The house committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, lead by Representative Daryl Issa, helped to flushed out the Obama administration and the State Department as to the security failure during the terrorist attack on our Benghazi consulate and the murder of four Americans, including our Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens. The hearing on Wednesday October 10, exposed the dysfunction between our politicians and the salaried employees of the State Department who are charged with the day to day security of our diplomats. The members of the committee rightly voiced outrage at the faulty judgment of both high ranking politicians and employees who scrambled for cover using lies and political spin to hide the responsible parties, President Obama and our illustrious Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. The obvious motive of the administration was and is to deflect responsibility away from the Democrats during this presidential election season.
While acknowledging the extreme value of this hearing, one more question needed to be asked of Ms. Lamb, deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. In regards to her directives to give our diplomatic mission ever decreasing security manpower, she claimed that those were her instructions from above. A very simple follow-up question needed to be asked, Ms. Lamb, to whom do you report? We all have used this question in our daily lives as we deal with a variety of bureaucracies. She avoided the question and attempted to blame an imaginary shadowy authority figure when her boss sat in the next chair, Patrick Kennedy, the under secretary for management in the State Department. Patrick Kennedy reports directly to the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. This chain of command relationship was not clearly identified by the committee or the resulting questioning. If it had, a reasonably inquisitive committee member should have asked Mr. Kennedy, “did you make this decision for less security from your own experience data bank or were you instructed from above to put American lives and the mission in extreme peril, almost naked of protection? We still would like to know your answer, Mr. Kennedy.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca
