u.s. ambassador and served for middle east policy and david rhode author of the new book beyond war which examines america s role in a middle changing east. thank you both for being here this afternoon. thanks. david, i want to start with you. these closures of these embassies have been called unprecedented. what kind of information would lead to a response like this? i think it is something very significant. some kind of intercepts from senior al qaeda leaders and no warning since the killing of osama bin laden in may of 2011. something serious they ve heard. i also think this is the reaction of the benghazi scandal. the administration does want to look like it s lax on security and not being aggressive enough. i think they re also being very, very broad in terms of shutting down so many embassies to be careful politically. if something else were to happen, of course, a lot of people critical of not having done enough. mark, i want to turn to you on this. we heard a lot over