The second, more serious attack took place at 5:15 the next morning, according to the CIA, when assailants lobbed mortar rounds into the compound for 11 minutes. It was during this assault that CIA contractors Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, both former Navy SEALs, were killed.

Since the attacks, events have unfolded very differently for the two compounds.

At the consulate, gawkers and looters still could enter the property, and no repairs had been made to the burned-out buildings.. Two months after he died here of smoke inhalation, Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ clothes still hung in the closet; his ties were strewn on the floor. In the building that served as an office and operations center, State Department stationery littered the floor and lettered Post-it notes left by the FBI on the day agents came here to investigate were stuck throughout the compound buildings.

But at the CIA safe house, American officials cleared their property within days of the attack. By Sept. 14, three new families had moved into the four houses that make up the compound, according to a gatekeeper at the door. Nearby residents said the landlord wanted Libyans living there as soon as possible, so his property wouldn’t be destroyed by extremists angry that the CIA had been stationed there.

At the annex, which looks like any other upscale residential compound in Benghazi, the gatekeeper clearly was used to reporters coming by. He opened the gate only slightly and refused to engage in the kind of friendly talk that’s common in the city. He said no one was allowed inside and that there’d been no damage from the attack, something difficult to believe if mortar rounds were what killed Woods and Doherty, who reportedly were on the roof when it was struck by mortar fire.

When he was asked whether reporters could assess whether there was any damage, the gatekeeper had a ready answer. He opened the gate slightly wider, allowing a quick peek at the pristine property, which had no signs of its former use.

“Libyans live here now,” he said before quickly shutting the door.