Since the September 11 attack at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Congressional leadership — especially the House Oversight Committee— has consistently demanded that the State Department release files that would help clear the air regarding what exactly occurred.
It appears that today that some lawmakers will finally get the answers they are looking for.
Foreign Policy is reporting that specific legislators will be privy to information previously hidden from them: diplomatic cables, official documents, what have you. Sensitive documents have already been leaked to the senate and the mainstream media, so it is possible that State is trying to crack down.
In response to multiple information requests from Senator John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, State Department Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs David Adams wrote Kerry the following:
"To facilitate your committee's work, we want to offer you and other members of the committee the opportunity to review these cables and memoranda. This set of material contains classified and other sensitive information... Mindful of these concerns, the Department is prepared to make copies of these documents available for the committee's in camera review."
You can read the full letter here.
However, a senior Republican aide told FP that State is only making the documents available for viewing today and tomorrow in DC. "Funny since no member is in town," the tipster noted. "The timing and limited access clearly demonstrates the administration cares more about playing politics with the tragedy than accepting responsibility."
Congress is gearing up for a full week of hearings related to the attack.
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