Unbelievable

An independent panel charged with investigating the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans has concluded that systematic management failures at the State Department led to inadequate security that left the diplomatic mission vulnerable.

Despite those failures, the Accountability Review Board determined that no individual American officials ignored or violated their duties and found no cause for any disciplinary action. The board found that contrary to initial reports, there was no protest outside the mission and blamed the incident entirely on terrorists.

The State Department sent a classified version of the report to lawmakers Tuesday and released an unclassified version later Tuesday. The report makes 29 recommendations to improve embassy security. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she accepted all of the board’s recommendations.

(with thanks)

Further:

It also cited the Bureau of Diplomatic Security staff as "inadequate" in Benghazi on the day of the attack and in the months and weeks leading up to it, "despite repeated requests from Special Mission Benghazi and Embassy Tripoli for additional staffing."

The report said there had been a "lack of transparency, responsiveness, and leadership at the senior levels" in Washington, Tripoli and Benghazi.

"Security in Benghazi was not recognized and implemented as a 'shared responsibility' by the bureaus in Washington charged with supporting the post, resulting in stove-piped discussions and decisions on policy and security," it said. "That said, Embassy Tripoli did not demonstrate strong and sustained advocacy with Washington for increased security for Special Mission Benghazi."

The report said the short-term nature of the mission's staff, many of whom were inexperienced U.S. personnel, "resulted in diminished institutional knowledge, continuity and mission capacity."

The mission was also "severely under-resourced with regard to certain needed security equipment," it said.

It singled out for criticism the dependence on "poorly skilled" members of the Libyan February 17 Martyrs' Brigade and unarmed local guards who were supposed to provide security. It noted that, at the time of Stevens' visit, militia members "had stopped accompanying Special Mission vehicle movements in protest over salary and working hours."

Though it said there had been no specific, credible threats on the day of the attack, the significance of the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001 had led Stevens to decide to hold meetings on the compound on September 11 of this year.

But security systems and the Libyan response "fell short" when the compound came was penetrated "by dozens of armed attackers."

The report is lukewarm at best. How Hillary Clinton can accept the report given her hearing-skipping injury escapes my medical know-how. How many national missions abroad are unprepared and undefended, aside of the one in Benghazi? How many of them lack live feeds to the State Department? How stupid, willfully or otherwise, are the people who work there? Of course there were security issues which is why there were several requests for aid which were repeatedly ignored. And what of the gun-running scheme, the fact that al Qaeda played a part and that, for two weeks, a Youtube video was blamed? How can anyone say that no particular person in the State Department or White House is to blame?

Impeach the African dictator now.