Sen. Johnny Isakson (R., Ga.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday on CNN that the independent review of the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi revealed failures in the chain of command in the State Department.
"It's quite obvious the State Department recognized early on this was not a spontaneous attack," Isakson said. "It was a militia attack and four Americans lost their lives, and to a certain extent, we don't know what extent yet, the State Department failed in its duty to protect those mission officers."
Asked if Congress had any blame for not providing adequate funding for security, Isakson added there needs to be a "cost-benefit analysis" with a focus on safety above all else.
"They do blame Congress but quite frankly, before this report was finished, they had already implemented additional security in at least 19 missions around the world that are high-danger zones," Isakson said. "I think this was a failure of a standard of duty on the part of the State Department, not a failure of Congress ... The benefit for investing money is in saving lives, not in having parties or doing trips, so I want to see the standard of care they did, looking for the cost-benefit analysis, before I accept any blame on behalf of Congress for not funding enough money for the security of our diplomats."