UNDER SECRETARY KENNEDY: Thank you very much.
Chairman Royce, Ranking Member Engel, distinguished members, thank you for inviting me to testify
about the tragic events of September 11th, 2012 in Benghazi, Libya.
The Department maintains a robust global presence at 285 locations, many in challenging security
environments where U.S. national security interests are at stake.
Every day we work to protect our people and missions by constantly assessing threats and
our security posture.
In all the discussions on overseas security over the past year, one strong point of agreement
is that America needs to have a robust presence abroad to advance our national security interests
even in dangerous places.
The Department fights terrorism, enhances the rule of law, fights disease, and promotes
fair trade.
These myriad activities are often accomplished by the whole of the United States Government.
Over 30 different United States Government agencies have a presence overseas in a facility
that the State Department manages and secures.
Almost as long as the United States has sent its diplomats out into the world, there have
been those who abhor the freedoms that America represents and those who seek to do us harm.
The attacks in Benghazi in September were a tragedy for the family and loved ones of
these four patriots, for the Department of State, and for our nation.
As the President has made clear, the United States is committed to bringing the perpetrators
to justice.
We are also committed to taking necessary steps to prevent such tragedies in the future.
While we can never eliminate all risk, our constant goal is to mitigate risk to the maximum
extent possible.
As described in my written statement, the Department mitigates risk in large part through
two major security programs: physical security upgrades and construction of new facilities
by the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations; and technical, physical, and procedural security
programs implemented by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.
Following the September attacks, President Obama and Secretary Clinton immediately called
on the State Department to review and improve security.
State, with the assistance of the Department of Defense, deployed Interagency Security
Assessment Teams to 19 high threat posts to identify security improvements that could
be enhanced and implemented both in the near and longer term.
Per statute, an independent Accountability Review Board was convened.
On December 19, 2012, the ARB presented its findings and 29 recommendations to the Secretary
of State.
State has already addressed almost all of these recommendations and is working diligently
with Defense and others to implement those that remain, those that require more time
and resources, such as deploying the full contingent of Marine Security Guards.
Of note, the Department has already created a Deputy Assistant Secretary for High Threat
Posts who is responsible for focusing attention on those particular locations; ensured all
the high threat posts have adequate life safety equipment; designed an intensive 10-week Arabic
Alert language course specifically for personnels in the security field that will begin next
month.
We are reinforcing throughout the Department's workforce the predicate that security is everyone's
responsibility.
Over the past year, we have been working with Defense to establish 35 additional Marine
Security Guard Detachments to increase the size of existing Marine Security Guard Detachments,
and to establish a rapid augmentation force in Quantico to add additional marines to posts
as the situation warrants.
Following the ISAT efforts in the autumn of 2012 and the ARB report, the Department requested
authority to transfer $1.4 billion from one account to another for an increased security
proposal.
And in the 2013 Continuing Appropriations Act, Congress funded this request, for which
we are deeply grateful.
These funds are being used to provide facilities for the additional marine guard detachments
as well as for embassy construction and security renovations.
We have also began the recruitment of 151 additional Diplomatic Security personnel,
and 113 have already been hired.
We have made implementing the recommendations of the ARB a priority so that we can better
prevent similar tragedies in the future.
That's where we are focused at the State Department, and I know this is your priority as well.
The unfortunate fact is that our diplomats and facilities abroad will face attacks again,
as they just did last week in Herat, Afghanistan.
Since the tragic attacks in Benghazi, the tempo of threats and attacks against us has
not diminished.
We will do everything we can to deter and mitigate the effectiveness of any attack,
but we will not, even with the most willing and capable governments as our partners, ever
stop terrorists or extremists from mounting attacks against us in all cases.
And we must continue to operate in places where host governments may not always be as
willing or capable of fully defending us as we would wish.
The risks to the United States as a nation, however, are greater if we withdraw than the
risks that the brave U.S. diplomatic, development, and military personnel on the front lines
of our foreign diplomacy efforts face.
I appreciate that there is interest in Benghazi, from security to ARB implementation to accountability,
and I'm here today to answer your questions.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.