Report of the Accountability Review Boards on the Embassy Bombings in Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam
Abstract
Pursuant to your mandate establishing Accountability Review Boards to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the August bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzani, the two Boards herewith submit their combined report. The two terrorist bombings resulted in the deaths of over 220 persons and injuries to more than 4,000 people. Twelve American USG employees and family members and 40 and an USG employees were among killed. Both chanceries and several other buildings were severely damaged or destroyed. The FBI investigation of criminal suspects in the attacks is ongoing. Having completed an extensive review in Washington, Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam, the Boards were most disturbed at two interconnected issues: first, the inadequacy of resources to provide against terrorist attacks and, second, the relative low priority accorded security concerns throughout the US government by the Department, other agencies in general, and on the part of many employees both in Washington and in the field. Saving lives and adequately addressing our security on a sustained basis must be given a higher priority by all those involved if we arc to prevent such tragedies in the future. The Boards did not find reasonable cause to believe that any employee of the United States Government or member of the uniformed services breached his or her duty in connection with the August 7 bombings. However, we believe there was a collective failure by several Administrations and Congresses over the past decade to invest adequate efforts and resources to reduce the vulnerability of US diplomatic missions around the world to terrorist attacks.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 08, 1999
- Accession Number
- AD1111703
Entities
Organizations
- foreign affairs ministry