Washington ( CNN ) -- In testimony that sharply contradicted the Obama administration 's initial narrative of the September 11 , 2012 , terrorist attacks in Benghazi , Libya , three witnesses shared firsthand accounts this week of what happened before , during and after the attack . The three testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee , recounting the horrific events that took the lives of four heroic Americans that day at the U.S. Consulate . Much of what we have known about Benghazi to this point has come from Obama administration sources . The accounts of these brave witnesses raise troubling questions about the veracity of what we 've been told by official sources since the attack took place . The first contradiction pits former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 's explanation of security conditions at the compound against that of Eric Nordstrom , the former regional security officer at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli . In his testimony Wednesday , he repeated assertions he 'd made to Congressional investigators last year that his recommendations to upgrade security were ignored at the highest levels . Yet roughly four months after the attacks , Clinton told the House Committee on Foreign Affairs that `` specific requests and decision making '' on security `` rest with the security professionals . '' Even more disturbing was the discrepancy over what happened during the attack . The official story in the Accountability Review Board ( ARB ) report concluded there was no `` undue '' denial of support or assets . Yet we heard testimony from Deputy Chief of Mission Greg Hicks that four special operations military personnel in Tripoli were preparing to go to Benghazi on a rescue mission when they were told to stand down . This is jarring , taken against then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta 's claim in February that `` time , distance , the lack of an adequate warning . . . prevented a more immediate response . '' Opinion : Benghazi hearing 's real target : Clinton in 2016 . Furthermore , the Foreign Emergency Support Team ( FEST ) , which the State Department 's website calls `` the United States Government 's only interagency , on-call , short-notice team poised to respond to terrorist incidents worldwide '' was not called into action . For nearly two weeks after the attack , the Obama administration continued to peddle the story that it began as a demonstration against a video and got out of hand -- a claim that is now universally understood to be false . But at Wednesday 's hearing , Rep. Trey Gowdy , R-South Carolina , quoted what he said was an internal e-mail dated the day after the attack in which Assistant Secretary of State Beth Jones told the Libyan ambassador that Islamic group Ansar al-Sharia was responsible for the attack . The video claim was pure fiction , but Hicks testified that he was reassigned to a lower-level position after he questioned it . ( A State Department spokesman maintains that Hicks was not subjected to retaliation . ) More troubling than the initial video claim , however , is the allegation of serious flaws in the report issued by the Accountability Review Board , convened by Clinton , whose members include retired diplomat Thomas R. Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen , former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . All three career diplomats who testified Wednesday complained about the report , which they said was incomplete and assigned blame to the wrong personnel . As Congressional investigators have tried to get answers , the State Department has thrown up roadblocks . For example , Hicks testified that the State Department sent a lawyer from Washington in an unsuccessful attempt to ensure that I did not speak to him privately during my visit to Libya after the attacks . These concerted efforts by the State Department to conceal information from Congress should raise red flags . We have four dead Americans . To date , nobody has been captured or killed . The terrorists are still on the run . And we have an increasing number of contradictions between what we were led to believe and what the witnesses say actually happened . It 's hard to take any refutations of the testimony seriously given the impeccable credentials of the witnesses and the despicable record of misdirection from this administration . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of . Jason Chaffetz .
Jason Chaffetz : Testimony this week on Benghazi contradicts administration 's initial narrative . Comment: Rep. Gowdy said an email showed State Dept . knew Islamists , not video , behind attack . Chaffetz : Administration has repeatedly misdirected , thwarted Congressional investigators .