What exactly did the State Department Inspector General’s Benghazi report say about security failures and who resigned?
Executive summary
The authoritative post‑attack inquiry that is repeatedly cited in the sources was the State Department’s Accountability Review Board (ARB), which concluded that security at the U.S. facilities in Benghazi was “grossly inadequate” and identified “systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies” in two bureaus that left the mission vulnerable [1] [2] [3]. Sources differ slightly about personnel consequences: several senior Diplomatic Security officials were removed, placed on leave, or resigned — most prominently Eric Boswell — but the ARB itself did not recommend criminal discipline and some reporting reflects variation in how many and which officials ultimately stepped down or were reassigned [4] [5] [6].
1. What the official review actually said about security failures
The ARB’s unclassified findings bluntly stated that the Special Mission security posture in Benghazi “was inadequate for Benghazi and grossly inadequate to deal with the attack that took place,” citing systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies at senior levels within two State Department bureaus as causal factors [2] [3]. The board pointed to repeated reductions in security personnel, an overreliance on limited intelligence warnings rather than local indicators and patterns of violence, and the inappropriate use of Libyan militia elements for key security functions as contributors to the mission’s vulnerability [5] [2]. The ARB also expressly recommended that the State Department should have increased security or closed the Benghazi facility, calling the decision to keep it open “a grievous mistake” [4].
2. How the ARB framed responsibility and what it did not find
While the ARB placed blame on systemic and leadership failures, it simultaneously assigned ultimate responsibility for the deaths “solely and completely” to the terrorists who carried out the attacks — a distinction repeatedly noted in reporting to separate operational failures from culpability for the violence itself [4]. Importantly, the ARB told Congress and the public that poor performance discovered by the board “does not ordinarily constitute a breach of duty” and therefore did not itself recommend specific disciplinary penalties; that nuance has been cited to counter political narratives that the report was a straightforward finding of criminal misconduct by senior political leaders [4].
3. Who resigned, was removed or reassigned — and why sources vary
Media and government statements from December 2012 concur that senior State Department officials in the Diplomatic Security and management chains faced accountability measures after the report. Contemporary reporting named Eric Boswell (Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security), Charlene Lamb (Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for embassy security), and Raymond Maxwell