake.