Lawmakers press over Libya assault

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers want to know why security was “grossly inadequate” at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Libya when militants stormed the facility on Sept. 11, killing the ambassador and three other Americans, and why the military failed to respond faster during the nine-hour assault.

Members of the Senate and House foreign affairs committees on Thursday were to question Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, who is in charge of policy, and Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides, who is in charge of management, at back-to-back congressional hearings.

Their public testimony comes two days after an independent review panel issued a blistering report blaming management failures at the State Department for the lack of security at the Benghazi compound. It also comes as fallout from the report forced four State Department officials to step down Wednesday.

“Why, if we quickly did find out it was in part a terrorist attack, why wasn’t there better security on that evening with the ambassador in Benghazi and in the consulate and what do we need to do to make sure?” said Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“People keep forgetting that was about a nine-hour attack moving from the consulate to the annex. We had already called up troops from Fort Bragg ( North Carolina) and got them to Sicily before the attack was over,” he said. “We knew it was a big-time attack. We flew in two planes from Djibouti, additional assets from Croatia. We need to find out who knew what when.”