Three and a half years after the deadly terrorist attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, officials still don’t have a clear plan for how diplomats facing attack can call in and use U.S. Marine Corps forces, according to a new State Department Inspector General report.
The February report, made public this week, said that the Pentagon and State continue to work on a new “memorandum of agreement,” but it remains undone.
“Without updated guidance, chiefs of missions and [Marine Security Guards] around the world and particularly in high-threat, high-risk regions might be ill-prepared to address changes in how the [State] Department and combatant commands would respond to security incidents,” said the report.
It added that while the Pentagon has told military security to coordinate with top diplomats overseas, “the department has not provided comprehensive information on combatant command forces assigned to embassy crisis response, so Chiefs of Mission do not know how to request military support. Without official information available on military support, Chiefs of Mission cannot plan properly for emergencies and may be hindered in their responses to actual crises.”
In September 2012, the diplomatic mission in Benghazi came under attack and Ambassador Christopher Stevens and U.S. Foreign Service Information Management Officer Sean Smith were killed. Not only was the facility poorly guarded, but officials were aware of security concerns.
Following the attack, State and the Pentagon moved to change how missions are protected and to increase communication between Washington and the outposts. There had been reports that U.S. officials in Libya sought more security for the facility, but were rebuffed.
The issue and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s handling of it has become an issue in her pursuit of the presidency.
The State IG found, however, positive signs about the changes in communications since the attack. In a survey, it found that 86 percent of regional security officers are satisfied with guidance from State.
“Officials interviewed in five of the six regional bureaus stated that communications and coordination with the Bureau of Diplomatic Security have much improved in the aftermath of the attack on Benghazi in September 2012,” said the IG report.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
