We did conclude that certain State Department bureau level senior officials in critical levels of authority and responsibility in Washington demonstrated a lack of leadership and management ability appropriate for senior ranks in their responses to security concerns posed by the special mission.
FoxNews.com
12/19/2012
Three State Department officials, including a security chief, have resigned following the release of scathing report about safety lapses at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi in the run-up to the terror attack that killed four Americans.
An administration official told the Associated Press on Tuesday that Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, and Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security, stepped down under pressure after the release of the report Tuesday night.
The third official purportedly worked for the Bureau of Near East Affairs, but was not immediately identified, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss personnel matters publicly.
The State Department-ordered investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya, concluded that “systemic failures” left the facility inadequately protected.
The independent review board’s report also confirmed that no protest preceded the deadly attack, as the Obama administration first told the public…
The article, with video, continues at FoxNews.com
Related: Bolton: Clinton Suffering from ‘Diplomatic Illness’ to Avoid Benghazi Testimony
…”You know, every foreign service officer in every foreign ministry in the world knows the phrase I am about to use. When you don’t want to go to a meeting or conference, or an event, you have a ‘diplomatic illness,'” Bolton said on Fox News’ “On The Record.” “And this is a diplomatic illness to beat the band.”
Bolton believes Clinton “was waiting for the report so she could find out what it said and then fashion her testimony accordingly.”
“There is nothing more embarrassing than to say something and then have it contradicted and have to change your story later,” Bolton said. “Now she has a chance to read the report and write her testimony at her leisure, and I think that is not transparent either.”…
Panel Assails Role of State Department in Benghazi Attack at The New York Times
State Dept security chief resigns after Benghazi at Associated Press.
Update: Ros-Lehtinen: State Department’s Gross Negligence and Lack of Leadership is to Blame for Benghazi
Update 2: The Benghazi Report: How smoothly Washington washes away its scandals
You’ll be able to hear and read today about the State Department report on the Benghazi consulate sacking and killings. But no matter how much you listen or read, you’ll only be getting part of the story. Here’s why:
The report from the Accountability Review Board, headed by Thomas Picketing and Admiral Mike Mullen, is only one tiny piece of a vast bureaucratic ballet that has evolved in Washington over decades to handle hot issues, even deadly ones like Benghazi, with minimal damage to the politicians and bureaucrats in power at the time.
It’s an amazingly sophisticated and bipartisan procedure that looks sound to naive eyes. It’s built upon powerful self-interest and savvy strategic communications that manages and manipulates information and the timing of its release to minimize damage to incumbents and to dampen ongoing media interest in pursuing an embarrassing matter further.
To increase the likelihood of that, the D.C. media will soon be fed a tempting new news story, maybe naming a new cabinet member, that will make the Benghazi affair seem even older than yesterday’s news. Which — oh, my goodness — it already is by this morning…
