When did the House Select Committee on Benghazi first learn that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kept a secret email system? When did the State Department finally turn over even some of those emails to investigators? When did State first admit it didn’t even possess all the former secretary’s documents? That information, and more, is contained in a timeline created by the Benghazi committee as investigators seek to piece together just what the Obama administration did in response to House requests for information about the September 11, 2012 terror attack that left four Americans dead. The timeline isn’t an official committee report or publication; it’s just an informal summary compiled to help members keep dates straight as they assess the State Department’s lack of cooperation. The timeline doesn’t include every significant date in the Benghazi investigation, but it does give readers an idea of what Republican investigators have been up against as they’ve tried to uncover the story of Benghazi. What follows is a fleshed-out version of the timetable — in my words, not the committee’s — based on information from committee sources.

September 11, 2012 — The story starts, of course, the day terrorists attacked U.S. facilities in Benghazi, killing Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others. Administration statements in the immediate aftermath — specifically, claims that the attack was a spontaneous reaction to an anti-Muslim video on the Internet — raise suspicion among Republicans, who come to believe they have not been told the whole story.