Benghazi on the Record: Asked and Answered
QUESTION
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned.
Rep. Edward Royce“Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference, April 23, 2013
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ANSWER
The suggestion that Secretary Clinton personally signed a State Department cable denying security requests prior to the attacks was awarded “Four Pinocchios” by the Washington Post Fact Checker—its highest rating for inaccurate statements—on two separate occasions. Instead, the cable at issue included a pro forma stamp with the Secretary of State’s name, similar to millions of other Department cables.
Sources that have answered this question:
- Accountability Review Board Member and Former Department of State Official Richard Shinnick
- Department of State Foreign Affairs Handbook
- Former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell
- Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under former Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice
- Washington Post Fact Checker
View All Sources
The Washington Post’s Fact Checker called this claim by Rep. Issa “absurd” and a “whopper” and gave it “Four Pinocchios” - TWICE
After Rep. Issa publicly disputed the Fact Checker’s rating—saying he was "quoting something that was in somebody else's report"— the Fact Checker reaffirmed its awarding of "Four Pinocchios" and noted that the report was issued under his name.
Source: Washington Post Fact Checker, April 26, 2013
Multiple Sources Already Answered This Question
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Accountability Review Board Member and Former Department of State Official Richard Shinnick
“It just doesn’t make any sense to anybody who understands the State Department.” He explained: “Every single cable going out is signed ‘Clinton,’ it is the normal procedure. … Millions of cables come into the operation center every year, not thousands, millions. And they are all addressed Hillary Clinton. So you can make a story that Hillary saw a cable and didn’t act on it or sent a cable out, it’s all bullsh*t, it’s all total bullsh*t.”
Source: Media Matters, April 25, 2013 -
Department of State Foreign Affairs Handbook
“Domestic telegrams originated within the Washington metropolitan area and transmitted through the 5th Floor Communications Center will bear the signature name of the Secretary at the end of the telegram.”
Source: State Department Foreign Affairs Handbook, Dec. 17, 2009 -
Former Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell
Larry Wilkerson, who was Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, explained: “I can say that from being there with one secretary and reviewing the work of many other secretaries in my academic research, there are many, many cables the secretary never sees.”
Source: Washington Post Fact Checker, April 26, 2013 -
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs under former Secretary of State Condeleezza Rice
R. Nicholas Burns, who was the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, explained about the cables: “A very small fraction would be seen by the secretary of state.” According to the Washington Post, “Burns noted that the confusion over ‘signature’ is a common misunderstanding about State Department cables. He frequently has to correct historians from overseas who mistakenly believe the secretary’s name at the bottom of the cable has much meaning.”
Source: Washington Post Fact Checker, April 26, 2013 -
Washington Post Fact Checker
“These days, State Department cables in effect are group e-mails, which are stored in a database and made available to people with the proper security clearances. As part of that tradition, every cable from an embassy bears the ‘signature’ of the ambassador—and every cable from Washington bears the ‘signature’ of the secretary of state.”
Source: Washington Post Fact Checker, April 26, 2013
Who Has Been Asking This Question or Raising This Issue?
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Rep. Mike Rogers April 23, 2013
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned."
Source: “Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference -
Rep. Jim Jordan Jan. 25, 2014
Yeah, she's [Secretary Clinton] the boss. ... This is not France, this is not Great Britain, where you can rely on a handful of your security and rely on a host country to provide additional security. It’s Libya for goodness sake, and they’re treating it like an embassy in Canada. They knew if there was an attack on the compound, the hired help were going to drop their weapons and run or worst case fire on the good guys. So they said they needed more help. Hillary Clinton denied that."
Source: The Lima News -
Rep. Edward Royce April 23, 2013
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned."
Source: “Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference -
Rep. Bob Goodlatte April 23, 2013
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned."
Source: “Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference -
Rep. Lynn Westmoreland April 29, 2013
[A]n April 19, 2012 cable acknowledged requests for additional security, but instead ordered the withdrawal of security assets. This cable was signed by then-Secretary of State Hilary [sic] Clinton. … [I]t was then-Secretary of State Hilary Clinton who denied the requested and much-needed additional security to our representatives in Libya."
Source: Congressional Website -
Rep. Howard McKeon April 23, 2013
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned."
Source: “Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference -
Rep. Darrell Issa April 23, 2013
Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. … [I]n a cable signed by Secretary Clinton in April 2012, the State Department settled on a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including Benghazi. … In addition, the April 2012 cable from Secretary Clinton recommended that the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the U.S. Mission in Libya conduct a 'joint reassessment of the number of DS agents requested for Benghazi.' … Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned."
Source: “Five Chairmen” Staff Report to House Republican Conference -
Rep. John Boehner April 24, 2013
According to the progress report released yesterday, this cable shows that Secretary Clinton acknowledged a request for additional security but still 'ordered the withdrawal of security elements to proceed' from Benghazi."
Source: Congressional Website
