Benghazi report leaves lawmakers with more questions for State Department, Clinton

WASHINGTON Lawmakers want to know why security was "grossly inadequate" at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya when militants stormed the facility on Sept. 11, killing the ambassador and three other Americans, and why the military failed to respond faster during the nine-hour assault.

Members of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees on Thursday were to question Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who is in charge of policy, and Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides, who is in charge of management, at back-to-back congressional hearings.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was due to testify Thursday, but cancelled after suffering a concussion when she fainted and bumped her head last week. CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan says she may still be called to answer lawmakers' questions in January.

Their public testimony comes two days after an independent review panel issued a blistering report blaming management failures at the State Department for the lack of security at the Benghazi compound. It also comes as fallout from the report forced four State Department officials to step down Wednesday.

• Questions remain at State after Benghazi report
• Fallout from Benghazi report may shadow Clinton
• Timeline: How Benghazi attack, probe unfolded

"Why, if we quickly did find out it was in part a terrorist attack, why wasn't there better security on that evening with the ambassador in Benghazi and in the consulate and what do we need to do to make sure?" said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"People keep forgetting that was about a nine-hour attack moving from the consulate to the annex. We had already called up troops from Fort Bragg (North Carolina) and got them to Sicily before the attack was over," he said. "We knew it was a big-time attack. We flew in two planes from Djibouti, additional assets from Croatia. We need to find out who knew what when."

U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed in the attack along with information specialist Sean Smith and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, who were contractors working for the CIA. Stevens was the first U.S. ambassador killed in the line of duty since 1979.

An unclassified version of the report by the Accountability Review Board concluded, "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 report singled out the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs for criticism, saying there appeared to be a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi.

Obama administration officials said those who resigned were Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.

Some of the three may have the option of being reassigned to other duties, the officials said.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department had accepted the resignations of four people: Boswell and three others she declined to identify.

The resignations did little to mollify lawmakers who will question Burns and Nides and who insist that Secretary Clinton testify in the coming weeks despite her plan to leave the administration.

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[samXXkiley]

coucou,
Security should be strengthened and vigilant, especially knowing the situation in Libya. whether are precisely weak or insufficient during the night of the attack raises many questions.
It is also clear, in this case, the Department of State is not the only one to be deficient.
In conclusion, was it a lack of coordination or something else?
"au revoir"

[krj9]

Come on "Steady 4 ever". Give it a rest. Your side lost already. You don't sound to steady to me. No back to bed. It will be better in the morning.

[LogicRules3]

Love the fact that Righties in Congress voted twice against an Obama budget in his first term that would have increased funding for U.S. embassies around the world, beefing up security, and that includes Libya...but now, they lead the charge in pointing fingers FOR MONTHS in wondering why, in the most dangerous place on earth, would there be an attack on a potentially underfunded US embassy. On top of this, recent polls show that most Americans put this issue now almost last in their list of priorities as we approach 2013.

Is the right wing EVER going to be on the right side of ANY issue? JOKE!

[LogicRules3]

Real unemployment was pretty high for the last 15 years last I checked...he promised to get Bin Laden...imagine if that happened on GW's watch..don't think the ideologues would forget that one on the list of things I did...implementing Health Care could have been ignored another 4 years for sure, allowing Health Care companies to continue their increase in all things health by 80% in 10 years leading up to Obama..
your right..wish we could have been filled in by the know it alls like yourself..and responding under a comment-it might help to respond to the content of the comment above yours

[wfw3536]

I thought after the attack Mrs Clinton said she was in charge of the State Dept, now all of sudden it is like she didn't even work there. It is time Mrs Clinton accepts responsibility for the incompetence of the people who work for her in the State Dept. Because of her incompetence and others 4 brave Americans died needlessly. It is criminal how our brave Ambassador asked repeatedly for more security and was turned down. Now we find that the place our Ambassador was staying didn't even come close to meeting the guidelines for a facility to be considered a secure place for our Ambassador to stay. I suppose Mrs Clinton will try to lie her way out of this like she did when she claimed she was fired on by rebels in Kosove while her husband was president. At least Obama exposed this as a lie during the last campaign.

[netndx]

BOO CBS for your coverage of Benghazi. you are weak and compliant

[MrCampfires]

BOO CBS; are you kidding me! If it wasn't for FOX and CBS this would have been buried. Don't you care to find out what happened? The lack of coverage on the other networks is troubling.
The findings of the review board clearly show top cabinet officials new early of the attack and that it was a terrorist attack. Obama knew too. He had to know unless his administration is totally without communication, and I don't believe that's the case. If there's one thing that can be said for Obama, he's a good politician. You cannot tell me he was not aware of the problems Benghazi would mean to his presidential race. He was all over killing Bin Ladin. I want to know what he did know and why the story was about a video for weeks after the attack.

[RDriftwood]

The gop continues to attempt to crucify the Obama Administration over four deaths in Benghazi while ignoring the unnecessary 4500 dead and 35,000 disabled troops in Iraq by the W.Bush Administration.

[RDriftwood]

troopf4: Re: Who votes for wars? Congress gave W.Bush the authority to go to war SHOULD IT BECOME NECESSARY. It did not become necessary but W.Bush gave the order to invade Iraq anyway. Bush - and Bush alone - gave the order. As is typical, the gop is trying to blame their actions on the dems.

[thechooch1]

dadirt Did you read the report? There was not enough time to get troops there, after the House cut the budgets for security. Heck we couldn't even get the correct answers for the mass murders last week. Remember the first reports of a second gunman running from the school? How about the early reports that he killer only used pistols to kill, or that his Mother taught at the school? How do you expect the right answers coming from Libya if we can't even get them from one of our States?

BTW this pails when compared to Iraq.