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Did Eric Boswell Really Resign over Benghazi Fail? Define “Resign”
In one of her final acts as Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton accepted the “resignation” of her head of Diplomatic Security, Eric J. Boswell. Boswell was portrayed in the media as the highest ranking State Department official to lose his job over the security failures in Benghazi, Libya that lead to the deaths of four Americans. Clinton sold the resignation to Congress as a sign of accountability over decisions made and mistakes committed. Case closed, right?But did Boswell really “resign?” Or is he still employed by the Department of State?
Define “Resign”
Before his December 19, 2012 “resignation,” Boswell actually held two jobs: head of Diplomatic Security and Director of the Office of Foreign Missions (DS/OFM) at State. The former position held immediate responsibility for the safety of America’s diplomats abroad, while the latter job covered both the security and administrative needs of foreign diplomats in the U.S. As head of OFM, Boswell was responsible for the safety of say the French Embassy in Washington as well as the duty-free import of cars for the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.
His celebrated resignation was cleverly worded: he resigned as head of Diplomatic Security (Benghazi accountability!) only. In a December 19 statement, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she “has accepted Eric Boswell’s decision to resign as Assistant Secretary for Diplomatic Security, effective immediately.” When questioned about whether Boswell really left the State Department’s employ by a cowed media, State would only reissue the carefully crafted statement put out December 19. No one was interested in even a follow-up question– is Boswell still on State’s payroll?
Where’s Boswell?
So who is now head of the Office of Foreign Missions at State? Is it Boswell? Turns out that is a hard question to really answer.
Let’s start with the list of senior officials on the State Department website. That page lists the position of Director of the Office of Foreign Missions as vacant. No Boswell.
However, on the same main State Department site, a page from the Office of the Historian puts Boswell still in the job, as he has been, since 2008. Another page says he is still in the job. Hmm.
But, the page for the actual Office for Foreign Missions lists no personnel by name. Curiouser and curiouser.
The main State Department telephone directory lists no position at all as “Director of the Office of Foreign Missions.” That’s kind of odd, as the office should in fact have a Director, they all do, somebody. Boswell’s name also appears nowhere in the phone book. Hmmm.
Just Call Them
So, I just called up the Office of Foreign Missions at the number (202-647-3417) listed in that public directory for the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Foreign Missions, the titular number two person there. I spoke with someone named *****, and said I wanted to write a letter to the Director of the Office of Foreign Missions– to whom should I address it? She helpfully said “Eric Boswell.” I asked “Eric J. Boswell?” and she said yes. I asked what salutation/title I should use and she said “Director.” She then helpfully added “But Director Boswell does not often come in to the office so you should in fact contact the Deputy Assistant Secretary.” ***** would not give me her last name.
Then a concerned citizen still working at State told me on background that Boswell, thanks to a sweetheart deal with Under Secretary for Management Pat Kennedy after the Benghazi hearings, retains his salary and title but basically delegates all of his responsibilities as Director of the Office of Foreign Missions. He did “resign” from one titled position while cleverly keeping his other position, according to my source. Ka-ching!
Accountability for What?
About a week after Boswell “resigned” back in December 2012, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said she could not independently confirm a New York Post report claiming Eric Boswell, the assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security, remains at the State Department.
Ros-Lehtinen said “If these reports are correct, they’re pathetic examples of yet another ruse about the tragedy of Benghazi. State Department officials proclaimed to the world that heads would roll after the deception related to the deceitful video excuse and the non existent spontaneous protest outside the consulate. Now we see that the discipline is a lie and all that has happened is the shuffling of the deck chairs. That will in no way change [the] systemic failures of management and leadership in the State Department.”
Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, or any journalist, why not contact the Department of State and simply ask “Who is the Director of the Office of Foreign Missions?” and/or “Is Eric Boswell still employed by the Department of State?” Depending on the answers you receive, better follow-up with this question: If indeed no one lost their jobs over the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, exactly what accountability is there?
And do ask them how the term “resign” is actually defined at the State Department.
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Rich Bauer said...
1Hillary learned from the master what the definition of “is” is.
Besides, keeping Boz on the payroll buys his silence.
03/18/13 1:07 PM | Comment Link
meloveconsullongtime said...
2“Where’s Boswell?”
It’s an existential question with no answer, like Werner Herzog’s disturbing rendition of “Where’s Waldo?”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvWh6PMi9Ek
03/18/13 1:10 PM | Comment Link
Lafcadio said...
3No surprise here. Never figured Boswell to be the stand on principle type, unless the principle is that everyone in the senior foreign service keeps their jobs regardless of what happens.
Same thing with Maura Harty. Fired for the biggest passport debacle in U.S. history. Then CA hires her husband to a phony make work job, and then OIB hires her. This is the same bureau that has an award named after Mary Ryan, who was fired for her 9/11 deceptions.
You’d think some intrepid congress critter would tear into this stuff, particularly since the Boswell shennanigans are related to Bengazi.
One can always hope!
03/18/13 3:24 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
4Don’t you hate it when the liars in State make Lindsey Graham-cracker look like he knows what he is talking about?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/03/15/sen-graham-claims-benghazi-survivors-told-to-be-quiet-by-administration/
03/18/13 3:51 PM | Comment Link
Lafcadio said...
5R. Bauer: it does take a lot to make Lindsey “closet case” Graham to look good, but the fucked up State Department can do that.
Can’t blame the Ds guys for not talking. Pat Kennedy and the rest of the Black Dragons would descend on them like locists on a corn field.
03/18/13 5:28 PM | Comment Link
Lafcadio said...
6locusts
03/18/13 5:29 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
7The DS Flying Monkeys and the Black Dragons share a common interest in keeping their incompetence a State secret by scaring the crows working in the fields to keep silent. So they made PVB a scarecrow.
03/18/13 6:23 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
8Of course, State isn’t the only organization that wades in pigshit that threatens whistleblowers:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/18/business-lobby-moves-to-criminalize-filming-animal-abuse-on-factory-farms/
03/18/13 11:20 PM | Comment Link
Lafcadio said...
9This is one instance where contacting your local congresscritter and the unesteemed members of the press might help. Ask them why DS employees are afraid to talk about Bengazi? You might also ask why the Black Dragons think Eric Boswell was the only guy qualified to run DS (they put him in charge twice.Why????) Include the links to this post of PVB’s and his other Benghazi posts. Also include PVB’S and Whirled View’s Maura Harty posts.
Naturally, I’d do all this on the sly. Don’t even think about bringing any of this to State’s corrupt OIG if you work there and value you job.
03/19/13 9:51 AM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
10The Excalibur of our times is a Vegas magic act trick sword given to all who work high enough up in empire. The apparent career ending impalement is often enhanced by a secreted blood bag of well wishing. Why this grade school magic act of retracting blade into scabbard continues to fool the American audience is a puzzlement.
03/19/13 2:22 PM | Comment Link
pitchfork said...
11unquote:”Why this grade school magic act of retracting blade into scabbard continues to fool the American audience is a puzzlement.”
Curiouser and curiouser. I’d submit..because the CIA was “enhancing” their interrogation of “suspected” potential Gitmo additions right in the Embassy. At least, I DID read that within one day of the debacle, on a web page that has now “disappeared”. For all intents and purposes of the secrecy surrounding Benghazi, it fits like a glove, considering..ahem..”we don’t torture” was nailed on top of..”look forward..not backward”. If it is true, and ANY shred of evidence were to surface, Obomination would sink like the Titanic, bringing down DOS with it, not to mention enabling the UN War crime investigation to explode like a fucking 5.1 hurricane.
That would pretty much explain quite a few other curious tidbits..PVB’s post notwithstanding.
Add demonstrable lies by the hundreds, the Patraeus scandal, Clintons stonewalling Congress, not to mention her obvious health “delays”..and this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1333920/WikiLeaks-Hillary-Clinton-ordered-U-S-diplomats-spy-UN-leaders.html
to the mix..amongst others…well, it might not be so far fetched, eh?
Ok, well, that’s my hypothesis, and I’m sticking to it.:) Carry on.
03/19/13 5:03 PM | Comment Link
John Poole said...
12Pitch- I suspect that our so called consular building was indeed a torture setting. And Obama skates free,
03/19/13 11:10 PM | Comment Link
Rich Bauer said...
13At this point I am willing to believe anything…like this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/elizabeth-leigh-garner-cheerleader-sex-assault_n_2925540.html
03/21/13 7:28 PM | Comment Link
Goose said...
14@PVB: Since you have written about your experience with DS “investigators”, do you plan on commenting on the OIG report that found serious bias in investigative methods and an outdated manual? It is unbelievable that they can ruin careers but others can “resign” or be placed on PAID administrative leave. Does anyone care about this farce?
03/27/13 10:49 PM | Comment Link
wemeantwell said...
15Diplopundit has written on this issue at http://diplopundit.net/2013/03/20/stateoig-on-diplomatic-securitys-special-investigations-division-the-missing-firewall/ as have http://deadmenworking.blogspot.com/2013/03/newsflash-oig-does-and-honest-report-on.html
I may yet have something to say. It is a really sad state of affairs over at DS. In my own case, they were used as a State Dept Stasi to try to first dig up something to use to fire me and when that failed, harass me into quitting. Neither worked and I retired, showing that while DS is corrupt and heavily influenced by management, they aren’t even good at that.
03/27/13 11:19 PM | Comment Link
Even Jon Stewart is turning on obama. - Page 2 said...
16[…] FromSan Francisco CA Originally Posted by keymanjim What color is the sky in this little world you've created for yourself? Devil is hyper-partisan. He doesn't even see stuff like Eric Boswell, because he doesn't want to. Partisans don't want to look stuff like that squarely in the face. A hyper-partisan will call torture "torture", but he won't call treason "treason". Anyway – Eric Boswell – is still working. He never actually resigned from the State Department. That whole "four people resigned" thing was a ruse, it was a dog-'n'-pony show to convince the American People that someone was being held accountable. The first link is from when the "resignations" happened, the second one is current. State Dept. officials resign following Benghazi report – Political Eye – CBS News Did Eric Boswell Really Resign over Benghazi Fail? Define "Resign" | We Meant Well – Peter… […]
05/14/13 3:58 PM | Comment Link