General Petraues - who cares?

[hannamaren]

So he had an affair, why is that related to his job?
Is it "bad judgment?" that could then lead to bad judgment in his job? because CEOs dont get fired for affairs.

Explain if you can.

[dexteroni]

I personally don't care, but adultery is a crime in the US military. The military can prosecute him if they want to, although IMO it would be stupid to do so.

[pamela]

It's CIA policy because it shows the person can be compromised. To be in that type of job you have to show impeccable judgement and avoid situations that can be used against you later. So yes, it makes more sense for him to lose his job than a politician over it.

[pamela]

Nov 12, 2012 11:20:35 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

I personally don't care, but adultery is a crime in the US military. The military can prosecute him if they want to, although IMO it would be stupid to do so.

He's not in the military anymore.

[atouchofklasse]

He could have been blackmailed to reveal sensitive information.

She may have had access to his secured email.

He could not be fired (by anyone but the President) but chose to resign.

[vanillacourage]

I believe the affair was with his biographer, and came to light when she was being investigated for illegally accessing his emails. So, affairs are against military rules and this one is especially bad and indicative of poor judgment.

[moolarkey]

He is retired military so the military can't touch him on this.

Adultery is wrong but I feel like I'm missing something on why this caused his resignation unless it's because he wasn't being honest. She should be in trouble if she was threatening people and it sounds like she was.

[dexteroni]

Nov 12, 2012 11:21:28 GMT -5 pamela said:

Nov 12, 2012 11:20:35 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

I personally don't care, but adultery is a crime in the US military. The military can prosecute him if they want to, although IMO it would be stupid to do so.

He's not in the military anymore.

Oh it didn't start until after he left? I guess I'm not up on the timeline of what happened when.

[hannamaren]

I didnt know about the emails, that should be the headline "biographer allowed access to sensitive emails" not "dude has an affair"

[luvmagoldn]

Nov 12, 2012 11:21:10 GMT -5 pamela said:

It's CIA policy because it shows the person can be compromised. To be in that type of job you have to show impeccable judgement and avoid situations that can be used against you later. So yes, it makes more sense for him to lose his job than a politician over it.

This is a great explanation. The head of the CIA has even tighter reporting requirements regarding their security clearances than your average cleared person.

Incredibly bad judgement in his case.

[sunny]

seriously?

because spies get you into bed and get you to share state secrets. obviously she wasn't, but she could have been a spy and he was friggin' head of the friggin' CIA. this woman had access to his gmail account and was sending threatening messages to another woman from his email account - clearly not a good judge of character or preserving his private information from her. and yes, military crime (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/punitivearticles/a/mcm1342.htm), potential misuse of government time and resources, etc. and when you have that kind of security clearance...not good. it shows a continuing poor judgment all around to have given this woman the access to him that she did. she was his biographer - I mean, she interviewed all the important people in his life about him and wrote a glowing book about him. as his wife, OMG I would be so pissed. I am getting off point, sorry, but yes, this put him in a very vulnerable position subject to blackmail and even without getting to that point, to allow her access to his email etc. is so wrong.

[msamyfarrahfowler]

I think there's definitely more to it. The timing of the resignation in light of the Benghazi incident and the election indicate a cover-up of some sort.

[heyrebekah]

Nov 12, 2012 11:22:46 GMT -5 vanillacourage said:

I believe the affair was with his biographer, and came to light when she was being investigated for illegally accessing his emails. So, affairs are against military rules and this one is especially bad and indicative of poor judgment.

Interesting!

Every time I see something about this I just think "Seriously, shouldn't the head of the freaking CIA know how to keep things like this under wraps?" Or better yet, just not have an affair in the first place of course. But if anyone should know how to not get caught!!

[bunnysmom]

I was wondering the same but, after reading some of your explanations, it makes sense.

[Velvetshady]

He was leading the CIA.

1) He had an affair--he put himself in a position where someone could potentially blackmail him. Knowingly putting yourself into that position should get you fired from the CIA--and for non-political appointees, it will, quickly.

2) She apparently had access to his e-mail. Yet another major security breach. Non-political appointees would be fired over that as well, quickly.


If he was the head of the EPA or FDA or Dept of Education, who gives a crap. He was the head of the CIA. He can not, should not, be leading an agency when no one, at any level, can trust his judgement anymore. People's lives depend on being able to absolutely trust each other in the CIA.

[mmp]

Nov 12, 2012 11:30:11 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

I think there's definitely more to it. The timing of the resignation in light of the Benghazi incident and the election indicate a cover-up of some sort.

[dexteroni]

Nov 12, 2012 11:34:32 GMT -5 heyrebekah said:

Seriously, shouldn't the head of the freaking CIA know how to keep things like this under wraps?" Or better yet, just not have an affair in the first place of course. But if anyone should know how to not get caught!!

Yes! I was surprised that there were racy or otherwise revealing emails. He of anyone should know that emails are never really deleted.

[thedutchgirl]

Wait, where are people reading she had access to his email? She sent emails from her own account harassing that other woman and Patraeus sent her emails from a personal account.

[dexteroni]

Nov 12, 2012 11:47:45 GMT -5 thedutchgirl said:

Wait, where are people reading she had access to his email? She sent emails from her own account harassing that other woman and Patraeus sent her emails from a personal account.

I'm glad you asked this. I thought I had missed something else because I hadn't read this anywhere either.

[ijack]

I care because we had the opportunity to make a lot of money off this damn affair and my husband took the high road. booooo!!

[dexteroni]

Nov 12, 2012 11:53:29 GMT -5 ijack said:

we had the opportunity to make a lot of money off this damn affair

How?

[SJ]

So odd. As soon as this story broke my boss said "Oh I bet it was with his biographer!" because she had seen the woman speak on a book tour and thought they were oddly close.

[luvmagoldn]

Careful what you put on the interwebs. I sense a security violation coming.....

[ijack]

Nov 12, 2012 11:54:47 GMT -5 dexteroni said:

Nov 12, 2012 11:53:29 GMT -5 ijack said:

we had the opportunity to make a lot of money off this damn affair

How?

H had photos of her that everyone was trying to get their hands on this weekend. But it could have damaged a relationship with a client so he opted not to sell them. I know it was the right thing to do, but when news agencies are saying "name your price" it's hard not to see dollar signs.

[sunny]

here it says the FBI investigated after this woman received emails from Petraeus's gmail account:

"It is also claimed that Broadwell used Petraeus' own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero's own account - indicating an affair."

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2231411/David-Petraeus-scandal-Jill-Kelley-revealed-woman-complained-FBI-Paula-Broadwell.html

also (just posted this in ML) - that Broadwell last week at a university lecture leaked details of the Benghazi mess (a videotaped lecture):

'Now I don’t know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually - had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back,' she said, according to the Daily Beast. 'So that's still being vetted.'

In response, the CIA denied that claim on Sunday when the tape of Broadwell's talk surfaced, saying that it was not true. The agency confirmed that since 2009 they have not had the authority to detain prisoners.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2231734/David-Petraeus-scandal-Paula-Broadwell-leaked-secret-details-Benghazi-probe-speech-emerges-Petraeus-testify-hearing.html

[salbert79]

Nov 12, 2012 11:30:11 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

I think there's definitely more to it. The timing of the resignation in light of the Benghazi incident and the election indicate a cover-up of some sort.

:Y:

[luvmagoldn]

Wow....just as bad.

[atouchofklasse]

What sunny said.

[jennistarr1]

Nov 12, 2012 12:00:23 GMT -5 salbert79 said:

Nov 12, 2012 11:30:11 GMT -5 msamyfarrahfowler said:

I think there's definitely more to it. The timing of the resignation in light of the Benghazi incident and the election indicate a cover-up of some sort.

I think this is the more concerning aspect

[thedutchgirl]

Wait, where are people reading she had access to his email? She sent emails from her own account harassing that other woman and Patraeus sent her emails from a personal account.