Reduced Security Blamed for Taliban Attack

In the months leading up to the September attack, Gurganus and his predecessor had to withdraw about 10,000 U.S. troops from Helmand, reducing total force levels to about 7,000. That cutback, the senior officer said, increased pressure to trim the patrol.

Despite the troop reduction, several officers stationed at Leatherneck at the time said many Marines with idle time could have been assigned to guard duty. Instead, some of them took online college classes and others worked out in the gym twice a day. And two weeks after the attack, a Texas hold ’em poker tournament was held at one of the recreation centers at Leatherneck.

“There was plenty of manpower to assign to base security,” one of the officers said. “It just wasn’t a priority.”

Detailed reconnaissance

Military officials believe the reduction in patrols allowed the insurgents to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the airfield before the attack, identifying the times during which guard towers were unoccupied and sketching maps of where planes were parked. The insurgents even publicized the maps after the attack.

On the night of the attack, Taliban insurgents dressed in what officials believe were stolen U.S. military uniforms slipped onto the base and destroyed the aircraft. Two Marines, Lt. Col. Christopher Raible, 40, and Sgt. Bradley Atwell, 27, were killed.

In the wake of the attack, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Marine Gen. John R. Allen, assigned his deputy, Lt. Gen. Adrian Bradshaw of the British army, to investigate the incident.

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