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WASHINGTON (AP) — In the days before the Benghazi attacks, the Libyan militant now in U.S. custody voiced concern and opposition to the presence of an American compound in Benghazi, the government said Tuesday in a court filing.

Ahmed Abu Khattala was motivated to participate in the violence by his extremist ideology, according to a court filing by the U.S. Attorney's Office.

On Wednesday, Khattala is to appear at a detention hearing before Magistrate Judge Deborah Robinson in U.S. District Court.

In court papers, prosecutors spelled out why Khattala should remain in detention.

After U.S personnel evacuated the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, Khattala entered the compound and "supervised the exploitation from material at the scene," the government said.

Khattala then returned to a camp in Benghazi controlled by Ansar al-Shariah, where a large armed group began assembling for an attack on the compound's annex, according to the court papers.

The State Department has designated Ansar al-Shariah as a foreign terrorist organization.

Khattala, the court papers added, is a commander of Abu Obaida bin Jarrah Brigade, an extremist group that was absorbed into Ansar al-Sharia after the recent Libyan revolution.

Ansar al-Shariah is an Islamic extremist militia in Libya that holds anti-Western views and advocates the establishment of Shariah law in Libya.

Fires that were set during the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi led to the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and Information Management Officer Sean Patrick Smith.

Remaining State Department personnel were able to escape to a nearby U.S. facility known as the annex. It also came under attack and a precision mortar barrage resulted in the deaths of security officers Tyrone Snowden Woods and Glen Anthony Doherty.

Khattala is the first person to be prosecuted in the attack. His expected trial will take place alongside ongoing congressional and Justice Department investigations into the attack and the Obama administration's response to it shortly before the 2012 elections.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy has its first female four-star admiral.

She is Michelle Janine Howard, promoted on Tuesday to the service's highest rank. The ceremony was held at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery, near the Pentagon.

She will serve as the vice chief of naval operations, which makes her the No. 2 admiral in the Navy behind Gen. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations.

Howard has served 32 years in the Navy. She is a 1978 graduate of Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982.

Among her many distinctions, Howard in 1999 became the first African-American woman to command a Navy ship.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Navy has its first female four-star admiral.

She is Michelle Janine Howard, promoted on Tuesday to the service's highest rank. The ceremony was held at the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the Arlington National Cemetery, near the Pentagon.

She will serve as the vice chief of naval operations, which makes her the No. 2 admiral in the Navy behind Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations.

Howard has served 32 years in the Navy. She is a 1978 graduate of Gateway High School in Aurora, Colorado. She graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1982.

Among her many distinctions, Howard in 1999 became the first African-American woman to command a Navy ship.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An independent privacy and civil liberties board says the NSA's massive collection of internet data passes constitutional muster and employs "reasonable" protections designed to ensure that private American communications are not misused.

In a report released Tuesday night, the bipartisan, five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board examined a set of NSA surveillance programs disclosed by leaker Edward Snowden. The NSA uses court orders and taps on fiber optic lines to collect the data of foreigners living abroad when their emails, web chats, text messages and other communications traverse the U.S.

The collection inevitably sweeps in the communications of Americans with no connection to terrorism or foreign intelligence, but the board found that the NSA, FBI and other agencies take steps to protect the privacy of those people.