Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Republicans confronted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today over the deadly attack on a U.S. mission in Libya, saying that she failed to bolster security before the assault and shared blame for the Obama administration's initial, erroneous account of what happened.
"I would have relieved you of your post" for failure of leadership and "culpability" in the loss of four American lives, Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky told Clinton during her testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I believe in taking responsibility, and I have done so," Clinton responded, saying she is moving quickly to correct security shortcomings.
Clinton's two and a half hours of testimony before the Senate panel were to be followed by an afternoon appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The sessions gave lawmakers their first opportunity to question the top U.S. diplomat in public on her department's response to the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi in which Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed.
While Democrats on the Senate panel praised Clinton's performance as secretary of state and her efforts to remedy security weaknesses, Republicans didn't shy away from taking on one of the most popular figures in Washington and a potential 2016 Democratic presidential candidate.
Senator John McCain of Arizona told Clinton her responses to the panel were "not satisfactory to me."
"We just have a disagreement," Clinton said.
'Good Excuse'
Clinton's most heated response came after Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin described as "a good excuse" the administration's position that information about the circumstances of the attack took time to pin down while avoiding interference with an investigation.
"The fact is, we had four dead Americans," Clinton said. "Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they'd go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?"
In opening remarks, Clinton said, "I take responsibility, and nobody is more committed to getting this right. I am determined to leave the State Department and our country safer, stronger and more secure."
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the senior Republican on the committee, criticized what he said were "systemic failures" in security decision-making at the State Department.
Clinton said she didn't review diplomatic cables in advance of the attack that requested heightened security measures in Libya.
'Didn't See'
"I didn't see those requests, they didn't come to me," Clinton said."I didn't approve them, I didn't deny them."
"These requests don't ordinarily come to the Secretary of State," she said.
Clinton said that security measures in general have been constrained by the "consistent shortfalls" in congressional funding for embassy construction and security.
For Clinton, whose initial plans to testify were delayed by a monthlong illness, the hearings resolve a piece of unfinished business that lawmakers said must be completed before her successor is confirmed. Tomorrow, the Senate committee will consider President Barack Obama's nominee to succeed her, Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
While Kerry is the panel's chairman, he ceded his role at today's hearing to Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey.
Until today, Clinton had stayed mostly silent on the Benghazi attack, saying she awaited a report from an independent review board she appointed.
Board's Findings
The board's findings raised questions about the State Department's leadership under Clinton. The review board found the department showed "a lack of proactive leadership and management ability," although no government employees were found to have violated their duties.
The report, released last month, faulted the State Department for producing a "security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."
Clinton today said she has begun implementing all 29 of the review board's recommendations to correct security deficiencies. About 85 percent of 64 "action items" will be completed by the end of March, she said.
The State Department has begun rethinking how it operates in high-threat areas and the secretary of state will lead an annual "high threat post review" to better assess risks, Clinton said.
Saved Lives
Clinton defended the response of State Department personnel in the early hours and days of the Benghazi attack, saying their actions "saved American lives in real time."
Pointing to a long list of terrorist attacks on Americans overseas in recent decades, Clinton said there will always be risks inherent in the work of the State Department and that U.S. diplomats must stay engaged.
"They cannot work in bunkers and do their jobs," she said.
While Republicans have accused the Obama administration of moving too slowly in the hours after the attack, Clinton said there were "no delays in decision-making" and "no denials of support from Washington or from the military."
The chairman of the review board, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering, said last month that responsibility for the security failings went up to the assistant secretary's level, "where, if you like, the rubber hits the road."
Less than 24 hours after the release of the board's report, an assistant secretary of state had resigned and three other officials had been placed on administrative leave.
Correcting Failures
Vowing to correct the department's failures in a letter to Congress last month, Clinton said her department has begun working to hire additional diplomatic security for U.S. missions and was working with the Pentagon to dispatch hundreds of additional Marine Corps security guards to diplomatic posts.
The Benghazi attack became a flash point in last year's presidential election campaign. Republicans said the Obama administration failed to provide adequate diplomatic security before the attack, made inadequate efforts to rescue Americans under siege, and misled the public afterward about what happened.
Rice's Role
Questions from Republican lawmakers over the handling of the attack in its immediate aftermath helped spur the withdrawal of Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, as a potential successor to Clinton. Rice was criticized for saying on television talk shows five days after the attack that the incident began as a spontaneous protest over an anti-Islamic video that was was later "hijacked" by militants.
Clinton defended Rice as presenting the information as it was known at that point by the intelligence community. Clinton said the Obama administration didn't try to mislead the public.
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Clinton said.
The review board "concluded that no protest took place" at either the Benghazi mission or the nearby CIA annex that also came under attack, the report said.
Lawmakers and State Department officials have debated for months whether the security was adequate, given threat assessments in the region at the time, and whether requests for additional security at the Benghazi mission had been denied.
The review board found no intelligence provided a warning of the attack, in which armed men breached the Benghazi compound's walls, and there wasn't enough time for U.S. military forces to have made a difference in responding after the assault began.
Regional Protests
On the night of Sept. 11, as protests over an anti-Islamic video erupted in Cairo and other Arab cities, militants stormed the diplomatic compound in Benghazi and set it on fire, leading to the deaths of Stevens and information specialist Sean Smith. The militants later fired mortars at the CIA compound where some people from the diplomatic mission had sought refuge.
As the CIA annex took mortar fire, some rounds landed on the roof, killing Americans Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, two former Navy SEALs who were working as security personnel.
A separate report by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee found the State Department failed to fill a "security gap" at the Benghazi mission before the attack, even though it knew the Libyan government was incapable of protecting the compound.
That report said the department failed to meet staffing requests from its own security personnel and made the "grievous mistake" of not closing the Benghazi mission at least temporarily because of growing threats in the area.
Clinton was ranked by Americans as the most-admired woman in the world for the 11th consecutive year in a Gallup poll released Dec. 31.
--Editors: Terry Atlas, Larry Liebert
To contact the reporter on this story: David Lerman in Washington at dlerman1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net
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