Besides the bldg/compound under attack nominally belonged to the State Dept. It could easily be the case that it was the State Dept op that requested assistance, leaving the CIA off the hook.
The real question is what ops were being undertaken in Ben Ghazi and who set them in motion?
It would seem to me that unless the State Department personnel including the Ambassador were assigned to to work temporarily under the command of the CIA there is a protocol. Three words: “Chain”, “Of”, and “Command”. IF Ambassador Stevens was assigned to work temporarily for the CIA for whatever reason, then his Chain of Command would have been directly to the CIA, but IF he was not, and was totally under the State Department, then the CIA would be off the hook for any requests by Mr. Stevens other than having been aware, and doing some communication possibly to gain approval themselves to do something in a timely manner to save those peoples lives.
It is because of this real life “Chain of Command” protocol that I believe this whole screwup belongs to the team of Obama/Hillary with Hillary running point.
As does Fast & Furious, THIS Benghazi screwup STINKS of a typical Hillary forged scenario with half-assed follow through if none at all. Hillary transforms deadly imaginings into political games, but without the extensive details she is either too lazy to forge to completion, or too incompetent to do so, thus leaves for Belize, or wherever leaving others to try to manage without her to consult.
They are scrambling to protect the Party for Hillary’s 2016 run.