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‘Unproductive,’ ‘unfair,’ ‘unfortunate': Pentagon official scolds House Benghazi committee

A top Defense Department official is criticizing the House Benghazi committee’s investigation as wasteful and inefficient, while questioning whether the panel’s final report will be based in fact.

In a letter to the committee Thursday, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs Stephen Hedger charged Republican investigators with employing a variety of “unproductive” tactics, including “continuous threats” to subpoena Pentagon employees, “multiple and changing requests” to the department and interviews that prompt speculation by witnesses.

“While I understand your stated intent is to conduct the most comprehensive review of the attack and response, Congress has as much an obligation as the Executive Branch to use federal resources and taxpayer dollars effectively and efficiently,” Hedger wrote.

“The Department is working diligently to accommodate your staff’s multiple and changing requests; however, we are concerned by the continuous threats from your staff to subpoena witnesses because we are not able to move quickly enough to accommodate these new requests,” Hedger wrote. “Subpoenaing our service members, when the Department is working diligently to accommodate your requests and when no service member has refused to appear voluntarily, is unfair to our uniformed men and women.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/04/29/unproductive-unfair-unfortunate-pentagon-official-scolds-house-benghazi-committee/