Press Releases

           “Yesterday, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, joined four other House Committees in delivering the Interim Progress Report on the terrorist attacks on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi.  The report demonstrates that reductions in security levels prior to the attacks were approved at the highest levels of the State Department.  The report also finds that in the days after the attacks, White House and senior State Department officials altered accurate talking points drafted by the Intelligence Community in order to cover up the State Department’s responsibility for this disaster. 

              The Committee continues its examination of the deadly Benghazi terrorist attacks so we can ensure that the bureaucratic failures that left State Department personnel vulnerable are not repeated.  The Committee will continue to review the needed improvements in embassy security; the State Department’s alertness to the overall political climate and resulting terrorist threats in high-risk environments; and the responsibility of senior State Department officials for the failure to provide proper security prior to the Benghazi attacks. The Interim Progress Report highlights legislation that I introduced with Democrat Congresswoman Grace Meng that would reform U.S. State Department bureaucracy to better protect the lives of American diplomats serving overseas. The SAFE Embassies Act (H.R. 925) aims to increase accountability of State Department employees, which this report indicates is sorely needed, by giving the Secretary of State more power to discipline personnel who put diplomats in danger. Unfortunately, there still has been no meaningful accountability within the State Department for Benghazi.”

To view the report, please follow the link below: http://www.speaker.gov/sites/speaker.house.gov/files/documents/libya-progress-report.pdf

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