No Surprise

The US defense secretary, Ash Carter, has decided not to impose further punishment on David Petraeus, a former US military commander and CIA director who admitted sharing classified information with his lover, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

[...]

Known as “black books,” the binders that Petraeus shared with Broadwell contained classified information including identities of covert officers, code word information, war strategy, intelligence capabilities, diplomatic talks and information from high-level White House National Security Council meetings, according to court records.

[...]

n April, the retired four-star general was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $100,000 but was spared prison time after pleading guilty to mishandling classified information.

  Guardian

Somehow I don't think that would work for you or me. Or Edward Snowden.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Petraeus Investigation - Continued

Major media, including NPR, made the David Petraeus scandal to be about prurient interests. Even Glenn Greenwald has made it to be about that when he thinks “the real scandal” is Petraeus prosecuting Obama's drone war. I have been waiting for someone to actually give us the story about why the FBI were investigating him in the first place, and to pick up the thread of Paula Broadwell's claims that we still have secret detention centers in Libya. Finally, the Washington Post is putting some of it together.

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

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.

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.

More Hogwallop

Republicans have criticised [UN ambassador Susan] Rice for going on a round of Sunday talk shows five days after the September 11 attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi and saying that preliminary information suggested it was the result of protests over an anti-Muslim film rather than a premeditated strike.

[...]

Obama said: "For them to go after the UN ambassador who had nothing to do with Benghazi, and was simply making a presentation based on intelligence that she had received, and to besmirch her reputation is outrageous."

[...]

Asked why, if Rice had nothing to do with Benghazi, she was sent on the talk shows to give the administration's point of view, White House spokesman Tommy Vietor told Reuters news agency: "It made sense to have Ambassador Rice, one of our most senior diplomats, speak about the critical work our diplomats do every day. "Ambassador Rice was also uniquely qualified to speak about the broader unrest in the region at the time."

  alJazeera

Uniquely? How about the President? The Secretary of State? The Secretary of Defense? The ambassadors to the region even?

So let me see if I can make some simple statements that clear that up: Ambassador Rice  (who really did have nothing to do with Benghazi) was sent out in front of the guns to tell the lie in hopes that no one would find out why the attacks really happened, and at least to keep the president or his spokesman, his secretaries of state and defense (anyone who DID have something to do with Benghazi) from being caught in the lie, and to take the fall if the truth did come out.  And/OR our intelligence is now so bad that we actually didn't have a clue and she was sent out to give those who should have known a cover.

And now we know that Petraeus' lover had classified documents on her computer that she somehow got without his assistance (if they are both to be believed), and that she was telling people the CIA still has detention centers – which Obama claims to have shut down - from which the Benghazi attackers were trying to retrieve detainees.

The House Intelligence Committee announced on Wednesday night that Petraeus would testify behind closed doors on Friday morning about Benghazi.

A little added benefit of Petraeus' resignation: his testimony will be given behind closed doors. The public hearing will include his replacement.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Petraeus Upate

Surprise. There really is more to the story.....

Paula Broadwell, the biographer whose affair with Petraeus led to his abrupt resignation Friday, alleged that the [Benghazi] assault, in which US ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed, was an attempt to free men being detained in a covert CIA annex. Speaking last month at the University of Denver, Broadwell further alleged that Petreaus knew about the secret holding cells.

[...]

In an answer to a question reading the CIA chief’s handling of the incident, the biographer said: “Now, I don’t know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually, um, 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. So that’s still being vetted.”

She added: “The challenging thing for General Petraeus is that in his new position, he’s not allowed to communicate with the press. So he’s known all of this – they had correspondence with the CIA station chief in, in Libya. Within 24 hours they kind of knew what was happening.”

The comments were recorded and posted in a YouTube clip which has since been taken down.

On Monday, the CIA was quick to shoot down Broadwell’s claims.

“Any suggestion that the agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless,” agency spokesman Preston Golson said.

  Raw Story

I'm sure. I'm sure.

There it is.  After all, didn't our president tell us that there are no more secret CIA holding cells?

Aaaaaaaaaand...the net sweep has caught another general.

And this just breaking...

F.B.I. agents interviewed Ms. Broadwell for the first time the week of Oct. 21, and she acknowledged the affair, a government official briefed on the matter said. She also voluntarily gave the agency her computer. In a search, the agents discovered several classified documents, which raised the additional question of whether Mr. Petraeus had given them to her. She said that he had not. Agents interviewed Mr. Petraeus the following week. He also admitted to the affair but said he had not given any classified documents to her.

  NYTimes

No, dears. This is not just about a sexual affair.

Although, it appears that the FBI agent Jill Kelly sicced on Paula Broadwell had sent "shirtless photos" of himself to Kelly at some previous point.  Lawsy, Miss Scarlet.