Esam Omran al-Fetori / Reuters
The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames, Sept. 11. Armed gunmen attacked the compound, clashing with Libyan security forces before the latter withdrew as they came under heavy fire.
By Sean Federico-O'Murchu, NBC News
A Congressional report on the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is highly critical of the handling of security at the mission in the Libyan city, where four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed?on Sept. 11?of this year.
NBC News obtained an advance copy of the report entitled ?Flashing Red: ?A Special Report On The Terrorist Attack At Benghazi? by the Senate Committee On Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs. The report is due to be released Monday. The chairman of the committee, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, retires from the Senate?on Jan. 2.
The Congressional report follows a separate investigation by the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB), which blamed State Department officials for ?systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies? that led to protection for the Benghazi facility that was ?grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place.? ?In response at the time, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns said the problems highlighted by the ARB were unacceptable, "problems for which ? as Secretary (Hillary) Clinton has said -- we take responsibility."
In a statement ahead of Monday's report, Sen. Susan Collins, the ranking Republican member, said the Congressional investigation found that ?terrorists?essentially?walked right into the Benghazi compound unimpeded and set it ablaze, due to extremely poor security in a threat environment that was ?flashing red? in the words of a high-ranking official.?
Collins said the State Department failed to take adequate steps to reduce the facility's vulnerability to a terrorist attack of this kind. ?
?While the Department and the Intelligence Community lacked specific intelligence about this attack, the State Department should not have waited for - or expected - specific warnings before increasing its security in Benghazi, a city awash with weapons and violent extremists,? her statement said.?
The 31-page report paints a picture of a vulnerable outpost in Libya?s second-largest city, a place about which there was sufficient information available to U.S. officials to cause them to beef up security and where it was clear that the new post-Gadhafi government was unable to provide full protection to diplomatic staff.
?We are precluded in this report from discussing the information in detail, but overall, these intelligence reports ? provide a clear and vivid picture of a rapidly deteriorating threat environment in eastern Libya?one that we believe should have been sufficient to inform policy-makers of the growing danger to U.S. facilities and personnel in that part of the country and the urgency of them doing something about it.?
The report noted that as the security situation deteriorated in eastern Libya in 2012, ?the Department of State did not provide enough security to address the increased threats and did not adequately support field requests for additional security.??
Among the committee's recommendations:
- U.S. intelligence agencies need to ?broaden and deepen their focus in Libya, and beyond, on nascent violent Islamist extremist groups in the region that lack strong operational ties to core al Qaeda or its main affiliate groups.?
- If a host nation can?t provide adequate security for a diplomatic facility, ?the Department of State must provide additional security measures of its own, urgently attempt to upgrade the host nation security forces, or decide to close a U.S. Diplomatic facility and remove U.S. personnel until appropriate steps can be taken to provide adequate security.?
- The State Department needs to establish a ?mandatory process? to determine what security standards are applicable to temporary facilities, such as the Benghazi consulate, to ensure that they are ?adequately protected.?
'Inconsistent' statements from the administration
Meanwhile, as to the controversy about what the administration knew about the attack ? and when ? the report said officials in the State Department and the intelligence community were ?inconsistent? in stating that the deaths in Benghazi were the result of a terrorist attack.
The candidacy of Ambassador Susan Rice to the post of Secretary of State was scuppered after allegations by Republican lawmakers that she misled the public about the attacks during an appearance on NBC?s Meet the Press?on Sept. 16.
The administration said Rice, the current US Ambassador to the United Nations, was repeating talking points provided by the intelligence community when she initially characterized the?Sept. 11?assault as a spur-of-the-moment response to a crude anti-Muslim film.
In her interview, Rice said that ?what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of -- of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video.?
Independent panel: 'Systematic failures' within State Department
In a letter to President Obama on Dec. 13, withdrawing her candidacy for the top diplomatic post, Rice said she wanted to avoid a "very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive" confirmation process.
For its part, the Congressional report said the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper had offered to provide the committee with a detailed timeline regarding the development of the intelligence community's talking points on Benghazi. ?At the time of writing this report, despite repeated requests, the committee had yet to receive this timeline," the report notes.
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