The wheels are coming off the administration story about the Benghazi attack.

“Intelligence sources tell Fox News they are convinced the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was directly tied to Al Qaeda — with a former Guantanamo detainee involved.

That revelation comes on the same day a top Obama administration official called last week’s deadly assault a “terrorist attack” — the first time the attack has been described that way by the administration after claims it had been a “spontaneous” act.

“Yes, they were killed in the course of a terrorist attack on our embassy,” Matt Olsen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said during a Senate hearing Wednesday.

Olsen echoed administration colleagues in saying U.S. officials have no specific intelligence about “significant advanced planning or coordination” for the attack.

However, his statement goes beyond White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, saying the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate was spontaneous. He is the first top administration official to call the strike an act of terrorism.

Sufyan Ben Qumu is thought to have been involved and even may have led the attack, Fox News’ intelligence sources said. Qumu, a Libyan, was released from the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2007 and transferred into Libyan custody on the condition he be kept in jail. He was released by the Qaddafi regime as part of its reconciliation effort with Islamists in 2008.

His Guantanamo files also show he has ties to the financiers behind the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The declassified files also point to ties with the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a known Al Qaeda affiliate.”

As you know I’ve been on it since it broke using the old rolodex to talk to a few folks currently working with the State Department and with the intel community with ears on the ground on the subject. You’ll remember I told you from the outset that it wasn’t about the video but that it was a coordinated attack, and now we’ve learned that the possible leader is non other than the suspected driver for Bin Laden, who was released by Libya on the eve of the Arab Spring.

Because the story is breaking that it was an attack and that the administration spin was incorrect, several State Department types are running for cover and are leaking that they were told in no uncertain terms from the beginning to spin the mob/video story.

They were told to push the narrative that the attack was “spontaneous” and to “use” the “Innocence of Muslims” video. That story broke down days later when one of the guards of the compound came forward and said that there was no mob and that there was no signs or slogans or protests about a video. He said that the attack came at once, that it appeared to be organized and targeted.

Several members of the Senate and House, including Senator Lindsey Graham are calling for a probe into the attack, which if all this pans out will be the first attack on US soil involving American deaths since 9/11. That would be a significant political embarrassment for the Obama administration and make it little wonder while they so quickly – without on the ground verification – spin it as they did.

We know now also that the administration did receive advance warning through the State Department and intel departments that the area was “heating up” and that there was “significant chatter” in the months before the attack. Much of this was sent to the Libyan embassy and it’s not known if it filtered down to all the consulates. However, given the amount of chatter and warning there was, and that it was the 11th anniversary of 9/11, – in the words of one State Department source -there was “No reason Ambassador Stevens should have been anywhere near Benghazi and especially without a significant security detail” We also know know that the two former Navy Seals killed in the attack were not a part of Ambassador Stevens security detail.

**Ed Note**added this as well, Anderson Cooper has been doing a really good job.

In fact according to Amb. Stevens himself feared being the target an Al Qaeda attack.

Further, as I wrote about before, and this is only my theory, that the Obama film, “Second Chance” may have played a role in the attack as it had been distributed widely throughout Al Qaeda specific message boards. You’ll remember that the Obama administration made the killing of Bin Laden – which was a good thing – into a political advantage through the video and more specifically by highlighting it during the Democratic National Convention.

I’ll have more on this later.