Follow-up Congressional Letter 1

Thank you for your letter regarding US foreign assistance.  I welcome your support for continued US engagement in the Middle East.  However, as a retired Foreign Service officer, I am more concerned with the State Department’s operations budget than the foreign assistance budget

I think that lack of funds or uncertainty about funds was a major consideration in State’s decision not to provide more security to the consulate in Benghazi, resulting in the death of Ambassador Stevens.  The whole mess with the US budget and the “fiscal cliff” was a major factor leading to his death.  In all the investigations into his death and all the finger pointing, some of those fingers should point at Congress