"I appreciate that you and your committee are deeply interested in finding out what happened leading up to and during the attacks in Benghazi, and are looking for ways to prevent it from happening again. I share that commitment," Clinton wrote
in the letter, obtained by
The Cable. "Nobody will hold this department more accountable than we hold ourselves -- we served with
Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, and
Tyrone Woods."
Clinton said that the State Department's Accountability Review Board will begin work this week and the letter revealed the names of all five board members. In addition to former Deputy Secretary of State
Thomas Pickering, who will lead the board, the other members will be former Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm.
Mike Mullen (ret.),
Catherine Bertini, Hugh Turner, and
Richard Shinnick.
Clinton asked Issa to withhold any final conclusions about the Benghazi attack until the review board finishes its work and reports to Congress, which could come as early as November or as late as early next year. She pledged to work with Issa's committee and asked him to submit any requests for information or witnesses at hearings to the State Department's Office of Legislative Affairs.
Clinton was responding
to a Monday letter from Issa,
first reported by
The Daily Beast, claiming that committee had received information "from individuals with direct knowledge of the events in Libya" that the Sept. 11 attack was "the latest in a long line of attacks" on Western diplomatic assets in Benghazi.
