The panel set up by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to look into the circumstances that led to the attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, has submitted its report, a State Department official said today.

The Accountability Review Board (ARB) led by Tom Pickering, the former US Ambassador, and Adm (Rtd) Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, submitted their report to Clinton today, her spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, told presspersons at her daily news conference.

“The ARB has completed its work. Its report has gone to the Secretary this morning; she now has it,” she said.

Pickering and Mullen are expected to brief two key Congressional committees — the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee — on Wednesday, in a closed door meeting.

A day later two of Clinton’s top aides would appear before the two Congressional committees in an open session.

The report — which has both the classified and unclassified parts — would be submitted to the Congress before Wednesday.

Clinton was earlier scheduled to brief the Congressional committee, but because of her illness it would now be done by senior State Department officials.

In a letter to the leadership of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Clinton thanks them for their understanding and promised to remain engaged with them in January on this issue.

“It was her intention to be there. If she had not been ill, she would be there. She has also committed, including in a letter today to the committee chairmen, that she looks forward to having an ongoing conversation with them herself,” Nuland said.

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