The internal review of the Benghazi terrorist attack that resulted in the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans is highly critical of the State Department --- but, typical for government work, no one is named as ultimately responsible and no one will be disciplined, much less loose there job.
From the Washington Times come the following excerpts:
- the internal inquiry…slams bureaucrats for "grossly inadequate" security
- the report blames inadequate security at the mission on "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels" of the State Department
- the failures left the diplomatic post with security "that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place"
- the report criticized State Department for relying too much on unreliable local militias for security in Libya, and for being lulled by the absence of specific warnings of an imminent attack, rather than responding to general security environment, which had been deteriorating for some time
- The review 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"
The report also notes that "findings of unsatisfactory leadership performance by senior officials" in relation to security "should be a potential basis for discipline recommendations" in the future , but…..current state department personnel regulations protect incompetence.
Even though the findings were so egregious and the terrorist attacks resulted in the death of four diplomats, these gross failures will be "addressed through the performance management system" rather than through discipline.
In other words, a slap on the wrist – maybe a note buried in a personnel file. But, that's about it. Only in government work.
