State Officials Avoid Penalties Over Benghazi

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department has put four officials back to work after months of paid administrative leave for failures during last year's attack on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya, that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa said Tuesday that the officials will not be disciplined. State spokeswoman Marie Harf said they will be reassigned to new positions at the department.

The officials worked for the Bureau of Diplomatic Security and the Bureau of Near East Affairs. A State Department report singled out both bureaus for harsh criticism.

It said there was a lack of cooperation and confusion over protection at the mission in Benghazi, a city in eastern Libya that was relatively lawless after the revolution that toppled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.