Email calls Clinton 'public face of US effort in Libya'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is referred to as the “public face of the U.S. effort in Libya” in a 2012 memo written by Jake Sullivan, a top Clinton aide at the State Department.

The email was written months before the attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi that killed four Americans.

Sullivan’s April 2012 memo detailed Clinton’s role in Libya, framing her as “instrumental in securing the authorization, building the coalition, and tightening the noose around Qadhafi and his regime.”

It notes Clinton’s role in those efforts, including her work lobbying for United Nations sanctions against the dictator and working with coalition forces around the NATO mission to intervene in the Libyan civil war.

One of those accomplishments is the March appointment of Ambassador Chris Stevens to Benghazi, one of the four Americans killed in the attack.

The memo highlights the shift in perception of America’s role in Libya between the successful removal of dictator Moammar Gadhafi and the Benghazi attacks. Before those attacks, many saw Clinton’s work in Libya as one of her crowning achievements at State. But that’s since been overshadowed by Benghazi, which has sparked intense criticism from her Republican foes, and the ongoing turmoil in Libya.

The State Department released the email as part of the first release of messages from Clinton’s private server.

Republicans have chastised her for exclusively using a private email address housed on a personal server while at State, accusing her of trying to circumvent future disclosure and potentially putting sensitive information at risk.

Clinton lauded the release of the emails during a brief media availability on the campaign trail in New Hampshire. But Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) called the emails part of a “self-selected public record” because Clinton’s team deleted thousands of emails it deemed personal from the server before turning the rest over to State.

These are the duties of a SOS - where does what Hillary did in regards to Libya fit in here? What other SOS have we ever had that manipulated and meddled in other country’s affairs that led to war/uprising/murder of our citizens in that country?

Created in 1789 by the Congress as the successor to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of State is the senior executive Department of the U.S. Government. The Secretary of State’s duties relating to foreign affairs have not changed significantly since then, but they have become far more complex as international commitments multiplied. These duties — the activities and responsibilities of the State Department — include the following:
•Serves as the President’s principal adviser on U.S. foreign policy;
•Conducts negotiations relating to U.S. foreign affairs;
•Grants and issues passports to American citizens and exequaturs to foreign consuls in the United States;
•Advises the President on the appointment of U.S. ambassadors, ministers, consuls, and other diplomatic representatives;
•Advises the President regarding the acceptance, recall, and dismissal of the representatives of foreign governments;
•Personally participates in or directs U.S. representatives to international conferences, organizations, and agencies;
•Negotiates, interprets, and terminates treaties and agreements;
•Ensures the protection of the U.S. Government to American citizens, property, and interests in foreign countries;
•Supervises the administration of U.S. immigration laws abroad;
•Provides information to American citizens regarding the political, economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian conditions in foreign countries;
•Informs the Congress and American citizens on the conduct of U.S. foreign relations;
•Promotes beneficial economic intercourse between the United States and other countries;
•Administers the Department of State;
•Supervises the Foreign Service of the United States.

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