An independent panel tasked with investigating the Sept. 11 attacks in Libya that killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens has concluded that systematic management and leadership failures at the State Department level led to inadequate security during the Benghazi mission.
Hours after the findings were released, the State Department security chief and two other State Department officials resigned.
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In what the panel calls “grossly inadequate” measures, they single out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism:
“Systematic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department resulted in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” the panel said.
According to the Huffington Post, the panel also said there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, which resulted in the death of three other Americans in addition to Stevens.
However, no one individual is being pinned for the findings:
Despite those failures, the Accountability Review Board determined that no individual officials ignored or violated their duties and recommended no disciplinary action now. But it also said poor performance by senior managers should be grounds for disciplinary recommendations in the future.
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Initially administration officials linked the attack to the spreading protests over an American-made, anti-Islamic film.
Those comments came after evidence already pointed to a distinct militant attack. U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on numerous TV talk shows the Sunday after the attack and used the administration talking points linking it to the film. An ensuing brouhaha in the heat of the presidential campaign eventually led her to withdraw her name from consideration to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s second term.
The review board determined that there had been no immediate, specific tactical warning of a potential attack on the 11th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.
SOURCE: Huffington Post
