Following the embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, Congress passed and President Bill Clinton signed into law the Secure Embassy Construction and Counterterrorism Act of 1999. The Act, specifically, required the Secretary of State to develop, implement, oversee, monitor, and report to Congress the security provisions enacted at all foreign embassies, consulates, and diplomatic facilities. Furthermore, the Act SPECIFICALLY prohibits the Secretary of State from delegating this responsibility to anyone. Period. Story. End of.
As defence attorney and former Department of Justice official, Victoria Toensing, who also represents the Benghazi whistle-blowers, wrote in the Wall Street Journal on 17 June 2014:
'As with the Benghazi terrorist attacks, an Accountability Review Board was convened for each bombing. Their reports, in January 1999, called attention to "two interconnected issues: 1) the inadequacy of resources to provide security against terrorist attacks, and 2) the relative low priority accorded security concerns throughout the U.S. government."
Just as U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens did in 2012, the U.S. ambassador to Kenya, Prudence Bushnell, had made repeated requests for security upgrades in 1997 and 1998. All were denied.
Because the embassies in Kenya and Tanzania had been existing office structures, neither met the State Department's security standard for a minimum 100 foot setback zone. A "general exception" was made.
The two review boards faulted the fact that "no one person or office is accountable for decisions on security policies, procedures and resources."
To ensure accountability in the future, the review boards recommended "[f]irst and foremost, the Secretary . . . should take a personal and active role in carrying out the responsibility of ensuring the security of U.S. diplomatic personnel abroad" and "should personally review the security situation of embassy chanceries and other official premises." And for new embassy buildings abroad, "all U.S. government agencies, with rare exceptions, should be located in the same compound."
Congress quickly agreed and passed Secca, a law implementing these (and other) recommendations. It mandated that the secretary of state make a personal security waiver under two circumstances: when the facility could not house all the personnel in one place and when there was not a 100-foot setback. The law also required that the secretary "may not delegate" the waiver decision.
Why is this important? Well, Hillary Clinton has repeatedly said that she had delegated security at the Benghazi compound to her underling, Patrick Kennedy. This delegation of authority and supervision was specifically prohibited. For example, here is her interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News:
'I was not making security decisions' [about Benghazi, claiming] it would be a mistake for a secretary of state to go through all 270 posts and decide what should be done.'
Another example: When Secretary Clinton testified before a Senate hearing in January 2013, she said:
'Security requests did not come to me. I did not approve them. I did not deny them.'
Coincidentally, I am sure, Susan Rice was serving as Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and Hillary flunkie and delegate, Patrick F Kennedy, was Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Diplomatic Security when local branches of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad sponsored by Al Qaeda committed the attacks, which killed 224 and wounded more than 4,000.
