Senators release Benghazi report

WASHINGTON – Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and Ranking Member Susan Collins, R-Maine, on New Year's Eve released their final, bipartisan work product together, a report on the security deficiencies at the temporary U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya, prior to the terrorist attack in which four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed.

The report, Flashing Red: A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi, determined there was a high risk of a "significant" terrorist attack on U.S. employees and facilities in Benghazi in the months before the September 11, 2012 assault on the Mission, and the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the Mission's vulnerability.

The report found that, while there was an absence of specific intelligence about an imminent attack, this "should not have prevented the Department of State from taking more effective steps to protect its personnel and facilities in Benghazi."

The report also found that, "prior to the terrorist attacks in Libya on September 11, 2012, it was widely understood that the Libyan government was incapable of performing its duty to protect U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel, as required by longstanding international agreements, but the Department of State failed to take adequate steps to fill the resulting security gap, or to invest in upgrading the Libyan security forces."

"U.S. and Western diplomats, and other personnel operating in the Middle East and other countries where these terrorists use violence to further their religious extremist agenda and thwart democratic reforms are increasingly at risk," the report concludes.

"We hope this report will help contribute to the ongoing discussion that our nation must have about how best to protect the brave men and women who serve our country abroad and how to win this war that will continue for years to come."

Read the full report at: http://www.collins.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/81d5e2d9-cc8d-45af-aa…