WASHINGTON – For almost two years, the family of Glen Doherty, a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contractor and former Navy SEALs, who was among four Americans killed in the 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, has fought to claim the government death benefits they believe Doherty deserved.

On Monday (April 18), the CIA informed the Doherty family and others like them that their wait would end.

The agency has secured funds to begin paying out death benefits of up to US$400,000 (S$538,480) each to families like the Dohertys who are survivors of unmarried and childless federal employees or contractors killed in acts of terrorism overseas.

The measure circumvents a 1941 law that requires overseas contractors — including those working for the CIA — to carry disability and life insurance but pays out death benefits only to those with surviving spouses or children.

Ms Kate Quigley, Doherty’s sister who led the family’s lobbying efforts, said her brother, who had no spouse or children, did not know that his life insurance package would not pay any death benefits.

“It is really a nice recognition and closure, and it will certainly help bring things to an end,” Ms Quigley said in a phone interview.

The CIA first told the family that it would grant the benefits in December 2014, Ms Quigley said. But disagreements over funding led to a series of delays on Capitol Hill.

“This has been a long process,” Ms Quigley said. “What we learnt is that when it comes to Washington, things take a long time.”

The benefits will be available to families of victims dating back as far as April 18, 1983, when suicide bombers killed dozens of people at the United States Embassy in Beirut, according to Mr Ryan Trapani, a spokesman for the CIA.

The agency has not released the specific number of families who qualify for the enhanced benefits, but Republican Stephen Francis Lynch, District of Massachusetts, who helped lead the effort, said the change would probably affect several dozen families.

Mr Lynch introduced legislation to change the 1941 law, which he called outdated, in November 2014.

But his efforts have not gained traction. THE NEW YORK TIMES