Less than a week before the House Oversight Committee is due to have its hearing examining the attacks on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Office of the Inspector General is expected to do a special review of the Accountability Review Board (ARB) that released the Mullen-Pickering report on the Benghazi attack.
Welty later wrote in a statement, “A review of security-related issues is an important part of our oversight work. A review of the Accountability Review Process was already in our plans when we responded to an inquiry from Senators Lieberman and Collins after the attack in Benghazi last year.”
In late December, the ARB report on Benghazi cited “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” at the State Department leading to the deadly attacks.
However, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not interviewed by the ARB for its own report. When Clinton testified about the attacks before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, then-Committee chair Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) asked Clinton why the ARB did not interview her. “How can [the report] be complete without the Secretary?” Ros Lehtinen asked.
Clinton responded she was not asked to speak to the ARB, saying, “If they thought that I was relevant, I would have gladly” spoken to the review board.
Four days after her Committee’s hearing, Ros Lehtinen was also critical of four State employees who resigned over the Benghazi attacks but remained on the Department’s payroll.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.