Secretary of State John Kerry has determined that the four officials who had been placed on administrative leave in the wake of the terrorist attack on an American diplomatic installation in Benghazi, Libya, can return to work, albeit at different jobs with less responsibility, according to the Washington Post.
Kerry was following the recommendations of the Accountability Review Board that found in a report released in December that none of the four employees actions were worthy of termination. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, released a statement calling the original suspension of the officials "more of a public relations strategy than a measured response to a failure in leadership," according to the Washington Post.
"Instead of accountability, the State Department offered a charade that included false reports of firings and resignations and now ends in a game of musical chairs where no one misses a single day on the State Department payroll," Issa said. "The Oversight Committee will expand its investigation of the Benghazi terrorist attack to include how a supposed 'Accountability Review Board' investigation resulted in a decision by Secretary Kerry not to pursue any accountability from anyone."
The four officials who are now cleared to return to work within the State Department are Diplomatic Security Chief Eric Boswell, security officials Charlene Lamb and Scott Bultrowicz and Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Maghreb Region Raymond Maxwell, according to CBS News.
"No explanation, no briefing, just come back to work. So I will go in tomorrow," Maxwell told the Daily Beast. "The overall goal is to restore my honor."
Maxwell considered the indefinite leave to be a punishment for his role in the incident that left four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, dead. Maxwell had filed grievances with the State Department's Human Resources Bureau and the American Foreign Service Association, according to the Daily Beast.
An official within the State Department explained that finding a resolution for the four officials on leave was a priority for Kerry since he took over for Hillary Clinton.
"As soon as he came in to the department, Secretary Kerry wanted to invest the time to review the ARB's findings and match those against his own on-the-job findings about security," the official told the Daily Beast. "He's been hands-on focused on building on the lessons learned from the Benghazi attack to strengthen security at missions worldwide and continue the ARB's security paradigm shift."
