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Benghazi Committee Probes Lax Diplomatic Security

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The House Select Committee on Benghazi held its first hearing Wednesday to learn more about the lax security conditions in Libya that led to four Americans being killed.

The level of security was described by an investigating board as "grossly" inadequate prior to the September 11, 2012 attack at the American consulate.

U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens was killed in the Benghazi attack, along with information specialist Sean Smith and Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty.

In opening the hearings, committee chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., dedicated the group's work in their memory.

"Two were killed when a facility emblematic of our country was set on fire, and two of them were killed when they dared to fight back and defend themselves and others," Gowdy said. "They represented our country and our values."

In the initial hearing, the committee heard from representatives of the review board tasked with identifying and dealing with security lapses.

Greg Starr, State Department assistant secretary for Diplomatic Security, also testified. He was not in that post when the consulate attack occurred.

In one exchange, Gowdy suggested that the State Department and other agencies did not respond to clearly stated security concerns raised by investigating commissions as far back as the 1983 U.S. Marine barracks bombing in Beirut and the embassy bombings in Kenya in 1999.

Gowdy: Mr. Secretary, I want to read something to you: 'We are disturbed at the inadequacy of resources to provide security against terrorist attacks. We are disturbed at the relative low priority accorded security concerns, and we praise the ambassador for seeking security enhancements long before the attack.' Do you know where that comes from?

Starr: I believe it is part of the Accountability Review Board.

Gowdy: From 1999.

Starr: For Bushnell and Nairobi, correct?

Gowdy: That was the ARB from 1999, and you can lay it almost perfectly over what happened in Benghazi.

House Democrats have objected to the select committee, claiming that all the most pertinent questions about the Benghazi attack were answered in previous House and Senate hearings.

But Gowdy said more investigation is necessary, including a probe into reports of a cover-up by aides to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and details of how the Obama administration came to blame an anti-Islamic video for the attack when no evidence of a connection with the video existed.

"Given the gravity of the issues at hand, I am willing to risk answering the same question twice rather than risk not answering it once," he said.

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About The Author

John
Waage

John Waage has covered politics and analyzed elections for CBN New since 1980, including primaries, conventions, and general elections. He also analyzes the convulsive politics of the Middle East.