Three State Department Officials Resign Following Benghazi Report
Washington, D.C. — Three State Department officials have resigned from their positions following a report that said “systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” led to the attacks on the US Consulate in Benghazi.
CNN reported that assistant secretary of diplomatic security Eric Boswell and deputy assistant secretary of state for international programs Charlene Lamb were two of the officials who turned in their resignation letters. CNN also reported that an employee in the Near East Affairs bureau, who has so far not been named, also resigned.
Lamb and Boswell oversaw security in Benghazi, and documents showed that Lamb denied several requests for increased security in Libya.
The Accountability Review Board that issued the report found that no government employees had ignored their responsibilities or engaged in misconduct leading up to the attacks. The board also did not recommend that any employees be disciplined.
The review board also said that the State Department officials had a tendency to “to overemphasize the positive impact of physical security upgrades … while generally failing to meet Benghazi’s repeated requests” for increased security.
Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted all 24 of the board’s recommendations, which included strengthening security and improving intelligence collections in areas with a high threat level.
Officials said Clinton would ask Congress to transfer $1.3 billion allocated to Iraq for additional Marines and security personnel in overseas missions.
The nearly 40 page report asked Congress to fully fund the request for more security funding.
“For many years the State Department has been engaged in a struggle to obtain the resources necessary to carry out its work with varying degrees of success,” the report said. It also said that the result of that struggle has been sacrificing security for savings.
The 9/11 attack on the US Consulate killed four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.
