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Washington • Four State Department officials have been cleared of security failures that led to an attack last year on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens, authorities said Tuesday.
State spokeswoman Marie Harf said the officials, who held senior positions at the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs during the Sept. 11, 2012, attack, will be reassigned to new jobs.
She said an internal State review concluded "there was no breach of duty" by any of the four, who have been on paid administrative leave for months.
The State Department is not investigating any other employees. But the Benghazi attack has been under intense scrutiny by some House Republicans who have suggested the Obama administration is trying to cover up the circumstances and aftermath of the attack that left Stevens and three other Americans dead.
Among the four officials are Eric Boswell, assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security; Charlene Lamb, deputy assistant secretary responsible for embassy security; and Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary of state who oversaw the Maghreb nations of Libya, Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco. The fourth official's identity was not disclosed.
Tuesday's announcement drew a sharp rebuke from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-California, who has been leading a congressional probe of the government's response to the attack.
He said he will expand his investigation to include the department's decision to not discipline the four officials.