After a very long, low-key investigation, the FBI and DOJ recommend that General David Petraeus face criminal charges for leaking information to his then-mistress, Paula Broadwell.
The F.B.I. and Justice Department prosecutors have recommended bringing felony charges against retired Gen. David H. Petraeus for providing classified information to his former mistress while he was director of the C.I.A., officials said, leaving Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. to decide whether to seek an indictment that could send the pre-eminent military officer of his generation to prison.
The Justice Department investigation stems from an affair Mr. Petraeus had with Paula Broadwell, an Army Reserve officer who was writing his biography, and focuses on whether he gave her access to his C.I.A. email account and other highly classified information. F.B.I. agents discovered classified documents on her computer after Mr. Petraeus resigned from the C.I.A. in 2012 when the affair became public.
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But investigators concluded that, whether or not the disclosure harmed national security, it amounted to a significant security breach in the office of one of the nation’s most trusted intelligence leaders. They recommended that Mr. Petraeus face charges, saying lower-ranking officials had been prosecuted for far less.
It's hard to tell from that what exactly got leaked, if anything was leaked, or it was the fact that it could have been accessed and leaked. I'm all for prosecuting people when warranted, but it's hard to reconcile seeing a trial on these charges while ignoring those people who authorized the CIA to torture prisoners in order to get information.
Prosecute Petraeus, DOJ. But don't forget about the other real criminals in our midst, who also have cushy think tank jobs and spend their days spewing twisted messaging about terrorists abroad while ignoring the ones in their own back yard.
