WASHINGTON — Senator John Kerry said Thursday that the United States needed to re-examine how the military might play a greater role in protecting diplomats in dangerous regions in the wake of the attack on the mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11 that led to the death of four Americans.
Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is the leading candidate to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state, so his comments during a hearing into the handling of diplomatic security in Benghazi before the deadly assault there carry particular significance.
Two deputy secretaries of state, William J. Burns and Thomas R. Nides, told the committee that the department had already started to fix the “serious, systemic problems” identified in a scathing report issued this week by an independent panel. The measures include sending about 225 more Marine security guards to embassies and consulates around the world.
Mr. Kerry said the military’s role needed particular scrutiny after the Benghazi attacks.
“It’s something we really need to pay attention to and think about in terms of deployment and preparedness,” he said.
Pentagon officials have reacted cautiously to the idea of assuming any new commitments without additional financing from Congress at a time when the size of the armed forces is shrinking, with the end of operations in Iraq and the winding down of the mission in Afghanistan.
But foreshadowing possible tensions with the Pentagon, Mr. Kerry pointed out that the United State last year spent about $650 billion on the military, about 10 times the country’s budget for international affairs.
Another Democrat on the panel, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, also raised the issue, noting that the Pentagon had no forces that could be readily sent to Benghazi as the crisis unfolded. The closest AC-130 gunship was in Afghanistan. There were no armed drones thought to be within range of Libya. There was no Marine expeditionary unit — a large seaborne force with its own helicopters — in the Mediterranean Sea.
“Given the potential for further unrest in Syria, in Egypt and across the Middle East, it seems to me that that’s a question that is really critical as we look at how we continue to provide protection for our personnel on the ground,” Ms. Shaheen said.
Gen. Carter F. Ham, the leader of the Africa Command, said in a recent appearance at George Washington University that the issue of whether the military should better position itself to respond to emergencies at diplomatic compounds had seized the attention of senior officials at the Pentagon and State Department.
“Part of the post-Benghazi review, one component is what role, if any, should the U.S. military have in adjusting its posture globally to be able to respond to incidents?” General Ham said.
Republicans have repeatedly criticized the Obama administration for both its failure to prevent the attacks on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi and for its explanations about what happened there. But given the highly charged nature of the episode, the Senate panel and a second hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee later on Thursday were surprisingly devoid of drama or sharp exchanges.
Four State Department officials were removed from their posts on Wednesday. The most senior was Eric J. Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, who resigned. A few lawmakers questioned whether higher-level department officials should be held accountable for what the independent panel said was the “grossly inadequate” security that led to the deaths of Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.
Under questioning from Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, Mr. Burns acknowledged that “some of my colleagues on the seventh floor” — where the offices of Mrs. Clinton and most of the other senior officials are — would have seen classified cables from Mr. Stevens and others in the United States Embassy in Tripoli, Libya, warning of a worsening security environment in Benghazi in the months before the attack.
Mr. Burns and Mr. Nides testified in place of Mrs. Clinton, who is recovering from a concussion. She has told lawmakers she would testify on Benghazi next month, before she leaves office.
Some senators, including Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, voiced skepticism that the department had quickly addressed the problems that the inquiry had identified, saying that the recommendations of such reviews are rarely carried out fully.
“The culture of the State Department is one that needs to be reformed,” Mr. Corker said.
But Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, said one reason for the weak security was that Congress had not provided as much money as the administration had sought and the panel had recommended.
At the House hearing, Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who leads the committee, scoffed at the calls for additional spending, saying that poor decisions rather than a lack of money were the problem in Benghazi.
“If the State Department intends to blame its long string of failures on inadequate funding, then perhaps it should take a closer look at the money that is being lavished on global climate change, culinary diplomacy programs and other favored projects,” she said. “This money could have been used for providing diplomatic security, including hiring additional personnel and providing them with adequate equipment and training.”
Kerry Calls on Military to Help Protect Diplomats
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Kerry Calls on Military to Help Protect Diplomats
