Glen Doherty - American Hero

                                                                      Glen Doherty

By LEE FERRAN

Sept. 13, 2012

 http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/glen-doherty-navy-seal-killed-libya-intel-mission/story?id=17229037&nwltr=blotter_featureHed#.UFJJzlG9zxF

One of the Americans killed alongside Ambassador Christopher Stevens in an attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya Tuesday told ABC News before his death that he was working with the State Department on an intelligence mission to round up dangerous weapons in the war-torn nation.

In an interview with ABC News last month, Glen Doherty, a 42-year-old former Navy SEAL who worked as a contractor with the State Department, said he personally went into the field to track down so-called MANPADS, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, and destroy them. After the fall of dictator Moammar Gadhafi, the State Department launched a mission to round up thousands of MANPADS that may have been looted from military installations across the country. U.S. officials previously told ABC News they were concerned the MANPADS could fall into the hands of terrorists, creating a threat to commercial airliners.

Doherty said that he traveled throughout Libya chasing reports of the weapons and once they were found, his team would destroy them on the spot by bashing them with hammers or repeatedly running them over with their vehicles. When ABC News spoke to Doherty in late August, he was enjoying a short time off in California before heading back to Libya just days ago.

The State Department declined to comment on Doherty's involvement in the MANPADS program, but pointed to a previous statement from State Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Andrew Shapiro in which he said the department was looking at "every possible tool to mitigate the threat."

According to military records provided to ABC News, Doherty joined the Navy in 1996 and was a combat medic and a decorated member of the elite SEAL teams by the time he left active duty in 2004. He's described in glowing terms as a top-tier SEAL and better friend in the book "The Red Circle," written by Doherty's longtime friend and SEAL sniper school partner, Brandon Webb.

"Glen was a superb and respected operator, a true quiet professional," Webb told ABC News today. "Don't feel sorry for him, he wouldn't have it. He died serving with men he respected, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and doing something he loved. He was my best friend and one of the finest human beings I've ever known."

Doherty's mother, Barbara, told ABC News' Boston affiliate WCVB she had been notified of her son's death late Wednesday.

"He was the most wonderful person," she said. "We are all in pain and suffering."

Ambassador Stevens and State Department information management officer Sean Smith were killed in the first wave of attacks in Benghazi when the building they were in was set on fire around 10 p.m. local time Tuesday, a senior administration official told reporters. Doherty was apparently one of two other Americans who were killed in a firefight nearly two hours later, while the facility was still under attack. The fourth victim was Tyrone S. Woods, also a former Navy SEAL, according to a State Department news release.

“I never thought he’d be another victim of 9/11,” his sister Katie Quigley told The Boston Globe.

Diplomatic service veteran Sean Smith was also killed. The name of the fourth victim has not yet been released.

Doherty, who was from the Boston suburbs, enlisted in the Navy at age 30 intending to become a SEAL. He served for seven years in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In Libya, he was working as a State Department contractor. His mission was to round up and destroy weapons.

BOSTON - A former Navy SEAL from a Boston suburb was one of four Americans who died in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya Wednesday.

Forty-two-year-old Glen Doherty was killed with U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens in Benghazi, a family friend told CBS Boston on Thursday.

"He was on security detail and he was protecting the ambassador and also helping the wounded"' when he was killed, his sister, Katie Quigly told the Boston Globe.

Doherty was a 1988 graduate of Winchester High School.

A third victim has been identified as Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith, an Air Force veteran who had worked as an information management officer for 10 years in posts such as Brussels, Baghdad and Pretoria.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/national/article/273416/81/Ex-Navy-SEAL-IDd-as-consulate-victim

(CNN) -- Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty were former Navy SEAL commandos working as diplomatic security officers. Sean Smith was a computer expert with an online alter-ego legendary in the gaming world.

The three men and U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in the assault on the American consulate in the Libyan city of Benghazi. Details of how they met their fates in the Mediterranean city that had been the cradle of Libya's 2011 revolution were just beginning to emerge Thursday.

On Thursday, a U.S. official confirmed Woods as among the dead. "Tyrone's friends and colleagues called him 'Rone,' and they relied on his courage and skill, honed over two decades as a Navy SEAL," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a statement.

"In uniform, he served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2010, he protected American diplomatic personnel in dangerous posts from Central America to the Middle East. He had the hands of a healer as well as the arm of a warrior, earning distinction as a registered nurse and certified paramedic. All our hearts go out to Tyrone's wife Dorothy and his three sons, Tyrone Jr., Hunter, and Kai, who was born just a few months ago."

A diplomatic source told CNN that Doherty was in Libya to search for shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles -- a mission given high priority after the fall of longtime Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi.

Doherty grew up in Massachusetts with a passion for the outdoors, particularly the mountain West, his family said. Outside the family's home in Woburn, near Boston, his sister remembered him as "our American hero."

Glen lived his life to the fullest," Katie Quigley told reporters. "He was my brother, but if you ask his friends, he was their brother as well."

The 42-year-old graduated from high school in 1988 in neighboring Winchester, where flags were displayed at half-staff on Thursday. He played on the varsity tennis and wrestling teams, school officials said in an announcement marking his death. His junior-year English teacher, Judy Hession, recalled him as "bursting with life."

"Every day his huge smile and his happy-go-lucky optimism filled my classroom," Hession said in a statement released by the school district. "He got along with all types of people, was a class leader and, from the perspective of 30 years of teaching, one of my most memorable students."

After college in Arizona and stints as a "ski bum" and raft guide in Utah, Doherty joined the Navy and became a member of the elite Navy SEAL commandos in 1995, his family said in a statement. He had planned to leave the service after knee surgery in 2001, but after the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington, he "was not allowed to to leave and didn't want to," his family said.

Doherty served two tours of duty in Iraq, starting with the U.S. invasion in 2003, before leaving the military in 2005. He then became a private security contractor, working in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Yemen -- a job that took a toll on his home life and contributed to a divorce, his family said.

He also joined the advisory board of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, a group that has battled religious intolerance in the U.S. armed forces. Its president, former Air Force officer Michael "Mikey" Weinstein, said he was "in a state of shock" after learning of Doherty's death.

"He was one of our most active advisory board members," Weinstein said. "I was surprised he was willing to come on and lend the gravitas that comes with being a Navy SEAL to our cause." Doherty's involvement "made it easier for others to come to us," Weinstein added.

He said Doherty believed the kind of violent jihadists American troops faced were "a very small percentage of the overall mosaic of the Muslim faith," and saw anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States and in the ranks as something that hurt U.S. national security.

"He went back to the Middle East because he cared deeply about the Muslim people, and because he cared about bringing freedom and democracy and human rights to the Middle East," Weinstein said. Doherty "was a kind and caring person, and I'm sure that he gave every last bit of his courage and strength" to defend the consulate and Stevens, he added.

"All this is going to do is light a further fire under us in Glen's name and memory to continue to fight for religious freedom and respect and tolerance."

He also co-authored a 2010 book, "The 21st-Century Sniper: A Complete Practical Guide," with former comrade Brandon Webb. In a statement accompanying the family's, Webb said, "Don't feel sorry for him, he wouldn't have it."

"He died serving with men he respected, protecting the freedoms we enjoy as Americans and doing something he loved," Webb said.

In her statement, Clinton said Doherty, a paramedic, was referred to as "Bub" by his friends and family. "In the end, he died the way he lived -- with selfless honor and unstinting valor," she said.