Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Thursday that she would be putting together a panel to investigate the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic workers at the American consulate in Benghazi, according to Reuters.

The U.S. has placed responsibility for the attack on local militants, but many questions remain as to how a high-value target such as the American ambassador could have been left so unprotected given the loose nature of law enforcement and central authority in post-Gadhafi Libya. As is usually required by law when someone has been killed or seriously injured at a U.S. diplomatic installation, a panel, with four members chosen by the secretary of state and one by the intelligence agencies, will be tasked with determining which mistakes were made, and writing a report that lays out the results of their investigation and includes recommendations to help prevent a similar tragedy from taking place.

The FBI will be launching its own separate probe into the attack. The killings in Libya, a country the United States played an instrumental role in liberating, sparked feelings of betrayal from many politicians who suggested substantially pulling back America's financial investment in the region in retaliation, as The Hill reports. In response to this type of sentiment, Sec. Clinton gave legislators a classified briefing on the security situation in the Middle East, making the case for the U.S. to remain engaged and influential in the region, according to Reuters.

 

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of Libya here.

Reach Executive Producer Matt Pressberg here.