Clinton to Testify on Benghazi Attack

January 19, 2013

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is set to testify to Congress next week about the September terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Four months after the Benghazi attack that exposed startling flaws in U.S. diplomatic security, lawmakers will have their first chance to question Clinton about the incident, in what likely will be her final round of congressional testimony as America’s top diplomat.

In October, she said she bears ultimate responsibility for the security lapse.

“I take responsibility," Clinton said. "I am in charge of the State Department’s 60,000-plus people all over the world.”

She was to testify last month, but illness and an accident forced a postponement.

Despite multiple investigations into the Benghazi debacle and the resignation of high-ranking State Department officials, lawmakers say questions remain about the September 11 attack. Among them: Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

“Why was the State Department unprepared for an assault there," she asked. "Especially on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in United States history?”

But Clinton’s testimony before House and Senate panels is likely to be mostly forward looking, said National security expert Rudy deLeon.