Clinton defends handling of Benghazi attack

Secretary of state offers detailed account of attack on US consulate in Libya that left four Americans killed.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has defended her handling of the September 11, 2012 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

Speaking in a congressional testimony on Wednesday, Clinton offered her first detailed account of the first days after the attack, saying she directed the US response from the State Department.

"I take responsibility," Clinton said, echoing comments she first made in a TV interview on October 15 and stressing that she has accepted all of the recommendations of an independent review panel that ultimately held lower-level officials responsible.

"Nobody is more committed to getting this right. I am determined to leave the State Department and our country safer,
stronger and more secure," she added.

Her testimony had been delayed for health reasons.

She said that she had not seen requests for additional security for the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, which was attacked in September, because they were handled by other State Department officials and normally would not reach her level.

"The specific security requests pertaining to Benghazi, you know were handled by the security professionals in the
department. I didn't see those requests, they didn't come to me, I didn't approve them, I didn't deny them," Clinton said.

She noted that one of the findings of an accountability review board on the Benghazi attack was that "these requests
don't ordinarily come to the secretary of state."

Fighters attacked and overwhelmed the US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 in a sustained assault that killed US Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

The official inquiry concluded that the State Department was completely unprepared to deal with the attack, citing
"leadership and management" deficiencies, poor coordination and unclear lines of authority in Washington. The inquiry did not find Clinton personally at fault.

Four State Department officials were put on administrative leave following the board's report.

A separate Senate committee report said the State Department made a "grievous mistake" in keeping the Benghazi mission open despite inadequate security and increasingly alarming threat assessments in the weeks before the attack.

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