Since I live in the DC area, I know many people who work for the federal government. For some reason most that I know do work at The State Department. Many of those work in the embassy security division. I have one person who I have known my whole life who recently retired. While at State he went around the world to all our different embassies to install, update, and address all kinds of security issues. This staff doesn't normally fall into the staff that changes by administration. These are professionals that are there regardless of who is in office. They are not political appointees. Ultimately the decision about the security was made by this department.
The chances are it never even hit Sec. Clinton's desk and there is no way that a decision like this was made at The White House. The chances that they were even aware of the request being turned down is about nil to none.
Now, that doesn't absolve President Obama from the problems. There does need to be an investigation into the thought process that went around why a consulate office in a city that has known ties to terrorists and extremists was not given better security. It seems like a no-brainer to those of us on the outside. We need to get to the bottom of why this request was denied.
My biggest concern at the moment is why the head of the department has not been fired. Four innocent people have lost their lives due to a very bad decision. While I am sure this person feels awful, that it isn't enough. The diplomatic corp needs to have assurances that they are going to be safe while they and their families are travelling abroad. Until a very complete investigation is undertaken and completed, I am not too sure that I would feel all that safe while I was in hot spots across the world.
DaTech Guy has some interesting commentary on Hillary taking full responsibility on Benghazigate. You don't want to miss it.
Excellent tech guy blog points.
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