Gregory Hicks, deputy chief of mission in Tripoli, said he was
"stunned" by UN Ambassador Susan Rice's comments that the attack was
spontaneous.
He also told lawmakers he received a phone call from US Envoy Christopher Stevens, just before he died.
Three other Americans were killed in the attack on 11 September 2012.
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“Start Quote
My jaw dropped and I was embarrassed”
Gregory Hicks on his reaction to Susan Rice's comments
During several hours of
emotional testimony before a House of Representatives committee on
Wednesday, Mr Hicks described the moment he was informed of the attack.
He said he was in Tripoli watching TV when he received a phone call from Ambassador Stevens.
"Greg, we're under attack," the ambassador reportedly told Mr Hicks by telephone before the line cut.
He later received a phone call from the Libyan prime minister informing him of Ambassador Steven's death.
"I think it is the saddest phone call I have ever had in my life," Mr Hicks said.
After the disrupted phone call with Ambassador Stevens, Mr
Hicks said he received calls from Libyans using the ambassador's phone
who said they had the envoy with them.
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At the scene
Suzanne Kianpour
BBC News, Washington
The Benghazi hearing, billed as sure to be "explosive", was packed.
People lined the walls, including some notable members of Congress not assigned to the committee.
Behind the witnesses sat the mother of embassy attack victim
Sean Smith. She has said she blames Hillary Clinton for her son's death.
Since the embassy attack, the incident has been vigorously debated.
Mr Hicks, who was Chris Stevens' deputy on the ground, said
he did not speak to UN Ambassador Susan Rice before her ill-fated Sunday
chat show rounds where her talking points clashed with his report of a
terrorist attack.
But the hearing did not resolve how and why things went wrong.
But Mr Hicks decided not to act on the calls, fearing an ambush.
UN Ambassador Susan Rice has been the focus of outrage from
Republicans in Congress, for giving the news media what has been
acknowledged as an incorrect explanation for the attack.
She said on a Sunday chat show on 16 September that the
attack had grown out of an anti-US protest, while other officials have
said they knew at the time it was an organised, armed assault, possibly
by an Islamist militant group.
"My jaw dropped and I was embarrassed," Mr Hicks said on his reaction to her interview.
Some Republicans accuse the White House of hiding information
about the attack, while Democrats say the issue has become politicised.
The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says Wednesday's
testimony will do nothing to dispel Republican concerns that President
Barack Obama tried to cover up a terrorist attack in the run-up to a
presidential election.
Democrats will continue to say there was no attempt to mislead the public, our correspondents adds.
'Need to evacuate'
At Wednesday's hearing, Mr Hicks expressed frustration with
the lack of a US military response during the night-time attack, saying
one could have deterred a second assault.
The Pentagon has said nothing could have been done to assist the Americans in Benghazi.
Mr Hicks and two other state department employees criticised
an official review undertaken after the attack, saying many people with
first-hand knowledge of the event were not interviewed and it focused
too much on lower-ranking officials.
The review found that poor leadership and management in two
state department teams led to a security plan that was "inadequate for
Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took
place".
Mr Hicks told the panel he spoke to people at the State
Department and to Libyan officials, and had a conversation with US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton around 02:00 on the night of the
attack.
"Secretary of State Clinton called me along with her senior
staff... and she asked me what was going on. And I briefed her on
developments," Mr Hicks told congressmen.
"Most of the conversation was about the search for Ambassador
Stevens. It was also about what we were going to do with our personnel
in Benghazi, and I told her that we would need to evacuate. She said
that was the right thing to do."
The ambassador died of smoke inhalation when he was trapped
in the burning consulate building, after armed men stormed the compound.
State department employee Sean Smith and former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty also died in the attack.
Mrs Clinton angrily defended her handling of the Benghazi raid in a series of hearings on Capitol Hill in January.
