Secretary Clinton’s “Accountability Review Board” (ARB) declared multiple times in its unclassified report that although there were multiple failures in leadership, “management ability,” allocation of security resources and communication, the board could not find “reasonable cause” to discipline (or even name) one person in the State Department.
The report states that there was a breakdown in communication between Libya and Washington. It confirmed previous testimony given on Capitol Hill that the personnel in Libya did ask for increased security. However, the ARB found that those working at the embassy in Tripoli “did not demonstrate strong and sustained advocacy” for increased security at the “special mission” in Benghazi.
The report goes on to say that the diplomatic security staff in Benghazi in “the months and weeks” leading up to the attack (and on the day of the attack) was “inadequate, despite repeated requests.” The ARB found that the security of the Benghazi special mission “was not a high priority for Washington when it came to security-related requests, especially those relating to staffing.”
Amazingly, however, the ARB made sure to extensively absolve anyone in the State Department from being accused of being derelict of their duty:
The Board found that certain senior State Department officials within two bureaus demonstrated a lack of proactive leadership and management ability in their responses to security concerns posed by Special Mission Benghazi, given the deteriorating threat environment and the lack of reliable host government protection. However, the Board did not find reasonable cause to determine that any individual U.S. government employee breached his or her duty.
