GOP takes issue with Benghazi review report

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A review report on the attack against the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, finds "systemic failures" in security, but Republicans are saying it is inadequate.

The report in part blamed "senior" department management, but Republicans on the U.S. House Oversight Committee are contending the blamed managers are not senior enough, CBS News reported. The panel is scheduled to hold hearings Thursday.

The panel released its own report Monday saying the review board downplayed decisions made by Undersecretary Patrick Kennedy and others, with the board instead pointing the finger at four subordinates who had little or no responsibility. The four have been placed on administrative leave.

The terror attack Sept. 11-12, 2012, on the consulate killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador John Christopher Stevens.

As required by law, then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton convened an Accountability Review Board to examine the attack.

The board's official report said: "For many years the State Department has been engaged in a struggle to obtain the resources necessary to carry out its work, with varying degrees of success. This has brought about a deep sense of the importance of husbanding resources to meet the highest priorities, laudable in the extreme in any government department. But it has also had the effect of conditioning a few State Department managers to favor restricting the use of resources as a general orientation."

Among its conclusions, the review board found "systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two bureaus of the State Department [resulting] in a Special Mission security posture that was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place."

The board report said Stevens made the decision to be present in Benghazi on his own.