CIA Director David Petraeus Resigns, Citing Affair

Penurious Penguin writes "After serving as Director of the CIA since September 2011, David Petraeus resigned from his position today, November 9. The retired four-star Army general has cited an extramarital affair as reason for the resignation. Michael Morell will now serve as Acting Director of the CIA."

Comments

Job Performance

[nurb432]

That is the only thing that should be taken into consideration. As long as it was between consenting adults, an affair is between him, the 'afairee' and his family. As long as it doesn't effect one's job performance its really nobody's business.

Re:Job Performance

[Anonymous Coward]

and if the affair was with a subordinate in the CIA?

Re:Job Performance

[Noughmad]

Yes, but not being able to conceal an affair doesn't speak well for his performance as a security agent.

And in case he voluntarily admitted to it, neither does him having a conscience.

Re:Job Performance

[Sparx139]

That's assuming that the fallout of this affair isn't going to impact his performance. It could be that the fallout of this and setting things right with his family again could keep him from his duties, or it could be as simple as he sees the role of Director as one that should lead by example, in some way embodying the integrity of the organisation. In that case, he wouldn't consider himself fit for such a role.

Re:Job Performance

[Anonymous Coward]

People working in the inteligence and other sensitive business can't afford to have "secrets", because it could lead them to being blackmailed. Maybe Petraeus decided it was the most ethical thing to do (he would probably insist other members of the staff to resign were they in the same situation...)

Re:Job Performance

[K. S. Kyosuke]

That is the only thing that should be taken into consideration. As long as it was between consenting adults, an affair is between him, the 'afairee' and his family. As long as it doesn't effect one's job performance its really nobody's business.

Don't know much about the guy, but he seems to be one of the more competent and reliable people on the public scene, and there's one problem with them - they have so much integrity that they resign even for petty reasons where a lesser person would fight tooth and nail to keep his position. Naturally, you end up with a bunch of scumbags, just like in politics.

Re:Job Performance

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Nah, that would be fine. But if it were with one of his peers in the FSB...

Re:Job Performance

[Culture20]

Blackmail. As the head of the CIA, he was right to resign. He probably resigned because someone tried to blackmail him.

Re:Job Performance

[TWX]

To you it might not matter, but to him it certainly did. More insidious, the blackmailer could have simply required him to omit or downplay information being reported to the President or for subordinates in investigations, with no actual lying or outright obstruction necessary. His choice to prevent that is noble, even if the actions that he took that facilitated the situation weren't.

Re:Job Performance

[Ghostworks]

The issue here is his particular job in intelligence. An extramarital affair, heavy drug use, or anything of the like is a job liability (not just a political liability) in public policy because it opens an opportunity for blackmail. That's the first problem. The second problem is that even if nobody finds out, you still have no idea what he's telling his mistress, or when they'll break up and she'll start talking. We can presume that whatever level of commitment she has in the relationship, it's probably not as high an investment as, say, his wife has in their marriage. Eventually, it will end.

Furthermore, since this whole thing is also supposed to remain a secret, that also minimizes the amount of overt protection he can afford his mistress. (This would be more of an issue, say, during the height of Cold War, when kidnapping an intelligence chief's mistress for interrogation might one day be a tempting enough target for an enemy agency. Still, it's a possibility.) There are a whole slew of operational issues built into the secrecy of this that make mistresses a bad idea for anyone in intel, with the reasons becoming more important the higher up the chain of command you go.

So now he's come clean. Doesn't that short-circuit the danger of a secret mistress? Sort of, but now you have the inherent personnel problem: it's hard to tell your operational agents about the dangers of secret affairs when you're doing it yourself.

Then you have the underlying issue of character: if he can't remain loyal to a marriage, why should we assume he can remain loyal to his country. I know that sounds like a leap. It is. But it's still the sort of question that needs to be asked. Secret societies -- even extremely popular ones, like the Masons -- have small secrets like handshakes, passwords, and rituals for a reason: if you can't trust a man with a trivial secret like a handshake, you sure as hell can't trust him with a big, juicy secret. Discipline has to be developed, and lack of discipline anywhere is a bad sign in the long run. Hell, military intelligence frowns on anyone who has more than two drinks per meal as being risky.

Re:Job Performance

[__aaltlg1547]

Not in the CIA. In a position where you carry sensitive information, an affair is a liability for two reasons: (1) the person with whom you're having the affair may be a spy and be working you for information. (2) the existence of the affair can be used to blackmail you.

Having an affair can therefore cause a person to lose his or her security clearance. It's even worse when it's the head or senior official in the agency because everybody looks to that person as an example. If the DCI's affair is tolerated, everybody else would assume that they could have affairs with impunity and expose the agency to many potential leaks and blackmail situations.

So in that regard, avoiding affairs and ANY OTHER situation that can potentially compromise security IS job performance.

Don't imagine Petreus did resigned on his own. His affair was discovered in the course of investigation of a possible security leak. The FBI was investigating and discovered evidence of the affair. Petreus, whatever you may think of him, resigned under pressure if he was not outright fired by President Obama for the security compromising situation.

Re:Job Performance

[__aaltlg1547]

No, but the fact that he kept secrets from the agency that could have been used to blackmail him means he's a security risk and therefore not of suitable character to work in the CIA. When you work for the CIA or any other government agency that keeps the nation's secrets, you can't keep such secrets from the agency.

Re:Job Performance

[MrEricSir]

and if the affair was with a subordinate in the CIA?

It wasn't. The affair was with his biographer, and it was uncovered by the FBI.

Re:Job Performance

[Obfuscant]

I think the work you are looking for is "honor". When one makes vows to someone, and then breaks them, it is a sign of a lack of honor. Resigning is a sign that he has more than most people do.

Re:Job Performance

[blade8086]

Right. Because the order of importance goes: POTUS, JSC, DCI and then, immediately after that, nurb432.

Who gives a crap what you think?

And its not about whether *you think* it would be a blackmailable incedent - because *you dont care* it IS ONE.

The point is:

a) He might not *want* to be outed - and willing to e.g. trade state secrets to prevent it from happening if someone finds out
b) Since he's broken a critical mega-life-impacting vow (and if he has sincere religious beliefs, had a religious wedding, etc -
        essentially put his desires above all of that as well, making it in effect multiple vows at once), he cannot be trusted
c) Even if he wouldn't sell state secrets and would let himself be outed, there is no way to know this a priori, because he
        has been proven to be untrustworthy in many levels
d) Allowing him to continue in the position when a,b,c are known (even in 'secret'/'classified' capacity is a HUGE political liability)

        e.g. Fox News Headline: Barak HUSSAIN obama permits ADULTERER to run CIA. More proof that he is a closet islamist by supporting
        ISLAMIC POLYGAMY and other related crap, etc.

e) Probably lied about the affair or nature of the relationship with whomever his partner was many times in the course of internal audits ( you do know intellegence professionals are required to register and discuss the nature of relationships with all aquaintences, and are frequently 'checked up on' by other groups of intellegence professionals - e.g. 'compartmentalized security', etc.)

f) Probably 1000 things I'm not thinking of
and
g) He knows all of these things to be true, took vows keeping these in mind, probably thought them over 1000 of times every time he got turned on by women, and STILL DID IT.

So.. what kind of 'good job' is he actually doing when all of the above is true?

We're not talking about a gas station attendant, or even a surgeon here.
We're talking about one of the most powerful people in the world. Literally. He is in charge of information that has a direct impact to your life. No matter where you live in the entire planet.

Or I just got mega trolled. Thats how stupid your commment is.

Re:Job Performance

[Sponge Bath]

...doesn't speak well for his performance

According to the comments section on the Washington Post: "Erections have consequences" and "This was a conspiracy involving the illuminaughty".

Re:Job Performance

[Solandri]

Yes, but not being able to conceal an affair doesn't speak well for his performance as a security agent.

It's the other way around. When getting a security clearance, one of the things they look for is any skeletons you have in the closet which could be used to blackmail you. The affair itself is not particularly relevant to his job. What is relevant is that he put himself in a situation where he could potentially have been blackmailed. From best to worst, the possible situations for someone who's supposed to be protecting government secrets is:

No affair
Openly public affair
Affair, initially secret, but now admits to it
Affair, still keeping it secret

Re:Job Performance

[mattack2]

From what I heard on the NBC News (podcast), he offered to resign to Obama, who took a day to accept the resignation. Doesn't sound like a firing to me.

Re:Job Performance

[wealthychef]

It's not the lack of ability to conceal the affair that is a problem, it's the intention to conceal it that is a problem.

Re:Job Performance

[Tangential]

and if the affair was with a subordinate in the CIA?

It was his biographer. Not an employee or subordinate.
br Who really cares? His private life is just that...Private. If we have determined that bad judgment disqualifies a person from a leadership position then America is leaderless.

Re:Job Performance

[confusednoise]

Actually isn't it the fact that JAMES BOND ISN'T A REAL PERSON a bigger difference?

Re:Job Performance

[1u3hr]

it is a sign of a lack of honor.

But he was working at the CIA. Honor is only an impediment there.

And how is this remotely "news for nerds"? Civil servant has an affair?

Re:Job Performance

[Anonymous Coward]

Who really cares? His private life is just that...Private.

What an incredibly naive statement. His private life, as director of the CIA, is NOT as private as that "civilians". There is a very long list of people in sensitive positions that were blackmailed / recruited by foreign intelligence agencies for just this type of sexual impropriety. Doing what he did shows incredibly bad judgment, especially considering his military leadership experience and age.

Re:Job Performance

[ppanon]

CIA death squads?

He said George H.W. Bush who, prior to being president and vice president, was CIA director for just under a year in 1976. While this is probably prior to the involvement of CIA with death squads in Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, and after the Phoenix Program in VietNam, it would be surprising if there wasn't CIA involvement with death squads in Guatemala, Argentina, Chile (very likely), the Phillipines (also very likely) or another country with with one of the right-wing governments known to use death squads to silence political opposition during periods spanning the mid 70s.

While some of the death squad targets may have aguably been combatants like the Afghani and Pakistani targets of current Predator strikes, most were just citizens using speech to raise awareness of injustices perpetrated by the right wing governments and their cronies. You generally don't need death squads to kill combatants because the army can do that job. You use death squads to perform extra-legal killings of civilians in the middle of the night because they are being a political annoyance and you don't have (or can't be bothered to gather) evidence that they are involved in illegal activities.

All because of the fear that those countries would irreparably fall to communism like dominoes even though, when Nicaragua and El Salvador eventually fell, the eventual outcome wasn't as feared.

Re:Job Performance

[sincewhen]

But if he didn't go public - and kept it from his wife and family, it could be used to blackmail him.

The News For Nerds:

[retroworks]

SOME guys get to have TWO girlfriends...

Re:The News For Nerds:

[Intrepid imaginaut]

And some girls get to have two boyfriends. Really, its no big deal, if people were meant to be monogamous we wouldn't need marriage in the first place. I mean of course it served a purpose in the medieval past as regards child protection and so on, but these days its a most peculair institution. If two (or three or four) people love one another they don't need legal contracts to petrify the emotion.

As for sex, come on. Why do love and sex have to be the same thing? Cats have sex, dogs have sex, animals have sex constantly without ever having to form lifelong bonds. Its an activity, no different to any sport. People should enjoy themselves as they see fit without having to swear fidelity or mutual ownership, jealousy is a poisonous emotion.

Sounds good.

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish other department heads would resign for things trice as bad as cheating on their wives.

5 days prior to hearing.

[Dan East]

He resigned 5 days prior to the congressional hearing on what transpired at the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, which resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and other US personnel. Hillary Clinton took full responsibility for the lack of security, and of course the media let it die out right there and not have any negative repercussions on Obama or his administration in general. The buck stops with Hillary. Or whomever else it can stop at short of Obama.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[Mashiki]

Doesn't matter, they should subpoena his ass. This doesn't make the information in your head go away, or any less valid. Over all, it seems like the underside of the Benghazi bus is getting pretty crowded with all the people being thrown under it.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[Black Parrot]

If this had been under Bush the mainstream media would be on his ass 24x7.

Oh, please. The mainstream media never got on Bush's ass 24x7 about *anything*. Ignore intelligence reports warning of an immanent attack? No problem. Let OBL get away? No problem. Lie us into a war? No problem. Authorize torture? No problem.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[artor3]

Oh please, if he had come out and immediately called it a terror attack, you'd accuse him of fearmongering in the run-up to an election.

He waited until all the facts were in. That's commendable.

But you know what? Keep banging that drum. Keep trying to get political benefit from the deaths of innocents. While you're at it, keep treating minorities like shit and keep calling rape-babies gifts from god and keep white-knighting for the super-rich. You're just making life easier for the rest of us.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[geekoid]

SIgh..

"killing a US Ambassador and dragging his body through the streets is a massive incident."
yes it is. It's so important you should get some facts straight.

"t. The fact that he requested additional support and was refused"
the request was for a different embassy.

" The fact that the same people who should have gotten him more security lied about"
which has been shown to be wrong over and over again. Ever wonder why Romney didn't harp on about it? Becasue Obama didn't lie.

" And this event isn't worth discussing?"
not with people who can't even get the most basic facts about it correct. i.e. YOU.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[Billly Gates]

How did he lie?

Intelligence reported it as a protest which is exactly how the attack played out. He referred to it as a terror attack 2 days later. Please give it up? I look at is a fishing expedition to help Romney out and out of desperation this is the best the Republicans could find.

FYI Bush lied on a constant basis and the media did not go after him nearly as much.

Re:5 days prior to hearing.

[bill_mcgonigle]

Doesn't matter, they should subpoena his ass. This doesn't make the information in your head go away, or any less valid. Over all, it seems like the underside of the Benghazi bus is getting pretty crowded with all the people being thrown under it.

The Senate Intelligence Committee has already removed him from the schedule. This is how you cover up that the US State Department operation in Benghazi was a cover for a CIA operation (they were watching Libyans smuggle Gadaffi's weaponry to the Syrian rebels).

You don't talk about inconvenient things during a Congressional hearing.

Base partisan politics? Look in the mirror.

[dfenstrate]

Sometimes shit happens and there's no way to plan for it.

'Shit' didn't just happen. A pending attack or assassination was a big concern for Ambassador Stevens months beforehand, and his requests for more security went nowhere.

Past that, there's some concern that Obama failed miserably when Hillary Clinton's legendary '3 am phone call' came.

Even if you want to say 'shit happens' for the latter, the former is still a good reason to look into the deaths of 4 Americans.

In any case, your absolute lack of curiosity on the subject makes you every bit the mindless partisan you accuse republicans of being.

Re:Base partisan politics? Look in the mirror.

[Black Parrot]

Sometimes shit happens and there's no way to plan for it.

'Shit' didn't just happen. A pending attack or assassination was a big concern for Ambassador Stevens months beforehand, and his requests for more security went nowhere.

Past that, there's some concern that Obama failed miserably when Hillary Clinton's legendary '3 am phone call' came.

Even if you want to say 'shit happens' for the latter, the former is still a good reason to look into the deaths of 4 Americans.

In any case, your absolute lack of curiosity on the subject makes you every bit the mindless partisan you accuse republicans of being.

Those of you who get your "news" from FOX may be interested to learn that -

a) the requests for security were for a different embassy

b) a CIA response team was on site 28 minutes after the alarm went out

Re:Base partisan politics? Look in the mirror.

[Obfuscant]

a) the requests for security were for a different embassy

August 2, 2012: Ambassador Stevens sends a cable to D.C. requesting "protective detail bodyguard postions" -- saying the added guards "will fill the vaccum of security personnel currently at post... who will be leaving with the next month and will not be replaced." He called "the security condition in Libya ... unpredictable, volatile and violent."

Ambassador Stevens was referring to Benghazi, not "a different embassy" as you claim.

September 11, 2012: 9:43 a.m. Benghazi time (3:43 ET): Amb. Stevens sent cables to D.C., including a Benghazi weekly report of security incidents reflecting Libyans' "growing frustration with police and security forces who were too weak to keep the country secure."

Again, Benghazi, not "a different embassy", as you claim.

9:40 p.m. (3:40 p.m. ET): Gunfire and an explosion are heard. A TOC agent sees dozens of armed people over security camera flowing through a pedestrian gate at the compound's main entrance. It is not clear how the gate was opened.

The agent hits the alarm and alerts the CIA security team in the nearby annex and the Libyan 17th of February Brigade, one of several powerful militias serving as a de facto security presence in Benghazi. The embassy in Tripoli and the State Dept. command center were also alerted.

State Dept. Diplomatic Security follows events in real time on a listen-only, audio-only feed, according to testimony of Charlene Lamb, the deputy assistant director for international programs, given before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Oct 10.

This is, once again, at the Benghazi embassy, not someplace else. A real-time feed of the audio was being monitored in DC. They knew what was happening. It wasn't a reaction to someone using their right of free speech, and shouldn't have been apologized for.

10:25 p.m. (4:25 p.m. ET): A six-member CIA team arrives from the annex with 40 to 60 members of 17th of February Brigade. The team removes Smith's body.

Hmm. 9:40PM to 10:25 PM. I do the math and get 45 minutes, not the 28 minutes you claim. An nearby annex with military forces that takes 45 minutes to show up.

But these are all lies from "Fox News", right? Try again. CBS

Re:Base partisan politics? Look in the mirror.

[Fallingcow]

Is this inaccurate?

Focus Was on Tripoli in Requests for Security in Libya

Interesting article. Covers quite a bit more than the title implies.

This is going to get very messy

[electron sponge]

Petraeus' biographer Paula Broadwell under FBI investigation over access to his email, law enforcement officials say

Petraeus Resigns Over Affair With Biographer

He had an affair with his biographer, which apparently began while he was active duty military in Afghanistan. Extramarital affairs are illegal under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. He'll be lucky if the DoD doesn't bring him out of retirement just to take a star off his shoulder.

Next time ...

[PPH]

... hire someone with an open marriage.

The title of the biography is "All In"

[yuje]

One wonders if it was a quote from one of their "interviews".