A federal investigation of how David H. Petraeus’s biographer obtained numerous classified records is focusing on whether the retired general’s staff gave her sensitive documents at his instruction, according to federal officials familiar with the inquiry.
Petraeus aides and other high-ranking military officials were often tasked by Petraeus and other top commanders to provide military records and other documents to Paula Broadwell for her work as Petraeus’s biographer, former staff members and other officials told The Washington Post.
[...]
Petraeus and Broadwell have told FBI investigators that Petraeus did not provide her with classified information, law enforcement officials said. Attorneys for the two declined to respond to specific questions for this article, as did Broadwell’s spokeswoman, Dee Dee Myers of the Glover Park Group. FBI officials also declined to comment.
[...]
Broadwell turned over her computer to the FBI in late summer, and agents discovered that it contained low-level classified material. On Nov. 12, the FBI searched her home in Charlotte and carried away additional evidence that she had classified documents, law enforcement officials said.
The documents have been described as sensitive but relatively benign. Officials who have been briefed on them said they were mostly schedules and PowerPoint presentations classified as “secret.”
[...]
One former Defense Department official said that when staff members at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul questioned Broadwell’s access to certain classified records, she assured them that Petraeus had approved her seeing the material.
[...]
Those close to Petraeus’s inner circle said Broadwell could have easily collected classified briefing materials distributed during meetings that were not supposed to leave the secure facilities where such conferences take place. Because of her unusual status, she probably would not have been subject to a search when leaving military offices, they said.
[...]
A former colleague of Broadwell’s told The Post last week that he received a disk from Broadwell that contained documents marked “secret,” including schedules for Petraeus and other high-ranking officers and military PowerPoints.
The level of sensitivity of the records Broadwell obtained is unclear. President Obama said at a news conference last week that he had seen no evidence that the release of these records “in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security.”
But even low-level classified records typically cannot be kept on someone’s personal computer or in their home.
WaPo
Petraeus aides and other high-ranking military officials were often tasked by Petraeus and other top commanders to provide military records and other documents to Paula Broadwell for her work as Petraeus’s biographer, former staff members and other officials told The Washington Post.
[...]
Petraeus and Broadwell have told FBI investigators that Petraeus did not provide her with classified information, law enforcement officials said. Attorneys for the two declined to respond to specific questions for this article, as did Broadwell’s spokeswoman, Dee Dee Myers of the Glover Park Group. FBI officials also declined to comment.
[...]
Broadwell turned over her computer to the FBI in late summer, and agents discovered that it contained low-level classified material. On Nov. 12, the FBI searched her home in Charlotte and carried away additional evidence that she had classified documents, law enforcement officials said.
The documents have been described as sensitive but relatively benign. Officials who have been briefed on them said they were mostly schedules and PowerPoint presentations classified as “secret.”
[...]
One former Defense Department official said that when staff members at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul questioned Broadwell’s access to certain classified records, she assured them that Petraeus had approved her seeing the material.
[...]
Those close to Petraeus’s inner circle said Broadwell could have easily collected classified briefing materials distributed during meetings that were not supposed to leave the secure facilities where such conferences take place. Because of her unusual status, she probably would not have been subject to a search when leaving military offices, they said.
[...]
A former colleague of Broadwell’s told The Post last week that he received a disk from Broadwell that contained documents marked “secret,” including schedules for Petraeus and other high-ranking officers and military PowerPoints.
The level of sensitivity of the records Broadwell obtained is unclear. President Obama said at a news conference last week that he had seen no evidence that the release of these records “in any way would have had a negative impact on our national security.”
But even low-level classified records typically cannot be kept on someone’s personal computer or in their home.
WaPo
Obviously, however, all the way up to the Commander in Chief, Broadwell and Petraeus are being covered. If there is an investigation, Obama has just cleared them pre-trial (sort of like he declared Bradley Manning guilty pre-trial, only the reverse). Whatever happened to “I can't discuss the case while it's under investigation”?
On Nov. 12, FBI agents searched Broadwell’s Charlotte home while she was with her family in Washington. They removed dozens of boxes of records as well as computer disks and multiple central processing units, which store the deeper memories of desktop computers. Broadwell has been cooperating with the investigation.
Two days after the FBI search at her home, the Army suspended Broadwell’s [“top secret”] security clearance.
Two days after the FBI search at her home, the Army suspended Broadwell’s [“top secret”] security clearance.
Business Insider says it is “apparently common for clearances to be suspended during investigations.”
I'm still waiting for someone to pick up the trail of the possible secret detention centers.
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