State Dept. officials resign following Benghazi report

Updated 9:30 p.m. ET

Eric Boswell, the head of diplomatic security at the State Department, has resigned, following the release of a harsh report detailing State Department missteps that led to the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland confirmed that Clinton accepted Boswell's decision to resign, effective immediately.  Sources say he will stay on as director of the Office of Foreign Missions for a short time.  Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security, has also resigned, CBS News has learned.

In a statement released at 8.07 p.m. ET tonight, Nuland announced that the jobs of four, not three individuals were in question due to the findings of the ARB probe of the Benghazi attack. "The ARB identified the performance of four officials, three in the Bureau of the Diplomatic Security and one in the Bureau of Near East Asia Affairs," the release read.

The State Department only identified Boswell and did not release the names of the three other individuals. The State Department did not characterize the terms of their departures as resignations. CBS News, ABC, NBC, the New York Times, AP and Reuters all previously reported that U.S. officials told the news organizations that three individuals resigned in the wake of the probe. The announcement from the State Department says that the individuals were instead placed on "administrative leave pending further action" and says that they were "relieved of their current duties."

The names of all four of the individuals were excised from the unclassified report that was released to the press. The classified report included sensitive information including the names of the individuals in question. That classified version was made available in secure rooms on the Hill to members of the Senate Foreign Relations and House Foreign Affairs Committees.

• Panel cites "systemic" failures at State Department over Benghazi attack
• Fallout from Benghazi report may shadow Clinton

The report, released today by an independent board led by retired Ambassador Thomas Pickering and former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, did not single out any individuals for culpability. It did, however, blame failures within two bureaus at the State Department for the missteps that eventually lead to the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three additional American personnel in Libya. The two bureaus cited -- Near Eastern Affairs and Diplomatic Security -- were criticized for a security posture that was "grossly inadequate to deal with the attack," and for failing to coordinate with other agencies to better secure the consulate.

Members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees were briefed on the report this morning. After the briefings, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the report "is going to significantly advance the security of personnel and our country."

A number of congressmen said today that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should still testify before Congress on the Benghazi attack. Clinton was scheduled to testify on the Benghazi attack this Thursday in two congressional hearings. However, after falling ill and suffering from a concussion, she's no longer scheduled to appear at the hearings. Clinton sent a letter to Congress, indicating she accepts the Benghazi report's 29 recommendations for strengthening security at diplomatic posts and recognizes the the need to address the "systemic challenges" at the State Department.

House Foreign Affairs Chairwoman Ileana Ros-lehtinen, R-Fla., said Clinton "absolutely" still needs to testify. Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., said committee members still have many questions and that today's closed-door briefing was just the start.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said it was "imperative" for Clinton to testify before a new secretary of state is confirmed in President Obama's second term.

"I think that is very important to her, I think it is very important for our country, and I think it is very important to really understand the inner workings of the State Department itself," he said.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a statement that Clinton will need to "personally address" issues he feels were not addressed entirely in the report.

"While I appreciate the board's hard work, I am deeply concerned that the unclassified report omits important information the public has a right to know," Issa said. "This includes details about the perpetrators of the attack in Libya as well as the less-than-noble reasons contributing to State Department decisions to deny security resources. Relevant details that would not harm national security have been withheld and the classified report suffers from an enormous over-classification problem."

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., by contrast, called the report's conclusions "very stark, very candid, very honest."

The report, he said, "told us the following: Mistakes were made, lives were lost, lessons need to be learned." Durbin said the review board's conclusions were: "Our intelligence fell short, our security personnel were inexperienced and unprepared, our security systems failed, our host nation was lacking in protection for our own people, and senior State Department officials unfortunately showed a lack of leadership and management ability."

He added, "That is a challenge to all of us, it is a challenge for us to assess this in an honest fashion and to change policy to put resources in place that will make a difference."

[KayMerkelBoruff]

Fired? Now rehired. What's wrong with this picture? In TIME HIllary writes about Chris Stevens death. Now answer the questions: What changed the text? Who pushed the video? Take 2 and answer these questions. [Air America/CIA widow Jon Merkel KIA Laos 18 Feb 70.]

[Texasholdem100]

THE FOLKS THAT RESIGNED IN THE WAKE OF THE STATE DEPT SCREW UP ARE GWB BUSH APPOINTEE'S.... REPUBLICANS THAT REFUSED TO ADD MORE GOVT WORKERS TO THE JOB EVEN WHEN PRESSED. NOW THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS IS HOUNDING THE STATE DEPT FOR THEIR HEADS...

[eroteme2]

Hillary is completely innocent with regard to Benghazi. She has had little or nothing to do with State Department operations since she began her service as Secretary of State. she has spent almost all of her time traveling about the world since she began her service. The fact that she accomplished nothing traveling about the world is not her fault, she is only considered to be the great one here in the U.S. The rest of he world look upon her as being the wife, (pehaps in name only,) of a former president.

[Ronald Norman]

How did the guns and "Stinger" missiles end up in the hands of al-Quida in Syria. Did Obama sell them the guns or did he give them to our enemies.

[wfw3536]

Funny, I thougth Mrs Clinton was in charge of the State Dept, at least that is what she said after 4 brave Americans died needlessly because of her and other State Dept workers incompetence to not provide appropriate security for our brave Ambassador. I can hardly wait to hear her testify in January and try to lie her way out of this. I was happy that Obama exposed her lie that she was fired on by rebels in Kosovo when her husband was president.

[vrytix]

In fact, Mrs. Clinton repeated the lie about coming under fire in ex-Yugoslavia even though correspondents who covered her visit there KNEW that what she wasn't true.

It may also be recalled that, when her husband denied having an affair with Monica Lewinsky, Mrs. Clinton said the allegations about it were caused by "a vast right-wing conspiracy.

She was silent when Bill finally admitted that he did, indeed, have an "inappropriate" relationship with Ms. Lewinsky.

Quite a couple.

[smartalecq]

1. how many died in benghazi? answer: 4
2. how many americans died in 9/11 during bush's watch? answer: 3000
3. how many americans died in Iraq? answer: answer: 4400 americans and 150,000 iraqis

maybe mcain and graham don't know how to count.

[vrytix]

I'll see your estimates of the number of people killed because of 9/11 and Iraq and raise you to the approximately 50,000 Americans and at least 100 thousand Vietnamese killed during the Vietnam war while LBJ was President.

Meanwhile, have you ever seen any estimate of the civilians killed by American drones in Afghanistan since Obama took over that war or how many civilians were killed by US-supplied NATO forces in Libya?

Neither party is blameless for optional or necessary wars anywhere.

[smartalecq]

benghazi again! just because rice failed to describe the correct situation.
these GOP senators are hypocrites.

Before the invasion of iraq. the Bush intel people made up false info re iraq's WMD. i recall senator mcain and graham where very hawkish to invade iraq. now we know they where wrong about the WMD. maybe mcain and graham should resign too.

[vrytix]

Who do you mean when you say "The Bush intel people" made up false info re Iraq's WMD"?

Do you mean the CIA fabricated information to claim that there WMD's in Iraq? Are you suggesting then that the CIA Director then - George Tenet, a Democrat holdover - lied about when he insisted to Bush that Saddam Hussein had WMD's?

Are you saying that every "friendly" intelligence agency which believed that Iran had WMD's was lying about it and secretly knew that Saddam Hussein did not have those weapons?

In fact, it was a massive intelligence failure. Yes, McCain and others believed what Tenet believed - and that included other Democrats you fail to mention like Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Sen. Rockefeller from W. VA who said "everyone knows that Saddam has WMD's.

So they're all liars or were wrong and should resign?

[smartalecq]

bengazi again. when will the GOP learn that this is not a big issue for americans. gun control is what people care about today.

compare 4 dead americans in benghazi or 9,300 gun deaths every year.

[Conservativehuny]

Actually some of us really DO care! Answers are needed and people need to be held accountable. Gun control is a not an issue of importance. The only thing gun control will ever do is take guns out of good people's hands and prevent them from having the means to really defend themselves against the criminals who will still have guns. Murder is already against the law... do you really think they will care if guns are against the law? Um... no!

[Leftydems]

Amazing. Administrations and their Secretaries of State, then, have all the authority and none of the responsibility. Nice.

[TimeToRetire]

What a dismal report. I think I'm going to faint. LOL

Does anyone recall the Whitewater hearings with Hillary in the hot seat?

Hillary: I do not remember. I cannot recall. I do not remember. I cannot recall. I do not remember. I cannot recall. Yawn.

[beresponsible]

Stall, then CYA.
Why is this headline not "Systemic Failure at State Dept."?
Or "Systemic Failure of Obama Administration"?
How is it NO ONE is accountable?
We still have questions as to 1)Why was Amb. Stevens at this remote location on 9/11? 2) Why did they pull the security that was already there? 3) Why was no help sent? 4) Why the cover up and repeated lies about the video.
This admin. doesn't want us to know. Cover up.