Newly released FBI documents shows Petraeus disclosures less damaging than Clinton emails [View all]
Last edited Thu Jun 9, 2016, 08:49 PM - Edit history (4)
Previously undisclosed FBI documents obtained from Court filings reveal that the government has long been aware that David Petraeus allegedly revealed Top Secret information to The Washington Post in March, 2011 while he was awaiting appointment as CIA Director. The conversation with reporters was recorded. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/fbi-petraeus-shared-top-secret-info-with-reporters-224023#ixzz4B0AP5ctL (FBI document linked as .pdf at article page)
Petraeus was never charged with this leakage, but was convicted instead of revealing secrets to his biographer after failing to return documents when the General officially retired from the military in August of that year.
The taped conversation with a pair of Post reporters allegedly occurred while Petraeus was under consideration for nomination as CIA Director. The reported topic of two recorded conversations was military developments in Afghanistan, in which Petraeus requests to be identified only as an anonymous senior military official. His appointment to head the CIA was publicly announced on April 28, 2011. Until that time, he was still officially serving as a four-star Army General and top Commander of the International Security Assistance Force.
According to the FBI affidavit, the alleged disclosure of secrets to reporters occurred well before Petraeus improperly shared classified information with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. The same FBI affidavit details email communications from later in the summer in which the two discussed which classified documents he might share.
The text of these emails in the FBI document does not show that any specific classified information was revealed on-line with Broadwell. There was no allegation made in the warrant request that secrets had actually been disclosed, except to Broadwell and the two reporters. According to the affidavit, Broadwell and Petraeus exchanged messages in an email account. The FBI affidavit quotes the CIA Director and Broadwell discussing her access to documents that covered a period of Petraeus' command in Afghanistan and Iraq up to 2005. An audio recording found on Broadwell's computer also shows that in August of that year Broadwell stated she intended to travel to meet Petraeus to review materials stored in the attic of his Arlington, VA house.
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The release of this FBI document dated April 4, 2013 raises several questions - why did Petraeus tape his own off-the-record conversations with reporters, and why would he retain recordings of himself knowingly revealing Top Secret information? In fact, he was not charged with this disclosure to reporters of what is characterized as Top Secret information, and that is not reflected in previously released court records. The delayed release of these court records comes as we await the release of the FBI report on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's violation of classified information laws. Petraeus resigned as CIA Director two days into the second Obama Administration, with Clinton leaving several weeks later. Unauthorized release of classified information is a common thread that tarnishes the reputations of both.
When we compare the two cases, it becomes clear that the scale of Petraeus' unauthorized release of classified materials was smaller and less potentially damaging than the disclosure to unauthorized persons in the Clinton email case. As the Search Warrant Application makes clear at page 5, Paula Broadwell, a US Army Captain, held an active security clearance at the time classified materials were shared with her. In addition to the three persons implicated in the FBI warrant application, there are no other persons known to have been given access by Petraeus to classified information.
The affidavit at p. 8 describes email between Petraeus and Broadwell in which the two made reference to a classified document, but their messages do not contain specific information about the documents contents. At page 9 of the application, the FBI narrative recounts an instance of release of classified military information from another officer to Broadwell. This document release was openly authorized by Petraeus, and the transfer was carried out by another officer over the SIPR, the secure email system, which is intended for exchange of documents classified up to the Secret level.
Broadwell was interviewed by the FBI, the document states, after a complaint of cyberstalking in late Spring 2012 led the Bureau to examine her email exchanges with Petraeus. She was subsequently interviewed by the FBI who searched her laptops:
consented to a search of two laptops and two external hard drives belonging to her. A
review of the digital media contained.on these devices revealed over 100 items which
were identified by Charlotte Computer Analysis Response Team (CART) Forensic
Examiners as potentially containing classified information, up to the Secret level.
According to the application at p. 8, subsequent search of Broadwell's home revealed further classified materials in her unauthorized possession:
hundreds of potentially classified documents, including more than 300 marked Secret, on
digital images maintained on various pieces of electronic media.
In the most damning email exchange described, Petraeus seems to agree that he might share classified documents related to events that occurred eight or nine years earlier at the time that he transitioned from two-star commander of the 101st Airborne division to commander Multi-National Security Transition Command - Iraq (MNSTC-I) (Petraeus commanded forces in Iraq from June 2004-June 2005): (page 12)
that gradually have gone, or will go, to NDU. Can search them at some point if they're
upstairs, but they're not organized enough at this point ... " PETRAEUS continued,
writing, "
A)nd I think MNSTC-I files went to NDU (archives at the National Defense University),
though I'm not sure. The key to find there would be the weekly reports that the CIO did with
me. Not.sure if-kept copies. Class'd, but I guess I might share!" (emphasis added).
The timing of this release has the scent of an attempt to draw a distinction between Petraeus and Clinton. However, if one looks closely at the record, it becomes clearer now that the government built its case against Petraeus on Secret documents revealed to Broadwell, who held a security clearance, that were described in the newly-released FBI document as historical in nature. Off the-record discussions with Washington Post reporters was likely recorded by Petraeus, himself, in order to maintain a record of exactly what was said. That discussion was determined by another agency to contain information classified at the Top Secret level.
Altogether, the FBI affidavit states that David Petraeus transferred approximately 400 classified documents. Meanwhile, Clinton's uncertified server accumulated over 2,200 classified messages with 104 emails sent by the Secretary. The State Department determined that 55 to be classified as Secret, and 22 messages and attachments (many confirmed to have originated with other agencies) at the highest TS-SAP level, documents that could only be taken off the most classified gov't information system before being sent over the Secretary's unsecure private email. These documents placed on her server were shared with numerous others, some without security clearances to view them, describing classified U.S. actions and intelligence sources around the world in or near real-time.
Clinton was advised on several instances by Sid Blumenthal that the information he was sending her was confidential and originated with government sources in several countries, including US allies. While it is a felony to fail to report possession of classified information by those not authorized, as well as to mishandle secrets oneself, the record shows the Secretary's own responses were only encouraging, "Great stuff", "keep 'em coming."
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