Petraeus gets 2-year probation for leaking secrets to his mistress

[swag]

Source: USA Today

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — David Petraeus, the retired four-star general leader who once commanded military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to leaking classified information to his mistress and biographer, Paula Broadwell, and was sentenced to two years probation and fined $40,000.
The sentence, which followed the terms of a plea deal reached two months ago, did not include any prison time.

Petraeus pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of unauthorized removal and retention of eight highly secret "black book" binders that he had improperly retained from his time as top military commander in Afghanistan, WCNC-TV reported.
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Keesler, who was not obliged to accept the terms of the plea deal, asked Petraeus on Thursday if he was guilty of the misdemeanor.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/23/petraeus-sentencing/26235127/

[chapdrum]

1. Woo-hoo!

The System works!

[arcane1]

2. No solitary confinement?

Must be nice!

[marlakay]

3. Any other lower officer or rank

If they leaked info would be thrown in federal prison for years.

I am so tired of rich and powerful getting off. We might as well have kings and queens and bow down as the serfs we are....

[deurbano]

5. No kidding. Drop the pretense.

[MADem]

10. He should be stripped of his pension as well. nt

[MissDeeds]

18. +1000

Imagine if a private had done this.

[NYtoBush-Drop Dead]

34. SHould be hung as a traitor.

[MADem]

35. I'm not a DP fan, so I wouldn't go for that.

I could see him doing a bit in Leavenworth, though.

[markpkessinger]

28. You're right, but this is not even a question of military rank . . .

. . . as Petraeus was, at the time of the offense, the CIVILIAN director of the CIA. This sentence was issued by a Federal judge. This is simply the difference in the way any person in a position of power is treated before the law versus those of us who are not so situated.

[MADem]

36. It doesn't matter if he was retired--the UCMJ provides for punishment in his circumstance.

Personally, I think he's lying--and the affair began while he was active. Even accepting his lie, he could still be in hot water if his superior had the will. That's unlikely, though:

“Retired regulars who draw pay are subject to the UCMJ, for life,” Fidell says, referring to regularly-comissioned officers (i.e., not reservists) and the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

The UCMJ defines adultery as a service member who:

wrongfully had sexual intercourse with a certain person…That, at the time, the accused or the other person was married to someone else; and…That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

The UCMJ elaborates:

Adultery is clearly unacceptable conduct, and it reflects adversely on the service record of the military member…To constitute an offense under the UCMJ, the adulterous conduct must either be directly prejudicial to good order and discipline or service discrediting…Discredit means to injure the reputation of the armed forces and includes adulterous conduct that has a tendency, because of its open or notorious nature, to bring the service into disrepute, make it subject to public ridicule, or lower it in public esteem. While adulterous conduct that is private and discreet in nature may not be service discrediting by this standard, under the circumstances, it may be determined to be conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline.

It continues, with the following particulars being relevant to the Petraeus case:

Commanders should consider all relevant circumstances, including but not limited to the following factors, when determining whether adulterous acts are prejudicial to good order and discipline or are of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces:
(a) The accused’s marital status, military rank, grade, or position;
(b) The co-actor’s marital status, military rank, grade, and position, or relationship to the armed forces…
(e) The misuse, if any, of government time and resources to facilitate the commission of the conduct…
(i) Whether the adulterous misconduct involves an ongoing or recent relationship or is remote in time.

More important than all this legal mumbo-jumbo, Fidell says, is the cues the Army – with whom the decision on whether or not to prosecute Petraeus rests – takes from the White House.

[markpkessinger]

40. He wasn't sentenced for adultery . . .

. . . but for removing classified documents from the CIA and leaking them to his mistress. He was prosecuted in Federal Court, under federal law, and sentenced by a Federal judge.

[MADem]

42. I understand that--but that doesn't mean that the UCMJ couldn't be applied in this instance.

It could be, but it wasn't.

It could also have been applied for other violations, to include classified material control issues. But it wasn't.

My point is that his retirement doesn't put him out of reach of military justice. Those of us who receive "deferred compensation" in the form of a military pension are made aware of this (and the fact that we're subject to recall at the pleasure of the Commander in Chief) when we muster out.

[msongs]

4. sowill obama pardon him? nt

[Plucketeer]

6. What an educational moment

for those of lower rank!

[markpkessinger]

30. See my response up thread . . .

. . . this wasn't a military court, and the offenses did not arise out of Petraeus' conduct as a member of the military, but from his time as the CIVILIAN director of the CIA. Not to say your observation about the disparity in sentencing in military courts isn't accurate, but this is a civilian court sentencing a civilian (who held a high position, of course) for a civilian infraction.

[swag]

7. note to mods

looks like the source has changed their headline a few times. this is the headline as i found it.

[swag]

8. I wonder if Ed Snowden can get a similar deal

[Beauregard]

12. +1.

Nice avatar, too.

[cstanleytech]

20. To find out he would have to stop hiding in Russia and turn himself in but at a guess I would

say he probably would not get anywhere near as good a deal.

[orpupilofnature57]

27. Ya think ? He'd have a cell with Ted Kosinski if it weren't

for journalists who aren't part of MSM .

[underpants]

9. Buying her a steak would have been a lot cheaper General

Just sayin'

[MADem]

14. Oh, fachrissake--that was an ...UNENLIGHTENED... thing to say. Just sayin'.

This wasn't about "sex with a hottie" or a "bimbo easily lured into the sack with a steak"--I mean, come on.

This was WORKPLACE FRATERNIZATION and the individual in command/control of the situation was the general. What he did was wrong. He was the senior officer, she was the junior who was writing a thesis about him. He used his power and prestige to find reasons to haul her along to "cover" him, and her thesis became a biography. The power imbalance should have earned him a stretch behind bars--it was egregious, prejudicial to good order and discipline, and even if he did a few months, it would send a message. Instead, he got a slap on the wrist and "probation."

It was akin to the Edwards-Rielle Hunter business, only with another family unit in the mix. The general ruined a lot of lives, and it doesn't matter if the relationship was consensual. The fact that he dragged her along with him, using his rank to procure government aircraft, billeting, and other amenities to accommodate his affair, was a misuse of government assets and materials, and it was wrong.

[orpupilofnature57]

29. For us, being we're paying for it anyway .

[HassleCat]

11. What a Joke!

If he was some E-5 technician, he would get a more severe punishment just for having a mistress in the first place. Petraeus let Paula Broadwell see very, very sensitive information. He was not supposed to compile much of the information he put in his notebooks, so that's a violation right there. Then he kept the notebooks, probably in a location that didn't meet security requirements. Then he let his GF use the notebooks for his hagiography. As many other posters point out, a person of lower rank would be thrown to the wolves and held up as an example, with a looooong prison term, dishonorable whatever, stripped of benefits, etc. There's a question. Does Petraeus get to continue receiving his retirement benefits? Let me guess the answer...

[swag]

13. RT @tohu777

RT @tohu777: Good thing #Petraeus didn't walk/run in wrong place, sell loosies, or drive a luxury car in wrong place--those crimes earn a death sentence!h

[Hoppy]

15. Manning gets years in prison.

Betrayus gets a blow job and probation for disclosing state secrets.

[grntuscarora]

31. +1.

[mackdaddy]

16. Well at least he did not help cheat on standardized elementary school tests.

He could have gotten 20 years for that.

[FailureToCommunicate]

23. +1

[KansDem]

17. That'll learn 'im, dern 'im!!!

[Jack Rabbit]

19. Are we going to drop the investigation of Snowden now?

Snowden gave secrets about the government's wholesale violation of the Fourth Amendment to the American people, who had more right to know about it than the government had to do it. Ms. Broadwell was simply writing a biography of her boyfriend.

General Petraeus will get no prison for leaking secrets to his mistress, and James Clapper gets to keep his cushy government job after lying out of their teeth about what Snowden revealed.

[MADem]

37. Probably not. Snowden just handed over his secrets to the world;

Petraeus shared his with someone with a security clearance, though without access, necessarily, and he didn't go through proper channels to transfer the classified material to her. Further, he improperly stored the classified material in an unlocked desk drawer in his home.

"Ms" Broadwell was also "Lieutenant Colonel" Broadwell--that's what many people don't realize. Here she is with a little buddy (she looks like she's still a major in this pic)....



https://twitter.com/KarlRove/status/212180677532205056/photo/1

[KittyWampus]

21. how will he ever endure it?

[1monster]

22. While whitle blowers who exposed government wrong doing for no personal gain

are locked up in prison for many years or in exile or are otherwise prevented from living normal lives.

[radhika]

24. Does he still have a security clearance?

I couldn't find a definitive statement Yes or NO about this online.

Paula Broadwell lost hers, I read. Petraeus still continues to advise the White House and Pentagon on national security issues, and apparently still has a lucrative consulting career in the private sector.

[MADem]

43. He would have to -- but the fact of the matter is this, if the POTUS wants you to be apprised of

a classified matter, the POTUS is the ultimate authority when it comes to granting you "clearance" to see the material in question.

So even if he has no formal "clearance" ... if the POTUS wants his advice on an issue, he'll be given access to the material needed to make the required judgment.

[valerief]

25. Different rules for a good ol' boy. Disgusting! nt

[Jackpine Radical]

26. And quite right, too.

Remember, he wasn't trying to use the information to inform the world about American atrocities or anything.

And, as far as we know, that mistress wasn't a pole dancer either.

[EndElectoral]

32. How long did Cheney get?

[Jamastiene]

33. That is not even a tap on the wrist, much less

a slap on the wrist. Why are we supposed to believe in our court system any more?

[Nihil]

38. I couldn't care less about who he shagged but let's see how many other people would get away with...

> unauthorized removal and retention of eight highly secret "black book" binders
> that he had improperly retained from his time as top military commander in Afghanistan

Yeah, 8 binders that just happened to stay with him ...

[Lurks Often]

39. No one wanted a trial where senior government officials would have to testify under oath

All sorts of classified information and things the government doesn't want us to know would come out.

[Blue_Tires]

41. I'm surprised he didn't try to call himself a whistleblower

since the mistress is a published author...