Four State Department workers cleared of fault in 2012 Benghazi attack

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Four State Department employees put on leave after terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, have been cleared, the department says.

The four had been put on administrative leave in December by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton after the September attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Secretary of State John Kerry has reassigned the four employees following a review by the Accountability Review Board that was set up after the attack, NBC News reported Tuesday.

The four individuals were criticized in the board's report.

When Kerry took over Clinton's post in February, he asked top-level department officials to review the board's finding, a senior State Department official said in a statement.

"After consideration, he reaffirmed its findings that no employee breached their duty or should be fired but rather that some should be reassigned."

The decision to move the Benghazi consulate workers to other areas within the department was made to "continue to turn the page and shift the paradigm inside the department," the official said.