Lankford: Failure to Meet Minimum Security Standards 'Unacceptable'

Press Release

Representative James Lankford (R-OK) joined members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform at the full committee hearing today continuing the ongoing investigation into the events surrounding the September 11, 2012 attack of our diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. Today's hearing delved deeper into findings and recommendations of the State Department's Accountability Review Board (ARB) report.

"The families of those four American heroes and the American people deserve every answer we can give them about what happened that fateful night," said Lankford.

The first panel, which included Ambassador Pickering and Admiral Mullen, exposed many security deficiencies before, during and after the attack that led to the murder of four Americans.

Rep. Lankford's questions focused primarily on why military assets were not sent to Benghazi when it was established that the present security personnel were unable to secure the outpost facility. Admiral Mullen pointed out that the local security forces are the primary line of defense for our diplomat corps throughout the world and that U.S. assets stationed internationally are the second line of defense. What the ARB failed to discuss, however, is that the Libyan security force was insufficient and the "assets in place" were not standing ready to help.

"Wanting to help the victims without the ability to actually help them is not good enough," continued Lankford. "Our personnel did not have sufficient armed security for protection, and there was no military contingency plan to rescue them in case of an emergency. It is also completely unacceptable that 1/3 of our diplomatic posts, including the facilities in Tripoli and Benghazi, did not meet even the minimum security standards set in the wake of the 1998 bombings of our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya."

The second panel, composed of family members of the victims, gave members of the Committee the opportunity to directly address the unanswered questions of those left behind by the four Americans murdered in the Benghazi attack.

"The bravery of the family members present today was truly humbling. I pray that they find peace and comfort in our continued pursuit of every fact we can uncover about what happened to their family members that tragic night. We must continue our duty of oversight to ensure this situation never repeats itself and to provide as much closure as possible to the families of the four brave Americans we lost in Benghazi," concluded Lankford.

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