CIA Paying Death Benefits to Single Contractors Killed by Terrorists Since 1983

Thursday, April 21, 2016 | 0

The Central Intelligence Agency has changed a policy that denied Defense Base Act death benefits to single and childless civilian contractors after a campaign by the family of a former Navy SEAL who was killed during the attack on U.S. compounds in Benghazi, Libya, in September 2012, according to a report by the San Diego Union Tribune.

Glen Doherty
(Wikipedia photo released by Glen Doherty Memorial Foundation)

The K&L Gates law firm in Washington, D.C., which represented the mother of Glen Doherty pro bono, issued a statement Wednesday announcing that the CIA had agreed to pay Doherty's family $400,000 in death benefits. The agency also made a retroactive policy change for the victims of terrorist attacks since 1983, which will include "families of those killed in the attack on the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, and others since that time," K&L Gates said.

Doherty, an Encinitas resident who was 42 at the time of his death, left behind his mother, a sister and a brother who formed a memorial foundation in his name, the newspaper said.

The Doherty family says the 1941 Defense Base Act is still flawed and are supporting legislation to change it, but the newspaper did not give specifics.

The Union Tribune reported that Doherty paid $7,000 for a workers' compensation coverage while he contracted with the CIA to provide security. The family sued the insurance broker that sold him the policy, Rutherford Financial. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount, the newspaper said.