4 State Dept. officials quit over Libya

WASHINGTON -- Four State Department officials resigned under pressure Wednesday, less than a day after a damning report blamed management failures for a lack of security at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, where militants killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans on Sept. 11.

The resignations came as lawmakers expressed anger and frustration over the findings of an independent review panel, and the State Department struggled to find a balance between protecting its diplomats while allowing them to do their jobs connecting with people in high-risk posts.

Obama administration officials speaking on condition of anonymity said those who had stepped down included Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, the deputy assistant secretary of state who oversees the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

A fourth, not yet identified, works in diplomatic security, The Washington Post reported.

A State Department spokeswoman said the agency has accepted the resignations of Boswell and three others she would not name.

The consulate attack killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, information specialist Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods, contractors working for the CIA. The unclassified version of the Accountability Review Board's report on the attack was released late Tuesday.

The leaders of the panel, former Ambassador Thomas Pickering and retired Adm. Mike Mullen, said Wednesday that in their view, the responsibility inside the department rested at the level of assistant secretary of state. Mullen said it is "not reasonable" to conclude that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had "a specific level of knowledge" about the lapses beforehand.

The report singled out the diplomatic security bureau and the Near East Affairs bureau. It said there was a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Libya. It also said budget constraints had caused some officials to be more concerned with costs than security.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said, "They failed to anticipate what was coming because of how bad the security risk already was there." Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said, "These are not mistakes we can afford to make again."

Mullen and Pickering set the stage for public hearings today on Capitol Hill. Clinton canceled Thursday's appearance while recovering from a concussion and stomach virus. Two other department officials will testify.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee said Wednesday that Clinton will testify before the panel by mid-January.

With The Washington Post

and Bloomberg News