Congressional Republicans are cranking up pressure on the Obama administration to release more information about the attack in Benghazi that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya, Christopher Stevens, and three diplomatic aides.

Eight Republican chairmen of key House panels sent a letter to President Barack Obama, demanding a briefing in Washington on the attacks as soon as possible. They said the administration has not yet answered all of their questions surrounding the Benghazi assault.

“We are also disturbed by the public statements made by members of the Administration that would lead the American public to believe this attack was a protest gone wrong, rather than what it truly was – a terrorist attack on the United States on the anniversary of 9/11,” the chairmen wrote in the letter, released Wednesday. “Decades after al Qaeda attacked our embassies in East Africa, which catalyzed a series of events that led to the attacks on 9/11, it appears they executed a highly coordinated and well-planned attacked against us again.”

The signers included House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, and leaders of three House Appropriations subcommittees – Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Kay Granger (R-Texas).

The request comes a day after two Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee asked the State Department for all communication surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, including cables from Stevens.

“While we appreciate your participation in the briefing to the U.S. Senate last week, we are extremely concerned about conflicting reports over the events leading up to the attacks,” Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Specifically, we are concerned over the apparent lack of security preparations made despite a demonstrable increase in risks to U.S. officials and facilities in Benghazi in the period leading up to the attacks.”

Citing a CNN report that said the Benghazi consulate had received a waiver to have a lower security level, the senators said there were “serious concerns” about the “deteriorating security situation” there. CNN also reported that a journal belonging to Stevens indicated that the ambassador had been concerned about security in Benghazi.

All Capitol Hill lawmakers were briefed by Clinton and James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, last week but some Republican members left the closed-door sessions dissatisfied.

Meanwhile on Wednesday, four Republican senators fired off a letter of their own to United Nations ambassador Susan Rice, asking her to clarify what the lawmakers deemed were “troubling statements” characterizing the Benghazi attacks.

Rice had hit several Sunday political talk shows on Sept. 16, calling the assault a “spontaneous reaction” to an anti-Muslim film. But the senators – Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, John McCain of Arizona, Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin – took issue with those remarks.

“By the date of your comments, it was already clear that the attack in Libya was a terrorist attack, and that heavily armed and well trained attackers appeared to have prepared for an opportunity to attack U.S. interests,” wrote the senators. “We also knew that there is a significant network of al Qaeda affiliated groups and other terrorists in eastern Libya, some of whom have attacked western interests in the last few months. Yet, you repeatedly asserted the implausible explanation that the attack in Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to the video despite growing evidence to the contrary. “

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