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Subscribe to RSSSens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, address the Senate Homeland Security Committee's 31-page report on the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi which criticizes U.S. intelligence sources and the State Department for not acting on a warning signs ahead of the incident.
A report released Monday by the Senate Homeland Security Committee lambasted the handling of security around the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in September when a deadly attack took the lives of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
In the months leading up to the Sept. 11 attack, there was a "rising crescendo" of evidence from U.S. intelligence sources and State Department personnel that the situation was becoming dangerous and unstable, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, one of the report's authors, said in a press conference on Monday.
"The tragedy is, however, that the reaction to the flashing red indicators was woefully inadequate," said Leiberman.
The 31-page report, "Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi," paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya’s second-largest city, where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.
Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican member, said the congressional investigation found that "terrorists essentially walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment."
Collins said the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the facility's vulnerability to a terrorist attack of this kind.
"While the Department and the Intelligence Community lacked specific intelligence about this attack, the State Department should not have waited for — or expected —specific warnings before increasing its security in Benghazi, a city awash with weapons and violent extremists," she said.
Both of the senators said the U.S. facility should have been closed, given the absence of sufficient security.
Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames, Sept. 11. Armed gunmen attacked the compound, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.
The report noted that as the security situation deteriorated in eastern Libya in 2012, "the Department of State did not provide enough security to address the increased threats and did not adequately support field requests for additional security."
The congressional report follows a separate investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), which blamed State Department officials for "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies" that led to "grossly inadequate" protection for the Benghazi facility. In response at the time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the problems highlighted by the ARB were unacceptable, "problems for which — as Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said — we take responsibility."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in a hospital being treated for a blood clot, the result of a concussion suffered earlier in December. Collins said she hopes that after Clinton recovers, she will carefully review the congressional report and see if there are officials that "need to be held accountable."
Collins said that she did not see the tragedy as the fault of the Pentagon, but an indication that the Defense Department has insufficient assets to mount an effective response.
Among the report's recommendations:
- U.S. intelligence agencies need to "broaden and deepen their focus in Libya, and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups."
- If a host nation can’t provide adequate security for a diplomatic facility, "the Department of State must provide additional security measures of its own, urgently attempt to upgrade the host nation security forces, or decide to close a U.S. Diplomatic facility and remove U.S. personnel until appropriate steps can be taken to provide adequate security."
- The State Department needs to establish a "mandatory process" to determine what security standards are applicable to temporary facilities, such as the Benghazi consulate, to ensure that they are "adequately protected."
"Flashing Red" was the final joint investigation by Collins and Leiberman, who is slated to retire on Jan. 2.
'Inconsistent' statements from the administration
As for the controversy over what the administration knew about the attack — and when — the report said officials in the State Department and the intelligence community were "inconsistent" in stating that the deaths in Benghazi were the result of a terrorist attack.
The candidacy of Ambassador Susan Rice to the post of Secretary of State was scuppered after allegations by Republican lawmakers that she misled the public about the attacks during an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press on Sept. 16.
The administration said Rice, the current U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, was repeating talking points provided by the intelligence community when she initially characterized the Sept. 11 assault as a spur-of-the-moment response to a crude, anti-Muslim film.
In her interview, Rice said that "what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of — of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video."
Independent panel: 'Systematic failures' within State Department
In a letter to President Obama on Dec. 13 withdrawing her candidacy for the top diplomatic post, Rice said she wanted to avoid a "very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive" confirmation process.
For its part, the congressional report said Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had offered to provide the committee with a detailed timeline regarding the development of the intelligence community's talking points on Benghazi. "At the time of writing this report, despite repeated requests, the committee had yet to receive this timeline," the report notes.
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HOW shocking that NBCNEW does in fact cover this story.. HOWEVER the print type used for the HEADLINE is usually reserved for the fine print on a used car agreement.
I so agree. The press would be all over this if the president were a Republican. But they dare not criticize their beloved communist president Obama. They should be ashamed. Obama should be impeached over this and tried for treason. He's a disgrace.
Christopher Stevens...
Lockerbie bombing: Google "the selective use of polygraphs"
Clapper apparently is still preparing his version of the aforesaid timeline and the talking points with all the ingenuity at his command.Further the timing of Obama's admission that the Benghazi attack and its security implications were huge cannot be any better amid all that noise and diversion of the fiscal cliff.It is, however ,interesting that so far nobody has talked about the kind of cooperation we are getting from the Libyan government in this affair.The Libyan government's very existence and capacity to govern are getting curiouser and curiouser by the day.Both the Obama administration and the mainstream media are deafeningly silent on this aspect.
I'm not sure I can understand how anyone in Congress can criticize anything else that is going on within our government. These clowns haven't done a thing to earn their pay in the last 40 years, they created all the problems we face today and they are the most despised, low-life, morons group of people in the world. For them to criticize anything that happens within our government is the most hypocritical thing I have ever heard. THEY ALL NEED TO BE IMPEACHED, and perhaps next election some more voters will decide that enough is enough and start all over with a need bunch of village idiots and see if they can be trained better than the current batch
it is none to soon for that S O B joe lieberman to get out, best thing that ever happened in 2013, now if the other two S O B s john mc cain and lindsay graham wil just die or fall off a cliff the nation will be better off for it, the unholy three!!!!!!
The people in government must be educated so they can tell the difference between a spontaneous demonstration the result of a American made film clip and a terrorist attack. Maybe they can use some of that additional tax money to learn something.
In yesterdays ABC newscast, ABC was backing the administration in saying the cause of the riot/murders at the Benghazi embassy were caused by the anti-muslim film that 12 people saw!
It's time OBAMA takes responsibility for extreme security failures, fiscal quagmires, and national bankruptcy.
Why do Americans accept being misled by a president that HIDES all personal records ?
Holub please dont hold back Im sure your unbaised in your views.
B. HUSSEIN OBAMA plays golf, vacations, and Michelle travels & spends. But, the military stays in harms way, Obama-Care kicks in to ruin America's medical care programs, and Bengazi remains a cover up.
And, Obama's vital records remain locked up, hidden, and SECRET to American Citizens.
Amazing !
Holub where have you been, our medical care system has been broken for a long time, and the Benghazi incident is only a cover up in your own mind since there have been investigations and accepting of blame in the state dept. Perhaps in your own little world where you can direct the story line this might be true but in the real world where the rest of us live your strangely ignorant of what is actually occurring.
I do believe that the 9-11 attack, unimpeded, required the then President to cut short his vacation in Texas, to enable him to be on the job one day later. Check it out. We apparently need to recognize that our partisan and division is the root cause of most if not ALL of the problems facing us today!
Square dude
What does "accepting the blame by the state Dept." mean? Nothing aparently nobody has been punished,those that supposedly lost their job...well it appears they are still on our pay roll,they took a leave of absents with pay and will be back to work shortly,Rice lost her bid to Hillary's job,but that's the only repercussion,And Obama was suppose to clear that up for her,he didn't like his scapegoat being accused of wrongdoing,so he tells Lindsey and McCain to " come after me" They can never catch you in town mr prez,your never around to get the job done.
This is the worst prez ever and no matter all his attempt's at covering his azz,history and skeletons have a way of falling out of closets.
Did I miss something or did this article fail to mention the fact that it was the GOP that reduced funding for security for these facilities? Yet they were the first to complain. Oh sorry, I lost my head, this is just another case of the GOP doing something and not accepting responsiblity.
To XJARHEAD from a retired jarhead. The report specifically states that finances were not the reason for lax security. Also, its interesting to note that the Paris embassy got new personnel postings at the same time the Libyan forces were reduced. OOOH that dangerous Paris environment (that's sarcasm)..
Yes you did miss something. Under oath , the State Dept admitted funding was not the reason for the monumental security failure in Benghazi. Any other talking points you need exploded.
No the GOP did not block any funding that led to Benghazi gate.Anything to distract and deflect,O used lies about a video but you can place the blame on the GOP and or Bush or the TeaParty,we are all used to hearing how poor O has never had a fair chance,and everything is about race so much so the race card means nothing when you say it anymore,just like crying wolf, we just don't hear you anymore,the left speaks and all we hear is Charlie Browns Mother's muffled rants.
It would be nice if our "oh so ethical" newscasters and journalists would address the fact that four (4) State Department workers were shuffled to other jobs at the same pay and benefits and then the administration AND THE PRESS told the American publid that they had "resigned". Can anyone spell "COVER-UP". Sadly, four loyal patriotic Americans died and the administration feels that four reassignements is of equal value.
Lawyer, not sure where your get your "facts" however what I have read a couple of state dept employees have resigned not reassigned. Perhaps both happened?
Wow if this is true then I am dismayed! The press said they resigned. My god is the press so involved to not print the facts of this? Know the State Department has their Staff read these so State is this true?
Square Dude: That is my point NONE RESIGNED what they did was give up that position to move into another. they are still there, still being paid, with a new name. It's disgusting and the PRESS is negligent for not reporting it.
I will bet, 'cause it's what I would do, that they filled out a letter of resignation for the old position while they were moving their personal property to the new desk.
State Dept. Officials Who "Resigned" Over Benghazi Back on the Job
Wed, 12/26/2012 - 4:33pm | posted by Jeremy Kolassa
Josh Margolin over at the New York Post has some startlingly news, if true:
The four officials supposedly out of jobs because of their blunders in the run-up to the deadly Benghazi terror attack remain on the State Department payroll — and will all be back to work soon, The Post has learned.
The highest-ranking official caught up in the scandal, Assistant Secretary of State Eric Boswell, has not "resigned" from government service, as officials said last week. He is just switching desks. And the other three are simply on administrative leave and are expected back.
The four were made out to be sacrificial lambs in the wake of a scathing report issued last week that found that the US compound in Benghazi, Libya, was left vulnerable to attack because of "grossly inadequate" security.
State Department leaders "didn't come clean about Benghazi and now they're not coming clean about these staff changes," a source close to the situation told The Post., adding, the "public would be outraged over this."
Last week, the four officials had apparently resigned over the disaster that was Benghazi, when an American consulate was attacked and four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were murdered by Libyan militants. Not only was that grounds for a massive public outrage, but it was compounded when for weeks the Obama Administration blamed it on a really stupid, poorly made "anti-Muslim" video, instead of paying attention to actual militant groups in the country.
Put together with the actual attack, and heads should not have just rolled out of Foggy Bottom, they should have been put in bags and rolled out. It seemed that with the apparent resignations last week, something had finally hit, but now even that has been undone.
Make no mistake, though: someone should and must pay. The folks in charge of diplomatic security, the ones who told off the CIA operatives from helping, should be fired and stripped of their government pensions. Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Johnnie Carson should probably have been fired too, even though Libya was under Boswell's jurisdiction. Hell, Hillary Clinton should have resigned in disgrace—instead, she just bumped her head and failed to give any testimony on the incident.
Of course, nothing will happen, because the mainstream news refuses to give anything more than token coverage of Benghazi, creating a reality bubble where the Administration can do no wrong. (It's a repeat of the leadup to the 2003 Iraq invasion.) Yet there clearly has been wrong done: the deaths of four Americans thanks to the security oversights of the Obama Administration.
This latest episode just shows that no one will be punished, and indeed, this Obama Administration is about nobody paying for their sins.
How wonderful that, well after the election, the mainstream media finally discoveres this was a monumental screw up, cover up and stonewalling. Not surprising since they were complicit.
Why even report this non-sense, This Obama-Clinton loving nation could CARE-LESS! as long as they keep getting their hand outs and extended unemployment checks, your not going to get a peep out of the American people.
Hope Hillary Clinton is better! Know the attack was terrible and both Parties should have been into the protection of our Diplomats! The Republicans turned down money to do so. There was money though in the Budget to have handled it so the Democrats are not off Scott free. The attacks should have alerted the President to the problem While in the election things go wrong and Hillary off trying to get countries happy was not a good thing. But let any of you try and do the job she was doing with the travel and you could not. God Bless Hillary
X glad to see your post, too many here have extreme prejudices and cant seem to approach anything in a balanced / fair way.
You all convenientlly forget the tally of votes against the funding. If I recall right, 147 Dems-140 GOP.
Also wondering why this article wasn't front and centre on MSN, but just a Little ,little line buried in it's main page.
Its called a re-election NO-NO for the Liberal press (NBC, ABC, CNN, HBO,ETC.) to post anything bad about our White/African-American Pres....
And as they all, obama included, watched in real time, none of them said, "go save those people." How long would it have taken a super sonic aircraft to get there? Not 7 hours I'm sure. Murderers, ALL of them!
BENGHAZI will not be resolved until ALL OF US demand the PRESS address the issue. Many of us had to hammer CNN and NBC for weeks to get them to address this. NOW they want to hide the fact that NO-ONE has been held accountable and feed us B.S. about the four that were reassigned to CYA.
They, all the way up to the oval office, knew this before those men got murdered and when it happened lied about it for over 2 months. obama and his co-conspirator with CNN even lied about it at a presidential debate. Those are the facts, plain a simple. It is criminal and needs to be prosecuted, plain and simple, all the way to the oval office. And L.A.W. is correct. The largest share of the blood is on the the liberal media.
You know, I don't care where they place the blame. What I do care about, being retired military, is that the Press stops aiding in keeping the truth from the public and ensureing that those who rightfully should be responsible answer. Otherwise, our State Departments and Military members are just "expendable" for the satisfaction of beauracrats jobl.
The blame goes on the guilty and they NEED to be prosecuted in a court of law and punished-or why did we bother?
CSM USA RET Airborne Infantry 23yrs
So does anyone think Boehner will bring the agreement to the House. The number is going to be 500k and the dairy will be saved! Boehner will resign tomorrow admitting to not being liked by his constituents. Cantor will say he wants the job but not be voted in. Vote in House will be 240 against with 15 Democrats saying no from the South. There is a better chance to win the Mega millions then to get a Deal!
Does Obama have a Rabbit in a Hat in the last minute. Hope so for all Democrats and Republicans. God bless American and all of you lovely people expressing your freedom to write as guaranteed by our Constitution. Our Press is not perfect but tell that to the Chinese or the poor people in North Korea as they would love to live here!
If we look at the bottom rung, China and N Korea, to set our standards we will never restore the greatness of this country. We must aim higher than anything even we have ever achieved. When President J.F.K. pointed at an orb in the sky and said we WILL do this he was not talking about just space. If we loose that then the Chinese and North Koreans will not continue to love to live here...then we are in trouble. This is not a time in our history for complacancy-or an arrogant leader.
...
Get over it.
These guys took one for the team as they should have.
The real tragedy is the state of health that the repugs sniping has caused Secretary of State Clinton.
.
Joe Biden in 2016
...
She is doing much better than any one of those 4 men-or their families.
Nothing new here,
So now it's the Republicans fault Hillary has a blood clot? Or maybe it's Karma for all the lies she has told and cover-ups she has been involved in? It is said when you live by the sword you die by the sword,what does she care,she has resigned,it's no skin off her political nose,The Dems will probably reward her with the prez nomination in 2016,they need someone to keep up the lies deception,deflection and smoke & mirrors,They would have an ol shoe at it,between her husband and prez O,she knows how to play the blame and lie game VERY WELL.
How ironic that the head of the entire department (Secretary of State), suddenly has a concussion and blood clot as she is to appear before Congress. Will Clinton's, Dems and the Pres stoop any lower. Dems would crucify Repubs if this happened during the Bush Admin...Right? What a joke Dems are....
Greatest Lib. So an 18 year old can join the military but can't own a handgun for defense. Your logic is faulty. Just repeal the 2nd Amendment and all the others while your at it, you misguided fool. While your doing that,be sure to place a "gun free zone"sticker
on your house.
Pete-believe me I am NOT supporting liberal anti gun crapola but...
An 18 year old can own a rifle or a shot gun. That is most likely all he will carry in the military, with a few exceptions. That 18 year old in the military is given extensive training on how to care for, and use that weapon. He, normally is not even given live ammunition for that weapon except under very close supervision and tight regimen. By the time that 18 year old completes his enlistment, that is honorably, he WILL be old enough to own a hand gun. I am a very strong supporter of the NRA and gun rights but you may want to find a different proving point for you cause. This one can get some hole shot in it, pardon the pun. And think about it, is it a good idea to have 18 year olds going back to the barracks from the EM club with hand guns? Some one would have been VERY stupid to let me do it....looking back.
CSM USA RET Airborne Infantry 23 yrs
So, we know that everyone in the Intelligence community, State Department, and Obama Administration knew of impending danger before the attacks. We know the State Department pulled security despite red flags. We know the President lied to the American public when he stated he gave the military whatever authority it needed to protect the lives of those in harm's way. We know that the State Department and the Administration attempted to cover up and mislead the public after the tragic deaths of four Americans. I'm sure this will be someone else's fault--probably Bush's.
Two questions: (1)How much longer will the American people be duped by this corrupt Administration?
(2)Where is that paid political hack, Fiesty Lil Red Head, who assaulted everything noble in this country, now that her boy won the election?
Mike, Peobably just as long as they were duped by the Administration in the 9-11 attack.
I'm sure you're referring to the Clinton Administration, right? Because of Clinton, we had no intelligence community to avert the attack, and afterwards, Bush moved Heaven and earth to keep us safe. Thank God for one American President--Bush--who loves his country...instead of the thing we have now.
So glad to here that President Bush Senior is better. Please Have a Happy New Year Mr President and be well!