Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — A federal audit released on Wednesday said that the State Department’s efforts to secure diplomatic facilities around the world are insufficient, even two years after an attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, left four people dead.
“While State is developing a risk management framework in response to several recommendations resulting from the attacks in Benghazi, the framework remains incomplete,” the report says. Until a framework that meets those recommendations is put into place, the Government Accountability Office said, “State cannot be assured that the most effective security measures are in place at a time when personnel working at U.S. diplomatic facilities are facing ever-increasing threats to their safety and security.”
The GAO auditors found that risk information is not available to security planners who are in charge of securing the facilities, planners fail to take into account all threats and do not review threats to determine whether new concerns have arisen, and confusion exists about the standards to use when deciding which security measures should be used. In addition, the State Department Inspector General’s staff, which is supposed to inspect every overseas facility every five years, fails to do so due to budgetary constraints.
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