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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Clinton accepts recommendations on Benghazi security

Clinton accepts recommendations on Benghazi security

The report also criticised the Libyan government's response to the attack, characterising it as "profoundly lacking"

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accepted all 29 recommendations in a report into a deadly attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

The report found that systemic failures at the state department led to insufficient security at the consulate.
But it found no individual official ignored their duties, and the review has not suggested disciplinary action.
The 11 September attack saw Ambassador Christopher Stevens, as well as three other Americans, killed.
The report identified the state department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security and 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 concluded.
'Profoundly lacking' The report found a "lack of proactive leadership" among certain senior state department officials.
But it also said there had been "no immediate, specific" intelligence about threats to the mission.

Hillary Clinton has said the state department will ask for more funds for security improvements

In a letter to congressional committees, Mrs Clinton said she had ordered the state department to implement the investigation's findings "quickly and completely".
She outlined some steps the agency would take, including sending hundreds of Marine guards to US missions abroad and assigning a state department official to oversee "high threat posts".
Mrs Clinton also said the state department would request more funding to make improvements to security.
The report concluded that the Benghazi mission had been hampered by a lack of resources. The reliance on armed "but poorly skilled" local militiamen was "misplaced," it said.
The probe also criticised the Libyan government's response to the attack, characterising it as "profoundly lacking".
The Obama administration's handling of the attack in Benghazi has become the focus of Republican criticism.
Officials initially said the attack had developed out of protests against an anti-Muslim video.
But later intelligence reports suggested it was possibly tied to al-Qaeda affiliates.