The tricky nature of investigating Gen. Allen's emails

Security Clearance/ By Barbara Starr

A U.S. official familiar with the content of the e-mails Gen. John Allen sent to Jill Kelley described them as "embarrassing" and warranting the investigation that has been launched.

"They are embarrassing. If they got out, John Allen would be very embarrassed by them," according to the official, who emphasized that there is no evidence of "physical contact between the two."

The official noted that the e-mails that are under investigation - which have been called "potentially inappropriate" - are from Allen. It is Allen's e-mails that are under investigation, and the official did not know the content of any of Kelley's e-mails to Allen.

"The e-mails are concerning enough to warrant an investigation," the official said.

A second U.S. official, who has had the e-mails described to him, characterized the content as "sexy," but emphasized he could not say whether they "crossed the line."

They "are not the type of e-mails you would want your wife to read," the second official explained.

But a senior official close to Allen told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh Tuesday that there was nothing pointing or referring to sex or an affair or anything of a romantic nature. Allen may have said, informally, "thanks sweetheart" in an e-mail, the official close to Allen insisted.

"Anyone who knows him knows his style - he has a habit of replying to every single e-mail (he is sent). Kelley would e-mail his business and personal accounts," that official said.

It will be up to the Defense Department’s inspector general to decide specifically if the content of the e-mails is so inappropriate that they would be considered conduct unbecoming an officer, according to a third source, a senior U.S. official. This official pointed out this may be a very difficult matter to decide because everyone has a personal definition of what is "affectionate, admiration, all the way to what some might define as sexting."

Will Petraeus drop Benghazi bombshell?

WND/ Joe Kovacs

independentsentinel.com

PALM BEACH, Fla. – With some speculating that former CIA Director David Petraeus may be under a blackmail threat from the Obama administration, radio giant Rush Limbaugh is not expecting the general to contradict his testimony about the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi when he testifies before Congress this week.

Petraeus resigned his position at the CIA three days after Obama was re-elected, citing an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

“It’s a reasonable thing to think he might have been blackmailed over this,” Limbaugh said Wednesday afternoon. “And it’s reasonable to think he might have wanted to get out from under the blackmail by resigning, and so now everybody’s waiting with baited breath for his testimony.”

On Sept. 13, Petraeus testified to Congress about the 9/11 attack in Benghazi, going along with original claims by President Obama and his aides that the violence erupted in reaction to an anti-Muslim video. The onslaught killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

Since then, administration officials have said it was a terrorist attack designed specifically for the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on New York and Washington, D.C.

“If Petraeus goes in there and says anything different than what he said on September 13th, do you know the world of hurt that he’s in?” said Limbaugh.

“He’s going to the get the question, ‘Were you lying then or were you lying now?’ … ‘Are we to believe you now, or are we to believe you then?’”

Petraeus is expected to testify behind closed doors for members of Congress, possibly Thursday and/or Friday, but Limbaugh expects nothing new to be said.

He explained: “If you have some hope or prayer that there’s gonna be some huge treasure trove of ‘Gotcha Obama’ from Petraeus’ testimony, it isn’t going to happen. A, he’s not gonna commit perjury, he’s not gonna say something different than he said last time; and B, whatever they’ve got on him, they’ve got on him.

“They were able to kick him out of office, they were able to blackmail him, do whatever with this affair business. They kept it. They knew what was going on. They held it in check until they needed it. But the idea that somehow Obama’s going to be made to take the hit on this Benghazi thing, it isn’t gonna happen. The Democrats get away with it. That’s the lesson. No dispute will be finished and resolved until the Democrats win it.”

Limbaugh concluded: “There is not gonna be one kernel of truth of what happened at Benghazi come out of any of this. It ain’t going to happen. I mean within two weeks of Obama being re-elected, you think they’re going to open the doors and the floodgates for people to go in and get to Obama? It isn’t gonna happen. … You have to understand what’s going on here, folks. There is a circle-the wagon operation around Barack Obama that nobody’s gonna penetrate. That is abundantly clear.”

Infidelity, intrigue and politics: a timeline of the David Petraeus case

Mandel Ngan / AFP - Getty Images

A June 23, 2011, file photo shows Paula Broadwell, second from left, watching as Gen. David Petraeus and his wife, Holly Petraeus arrive for a Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on Petraeus' nomination to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

By Mike Brunker
NBC News

What began with David Petraeus’ surprise resignation as CIA director on Friday resulting from an extramarital affair has now spiraled into a complicated story of infidelity, intrigue and politics.

Petraeus’ admission of an extramarital affair quickly led to his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and an examination of her relationship with the decorated war hero. The length of the FBI’s investigation of “menacing” emails sent to Petraeus’ family friend Jill Kelley, and the timing of the announcement of his departure from the Obama administration fueled conspiracy theories. Then Gen. John Allen, Petraeus’ successor as military commander in Afghanistan, was embroiled in the scandal, accused by U.S. officials of sending “inappropriate” emails to Kelley.

To help you keep the facts straight, NBC News has compiled this timeline, based on reporting by NBC News and other published accounts:

Spring 2006 -- Paula Broadwell meets Gen. David Petraeus, when she introduces herself after he gave a speech at Harvard's Kennedy School, where Broadwell was working on a master's degree, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

October 2008 -- Petraeus takes over as head of U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base. While serving there, he reportedly meets Jill Kelley and her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley. She is described in various accounts as a volunteer “social liaison” between the community and the base.

2008 -- Broadwell begins her doctoral dissertation, "a case study of General Petraeus’ leadership," according to Rolling Stone magazine.  

June 2009 -- Broadwell and her husband, Scott, purchase a home in Charlotte, N.C., the Charlotte Observer reports. 

June 2010 -- Petraeus is named as replacement for Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top commander in Afghanistan after the latter makes impolitic remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter. Broadwell decides to turn her dissertation into a book.  

July 2010-July 2011 – According to an online biography of Broadwell that was taken down after Petraeus’ resignation, she made multiple trips to Afghanistan during this period, where she “embedded with the general, his headquarters staff and his soldiers on the front lines of fighting across Afghanistan to chronicle the experiences of this American general as they are brought to bear in the terrible crucible of war.”  

Aug. 31, 2011 -- Petraeus retires from the U.S. Army, departs Afghanistan.

Sept. 6, 2011 -- Petraeus takes over as director of the CIA.

Steven Boylan, a former spokesman for Gen. David Petraeus, discusses how the affair with biographer Paula Broadwell started, saying the general is "embarrassed and keenly aware of the hurt and pain he's caused."

Early November 2011 – According to former Petraeus spokesman Steve Boylan, who had spoken to his former boss after his resignation, Petraeus' affair with  Broadwell began around this time,  approximately two months after he took the CIA job.

January 2012 – “All In, The Education of General David Petraeus,” by Paula Broadwell with Vernon Loeb is published by Penguin Press.

May 2012 – “Menacing” emails – five to 10 of them, according to the Wall Street Journal -- began arriving in Jill Kelley's inbox, NBC’s Michael Isikoff and Pete Williams report. 

Emails on 'comings and goings' of Petraeus, other military officials escalated FBI concerns

T.Ortega Gaines / Charlotte Observer via Reuters

Paula Broadwell is pictured before embarking on a national book tour to promote "All In," her biography of Gen. David Petraeus.

June 2012 – The FBI investigation begins. A source close to Kelley tells Isikoff that she took the emails, which she viewed as harassing or menacing, to the FBI. The source said the anonymous emails didn’t mention Petraeus by name, but subsequent emails – sent from multiple alias accounts -- contained references to the "comings and goings" of high-level military officials -- including events that were not on any public schedule. This raised the question as to whether somebody had access to sensitive -- and classified -- information about the CIA director.

July 2012 – Approximate end of the affair between Broadwell and Petraeus, according to former Petraeus spokesman Steve Boylan, who  tells NBC’s Kristen Welker in early November that it ended “about four months ago.”
Late  summer -- Attorney General Eric Holder is told that agents have discovered an email link between Petraeus and Broadwell, which included exchange of “explicit details of a sexual nature,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
September – FBI agents interview Paula Broadwell for first time, NBC’s Pete Williams reports.

Oct. 27  -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor speaks to an FBI agent who had worked on the Petraeus investigation, according to Cantor spokesman Doug Heye. The agent-- who had originally contacted Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican from Washington -- raised concerns that "sensitive information" relating to Petraeus may have been "compromised," Heye said. The timing of the tip to Reichert is not clear.  

Week of Oct. 29 – FBI agents interview Petraeus and Broadwell (for a second time), according to NBC’s Michael Isikoff.

Approximately Oct. 30-31 – Somewhere around this time frame, Petraeus traveled to Tripoli to conduct his own personal inquiry into Benghazi, according to author Bob Woodward, appearing on "Meet the Press" on Nov. 11. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell confirmed that Petraeus had recently traveled to Libya.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell and the Washington Post's Bob Woodward visit Meet the Press to examine the fallout from CIA chief David Petraeus' extramarital affair.

Oct. 31 – After conferring with his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, and Richard Cullen, a former attorney general of Virginia, Cantor had Stombres call the FBI chief of staff to relay the information he had received from the FBI agent, NBC News has reported.

Nov. 1 -- Cantor aide Steve Stombres is told by the FBI that it cannot confirm or deny an investigation, but the bureau official assured the leader's office it was acting to protect national security.

Nov. 2 – The FBI concludes its investigation, according to NBC News’ Michael Isikoff, citing senior U.S. law enforcement official; the  last FBI interviews with both Broadwell and Petraeus also took place this day, NBC’s  Pete Williams reports, citing federal officials.

Nov. 6 – Justice Department informs Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Nov. 7 – Clapper informs the White House.

Nov. 8 –  Petraeus calls White House Deputy Chief of Staff Thomas Donilon and asks to see the president, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. The White House tells Obama of the FBI investigation of Petraeus and his admission of an extramarital affair.

Nov. 9 – Obama accepts Petraeus’ resignation; Senate and House leaders first learn of it from media calls. They then speak to Petraeus, but don’t hear directly from the president, Mitchell reported.

Nov. 11 – Jill Kelley and her husband, Scott, issue statement: "We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."

Afghanistan military commander Gen. John Allen investigated for 'inappropriate' emails

FBI agents carry boxes and a computer from the home of Paula Broadwell in Charlotte, N.C./ Chuck Burton-AP

Nov. 12 – In a surprise statement during a trip to Australia, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announces that U.S. General John Allen, who succeeded Petraeus as military commander in Afghanistan, is under investigation over allegations he exchanged “inappropriate” emails with Kelley, the woman who triggered the investigation of Petraeus. Meanwhile, FBI agents carry out a four-hour “consensual search” of Broadwell’s home in Charlotte, N.C., leaving with eight to 10 cardboard boxes.

Defense official fires back, denies Afghanistan commander exchanged 'inappropriate' emails

By NBC News staff/

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Updated 4 p.m. ET: Allegedly “inappropriate” emails between U.S. Gen. John Allen and the woman who sparked the investigation into CIA Director David Petraeus do not signify the two had an affair, a defense official told NBC News on Tuesday.

“There was no affair,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.  The emails in question could be misconstrued, the official said, predicting that the investigation will prove Allen’s innocence.

Allen, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, is under investigation over allegations that he exchanged “inappropriate” emails with Jill Kelley, a senior defense official told reporters earlier Tuesday.

A difference of opinion appeared to be brewing at the Pentagon about how to characterize the emails, with another official calling them flirtatious.

Kelley, a Tampa, Fla., woman who has acted as a volunteer “social liaison” with military officials at MacDill Air Force Base,  inadvertently launched the investigation that led to Petraeus’ resignation by complaining to the FBI about anonymous emails she received.  FBI agents traced the allegedly threatening emails to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer. 

Emails on 'coming and goings' of Petraeus, other military officials escalated FBI concerns

During the investigation, agents discovered emails between Petraeus and Broadwell that were indicative of an extramarital affair between them, according to government and law enforcement officials.

Petraeus, who was appointed 14 months ago to head the Central Intelligence Agency, announced his resignation on Friday, citing an extramarital affair.

Word of the investigation into Gen. Allen’s involvement came early Tuesday, when U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta issued a statement during a flight to Australia for a meeting with defense officials there, saying that  the FBI had referred “a matter involving" Allen to the Department of Defense's Inspector General.

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Glenn on Petraeus scandal: "They used him. Manipulated him. Now they're exposing him"

On TheBlaze Monday night, Glenn took a hard look at the weekend’s biggest news: the resignation of CIA Director General David Petraeus. While Petraeus has cited an extramarital affair as the reason for his resignation, Glenn found the timing almost unbelievable. The news broke only three days after the election and one week before Petraeus was set to testify before Congress.

Two weeks ago, Glenn went on Pat & Stu and predicted it would be General Petraeus taking the blame for Libyan incident.

On his show, Glenn took a hard look at the circumstances surrounding Petraeus’s scandal. A few years ago, Petraeus was one of the most respected figures in America and considered by many as a future Republican superstar and potential presidential candidate. Because of his status, he could easily have been a threat to the Democrats and progressives. But in recent years and months, he’s been isolated and even put in a position to fail.

“Why would you send Petraeus to the CIA and send your CIA Director to the Pentagon?” Glenn asked. Glenn said Petraeus would have been much better at the Pentagon and Leon Panetta was not a sensible choice for the position.

He further noted that reports have emerged that members of the Obama administration knew about the affair while he was being vetted for the CIA Director job, although the White House claims they did not know about the affair. Glenn found this hard to believe, and said that if they did not know everyone involved with the vetting needed to be fired.

“This is Benghazi all over again. Gross incompetence or massive cover-up.”

The scandal will only damage Petraeus’s credibility, and Glenn believes if he does testify on Benghazi it may be too late because of the loss of his reputation.

He further explained that if the White House knew about the affair, they could knowingly put him in a position where he would be forced to take the fall for a scandal like Libya.

David Petraeus Scandal Spreads to General John Allen

MidweekPolitics --The CIA Director David Petraeus scandal grows, now involving General John Allen, under investigation for "inappropriate communications" with a woman said to have received threatening emails from Petraeus' mistress, Paula Broadwell.

FBI agents search Broadwell's home

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Emails on ’coming and goings’ of Petraeus, other military officials escalated FBI concerns

By Michael Isikoff and Bob Sullivan
NBC News

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New in this version: FBI search Paula Broadwell's home Monday night; officials say the FBI agent who worked with Jill Kelley, the Tampa, Fla. woman who received anonymous emails from Broadwell, was dismissed from case because he became obsessed with Kelley.

Updated at 11:36 p.m. ET: “Menacing” anonymous emails that launched the FBI investigation which ultimately brought down CIA Director David Petraeus contained references to the “comings and goings” of high-level U.S. military officials, raising concerns that someone had improperly gained access to sensitive and classified information, a source close to the recipient tells NBC News.

The first email sent anonymously to Jill Kelley, the Tampa, Fla., woman who reported the threatening emails to the FBI, in May referred to Kelley socializing with other generals in the Tampa area and suggested it was inappropriate and should stop, according to the source close to Kelley, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity.

After Kelley alerted the FBI, agents began pursuing it as a possible case of cyber harassment or stalking. "The thought was she was being followed," the source said.

The anonymous emails continued -- sent from multiple alias accounts -- and some later ones in the sequence contained references to Petraeus, though not by name, the source said.

What most alarmed Kelley and the FBI, the source said, were references to "the comings and goings" of high-level generals from the U.S. Central Command, which is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and the U.S. Southern Command, as well as Petraeus -- including events that were not on any public schedule. This raised the question as to whether somebody had access to sensitive -- and classified -- information.

Moreover, the sender of the emails had "covered her tracks pretty well," the source said.

 

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More >>

Behind the email trail that brought down General Petraeus

Bill Clinton who served as the 42nd President of the United States was not forced out by one of the biggest sex scandals, then how can be forced to resign as CIA director General Petraeus? There is only one rational explanation: Next week General Petraeus would have to testify in U.S. Congress about an attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi.

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The Verge/  Adi Robertson

On November 9th, David Petraeus stepped down as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, after an FBI investigation revealed an affair with biographer Paula Broadwell. His departure was sudden, and while an official resigning over infidelity didn’t break any new ground, the investigation was far more unusual. Initial reports said that the FBI had believed someone else to be accessing Petraeus’ personal Gmail account and began monitoring it, uncovering the affair in the process. Some questions have been resolved as more details emerged, but the surrounding story remains murky, touching on security issues, petty rivalries, and the risks of communicating through "anonymous" channels that are ultimately anything but.

Why was the FBI monitoring Petraeus' email? Well, it may not have been

One of the biggest initial questions was why the FBI had been checking Petraeus’ email at all. It’s now believed he wasn’t the original target, and it’s not even clear that he was being monitored. The bureau was actually investigating anonymous threats to Jill Kelley, a Tampa woman who helped organize military social events at the base where US Central Command is located. Petraeus ran Central Command from 2008 to 2010, and Kelley said in a statement that she had known him and his family for over five years.

The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal report that Kelley contacted the FBI about "five to ten" anonymous emails that started in May. While their exact contents is still unknown, some reportedly accused Kelley of having or contemplating an affair, and they were apparently enough to launch an investigation. According to The New York Times, it didn’t hurt that Kelley was also friends with an FBI agent, who was able to kickstart the process.

The threats, the FBI soon deduced, were from Petraeus biographer Broadwell

The emails, the FBI soon deduced, were from Broadwell. While she had created a throwaway address, the bureau was able to connect her by matching email metadata (likely IP addresses) to hotels and other locations that Broadwell had stayed. Once the bureau suspected she was to blame, The Wall Street Journal reports, it obtained a warrant to monitor her email, starting with an account she shared with her husband — and soon after, it found a separate Gmail account with sexually explicit messages between her and someone who appeared to be Petraeus.

The FBI apparently believed someone had hacked Petraeus’ personal account or was posing as him

At first, the FBI apparently believed someone else had hacked Petraeus’ personal account or was posing as him to send the emails, a suspicion that was hinted at in the first reports. It’s unknown whether this led them to monitor his email too, or whether they looked for other ways to check the messages’ veracity. Either way, when investigators determined that they had found an affair between Petraeus and Broadwell, it raised other fears. Besides creating a scandal, an affair can leave officials open to blackmail, something that’s especially pertinent when discussing the director of the CIA. In either late September or mid-October, depending on the source, the FBI quietly called Broadwell in for an interview.

When Broadwell was brought in, she confessed the relationship and turned over her computer, adding another layer of intrigue: it contained classified documents that the FBI suspected came from Petraeus. A probe that started with some harassing emails had, it seemed, stumbled onto a serious security breach. Though the exact timeline isn’t known, the bureau seems to have kept quiet after finding the documents, continuing its investigation and asking for a meeting with Petraeus. But Petraeus — who admitted to the affair — denied giving Broadwell the documents, and in early November, Broadwell said they had come from elsewhere.

"Speaking as a friend, colleague and fellow general officer, Gen. Clapper urged Gen. Petraeus to step down."

At this point, the bureau seems to have decided that Petraeus and Broadwell’s affair, which had ended in early summer, posed no security risk. The probe’s conclusions were reported to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on November 6th — Election Day. By then, however, the news had already leaked. House majority leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) says that a "whistleblower" contacted him in late October through Representative Dave Reichart (R-WA), "concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised." According to The New York Times, it was the same agent who had started the investigation, frustrated by what he saw as stalling progress in the case.

It’s not clear what difference — if any — the leak made on Petraeus’ decision to resign. But a spokesman for General James Clapper says Clapper had asked him to do so on the 6th: "Speaking as a friend, colleague and fellow general officer, Gen. Clapper urged Gen. Petraeus to step down." Afterwards, Clapper notified White House officials, who told Obama on Thursday morning. Petraeus offered his resignation later that day, and Obama accepted it on Friday. Petraeus’ statement to friends and colleagues would be widely reported soon after.

A long-standing departmental rivalry? Technological incompetence? A conspiracy?

Some details may always be missing from the story, but what’s been perhaps most confusing is trying to figure out just what kind of story it is. Is Petraeus’ resignation the result of a long-standing rivalry between the FBI and CIA? Another case of an official being undone by technological incompetence? Was it announced late to give Obama a better shot at the election, or rushed to stop Petraeus from testifying at a hearing regarding the Libya consulate attacks? All these stories have been circulated, and they’re all — as far as we know — wrong.

The FBI / CIA rivalry, former Justice Department inspector general Glenn Fine told The New York Times, "might have been true 20 years ago. But it is hard to believe that is going on today." The connection between Benghazi or the election is also tenuous. An October speech in which Broadwell claimed that the CIA had captured Libyan militia members before the attack has been reported as evidence of a leak from Petraeus, but the anecdote could easily be a garbled version of an earlier Fox News report. It would also have been surprising if this had not come up in the FBI’s report; in fact, the speech was given during the investigation, and the CIA has called the claim "baseless." The election and hearings were almost certainly on the minds of Petraeus and others, but there’s no reason to believe the timing wasn’t coincidental.

A compromised email account bringing down the CIA director would be poetic, but it's not what happened

The idea of a compromised email account bringing down the director of the CIA would certainly be poetic, but reports suggest that if anyone failed to grasp the nature of the internet, it was Broadwell. Without her alleged attempts to threaten Kelley, her Gmail account likely would never have been discovered. Enhanced security wouldn’t have helped Petraeus either, if the affair came out through Broadwell’s email. And it’s possible that the entire situation would have gone unnoticed had Kelley not been friends with a member of the FBI — email harassment, after all, is fairly common.

Petraeus could have encrypted his messages or maintained a false name (he reportedly created the Gmail account under a pseudonym), but the truth is that when everything is connected, it’s difficult to be really unknown. The FBI stumbled across evidence of the affair while tracking Broadwell over at least three email accounts, only one of which had an incriminating connection to Petraeus. Last month, ordinary citizens on Reddit grappled with the implications of matching a real face to an online identity. Now, some of the most secretive parts of the US government are doing the same.

Panetta makes first comments on Petraeus' affair

Security Clearance

The network pool traveling to Australia with Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta reports that Panetta commented for the first time about the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus. The comments were given during a mid-flight press conference:

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LEON PANETTA:  “First, obviously, it was a very sad situation to have a distinguished career like that end in this manner. And my heart obviously goes out to him and his family, but I think he took the right step and I think its important when you’re director of the CIA with all the challenges that face you in that position, that personal integrity comes first and foremost.”

“With regards to the future, you know, having served there the first 2 years of this administration, I think its really important to continue to have the CIA stay on track doing the job that is absolutely essential to our national security. They have very important mission focused on intelligence and intelligence operations and I think it’s very important to get someone strong and capable and dedicated to be able to continue that effort. This is a critical time to make sure that with all the threats that we’re dealing with in the world, that we maintain a strong intelligence operation.”

REPORTER QUESTION:  Any indications the Petraeus affair started while he was on active duty? Could he be prosecuted? Would that be your call? (NOTE:  CNN has learned that the affair started after Petraeus was already serving as CIA director)

PANETTA:  “You know, I don’t know the answer to that. I guess, I’m reading the papers like you are to determine just what the committees finds out, what the ultimate investigation determines on that issue. We obviously are going to watch this closely to determine just exactly when that took place. But I think right now my view is lets see what the investigation turns up and what the congress, these committees are able to determine just exactly what took place.”

REPORTER QUESTION:  As a former member of congress – do you think Capitol Hill should have been briefed sooner?

PANETTA:  “That’s another issue I think we ought to look at, because as a former director of the CIA and having working very closely with the intelligence committees, you know I believe there is a responsibility to make sure that the intelligence committees are informed of issues that could affect, you know the security of those intelligence operations.”

Assessing security implications of Petraeus' infidelity

Security Clearance 

With reporting from Suzanne Kelly and Pam Benson/ By CNN's Adam Levine

While affairs may be commonplace in Washington, when they involve the director of the CIA, things can take on a different tone.

Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus/
dailymail.co.uk

A U.S. official has said there was no breach of national security as a result of David Petraeus' affair, but that hasn't stopped discussion that Paula Broadwell could have gained access to classified information as a result of what she has routinely described as "unprecedented access" to Petraeus.

That discussion seemed to gain momentum Monday thanks to comments Broadwell made in a speech last month at the University of Denver.

"I don't know if a lot of you have heard this, but the CIA annex had actually taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to get these prisoners back," Broadwell said.

A senior intelligence official told CNN on Monday, "These detention claims are categorically not true. Nobody was ever held at the annex before, during, or after the attacks."

Broadwell's source for that previously unpublished bit of information remains unclear, and there's no evidence so far that it came from Petraeus. Administration officials have said the Benghazi assault was a terrorist attack.

The New York Times also reported Sunday that investigators found classified documents on Broadwell's laptop computer. The newspaper cited investigators as saying Petraeus denied he had given them to her.

Retired Gen. James "Spider" Marks, for whom Broadwell once worked and who knows Petraeus, said he doubts security protocols were breached despite what seems an unlikely indiscretion on the part of Petraeus.

"There's almost zero percent chance that national security was compromised or at risk," he said Monday.

A senior U.S. intelligence official said an extramarital affair by a CIA officer is not automatically considered a security violation.

"It depends on the circumstances," the official said.

The official also said Broadwell did not have a security clearance from the CIA.

Another official said Broadwell, who is a reserve Army officer, did have some kind of security clearance and that there are no issues with Broadwell having unauthorized access to classified information.

Petraeus' resignation also presents challenges to the congressional inquiry into the Benghazi attack.

CNN has confirmed that Petraeus recently traveled to Libya to meet the CIA station chief to discuss the attack. He was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee this week on the assault and the U.S. government response to it.

That will now not happen, but it is possible that he could be summoned by Congress to testify later.

Some Republicans have criticized the administration's response to the Benghazi attack and have speculated that Petraeus' departure was linked to the congressional inquiry.

Rep. Peter King, R-New York, said elements of the story "don't add up." He called Petraeus "an absolutely essential witness, maybe more than anybody else."

However, a senior U.S. official said Petraeus' departure wasn't connected to the Benghazi hearing.

"Director Petraeus' frank and forthright letter of resignation stands on its own," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. "Any suggestion that his departure has anything to do with criticism about Benghazi is completely baseless."

Conspiracy or coincidence? Petraeus scandal scrutinized

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Chair of the Senate Intelligence: "We need to talk to Gen. Petraeus"

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Gen.Petraeus' resignation & Cover-up at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Doug Hagmann

According to two well-vetted sources with intimate knowledge of the CIA operations and events in Benghazi, the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus is directly related to the testimony he was expected to provide before a closed-door hearing next week before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Sources close to the controversy, citing the need for anonymity due to their positions, stated that Barack Hussein Obama was aware of the CIA director’s indiscretions “long before” the November 6, 2012 elections, and knew about the FBI’s investigative findings weeks before the election, but “erected a firewall” to prevent any disclosure before November 6th.

More on  Canada Free Press >>

Also  Hillary Clinton, David Patreaus Slither Away from Benghazi!

CIA spymaster, hello this is my email!

hard to believe that someone has access to CIA Director's personal e-mail account
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CIA Director David Petraeus speaks during a high-level meeting in the White House Situation Room. (Pete Souza/The White House via Getty Images)

Why David Petraeus's Gmail account is a national security issue
Washington Post/ Max Fisher 

The beginning of the end came for CIA Director David Petraeus when Paula Broadwell, a younger married woman with whom he was having an affair, “or someone close to her had sought access to his email,” according to the Wall Street Journal’s description of an FBI probe. Associates of Petraeus had received “anonymous harassing emails” that were then traced to Broadwell, ABC’s Martha Raddatz reported, suggesting she may have found their names or addresses in his e-mail.

The e-mail account was apparently Petraeus’s personal Gmail, not his official CIA e-mail, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s a big deal: Some of the most powerful foreign spy agencies in the world would love to have an opening, however small, into the personal e-mail account of the man who runs the United States’ spy service. The information could have proved of enormous value to foreign hackers, who already maintain a near-constant effort to access sensitive U.S. data.

If Petraeus allowed his Gmail security to be compromised even slightly, by widening access, sharing passwords or logging in from multiple addresses, it would have brought foreign spy agencies that much closer to a treasure trove of information. As the Wall Street Journal hints, investigators were concerned about Petraeus’s Gmail access precisely because of the history of foreign attempts to access just such accounts:

Security officials are sensitive to misuse of personal email accounts—not only official accounts—because there have been multiple instances of foreign hackers targeting personal emails.

A personal e-mail account like Petraeus’s almost certainly would not have contained any high-level intelligence; he probably didn’t keep a list of secret drone-base coordinates on his Google docs account. But access to the account could have provided telling information on, for example, Petraeus’s travel schedule, his foreign contacts, even personal information about himself or other senior U.S. officials.

Private e-mail services like Google’s, though considered significantly more secure than most, still have susceptibilities to foreign intrusion. And it happens. Technology writers have sometimes discussed what one writer called the “password fallacy,” the false sense of safety created by access systems such as Google’s that balance security against ease of use. Even with Google’s extra security features, the company must also avoid making security so onerous as to drive away customers, making it an easier target for foreign hackers even before Petraeus possibly started sharing access and thus diluting the account’s integrity. And, as a Wired magazine investigation demonstrated in August, personal e-mail accounts often allow hackers access to other personal accounts, worsening both the infiltration and the damage.

All of this might sound a little overly apprehensive – really, U.S. national security is compromised because the CIA director’s personal Gmail account might have been a little easier to hack? – until you start looking at the scale and sophistication of foreign attempts to infiltrate U.S. data sources. Chinese hacking efforts, perhaps the best-known but nowhere near the only threat to U.S. networks and computers, suggest the enormous scope and ferocious drive of foreign government hackers.

Some Americans who have access to sensitive information and who travel to China describe going to tremendous lengths to minimize government efforts to seize their data. Some copy and paste their passwords from USB thumb drives rather than type them out, for fear of key-logging software. They carry “loaner” laptops and cellphones and pull out cellphone batteries during sensitive meetings, worried that the microphone could be switched on remotely. The New York Times called such extreme measures, which also apply in other countries, “standard operating procedure for officials at American government agencies.”

Even still, the publicly reported incidents of successful Chinese hacking – such as a March intrusion that stole a $1 billion, 10-year research project overnight – suggest that the efforts might be near-continuous and the successes rampant. A 2010 Chinese infiltration of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ended up funneling weeks of corporate data; even after the chamber thought it had reestablished security, it discovered that an office printer and a corporate apartment thermostat were still sending data – who knows what kind? – back to China. You have to wonder what a similar infiltration into the private e-mail account of the director of the Central Intelligence Agency might have turned up.

Of course, the CIA director is not the Chamber of Commerce, which may explain why the FBI’s counter-intelligence monitoring is so sensitive that just Broadwell’s access to his Gmail account triggered an investigation. But the fact that the FBI looked so hard and so carefully – and that Petraeus lost his directorship of the CIA over an intrusion that many of us might consider minor or even routine – underscores the potential risk to U.S. intelligence entailed in Petraeus’s, or Broadwell’s, alleged misuse of his personal account.

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FBI probe of Petraeus triggered by e-mail threats from biographer, officials say

Paula Broadwell with Gen. David Petraeus [CSM Marvin L. Hill]

The collapse of the career of CIA Director David Petraeus was triggered when a woman with whom he was having an affair sent threatening e-mails to another woman close to him, according to three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the episode.

The recipient of the e-mails was so frightened that she went to the FBI for protection and help tracking down the sender, according to the officials. The FBI investigation traced the threats to Paula Broadwell, a former military officer and Petraeus biographer, and uncovered explicit e-mails between Broadwell and Petraeus, the officials said. Read more on  Washington Post >>

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CIA Director David Petraeus resigns, cites extramarital affair

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