scandal

Despite Initial Reports, FBI Is Still Investigating Security Breach in Petraeus Scandal

UNSPECIFIED - JULY 13, 2011: In this handout image provided by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), former Commander of International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan; CIA Director Gen. Davis Petraeus (L) shakes hands with biographer Paula Broadwell, co-author of
Photo: Handout/2012 ISAF

When questions were first raised about why Congress and the White House only learned of the FBI’s months-long investigation of David Petraeus’s affair with Paula Broadwell last week, sources suggested that agency officials decided there was no reason to violate the general’s privacy since there had been no security breach. Now it seems they aren’t so sure about that. Senior law enforcement officials tell the Washington Post that the FBI’s search of Broadwell’s North Carolina home on Monday night is part of a renewed effort to determine the source of the classified documents found on her computer. Both Broadwell and Petraeus have said that the files didn’t come from him, but the FBI wants to be thorough, particularly because members of Congress have vowed to look into how the investigation was conducted. According to a law enforcement official, “The issue of national security is still on the table.”

Both Broadwell and Petraeus denied that he passed her classified information, and a second official says there’s still no evidence that suggests the general was her source. The official said that over the summer agents were mainly focused on determining if the CIA director’s “e-mail had been hacked, he was in danger, or he was compromised.” The investigation by the cybercrime unit of the Tampa FBI field office “is now about the source of documents on her computer.” An official described it as a “clean-up effort” to make sure there’s nothing they overlooked. 

As for the complaint that sparked the scandal, The Wall Street Journal reports that Jill Kelley, the Tampa socialite at the center of Petraeus’s Pentagon of Love, tried to call off the investigation over the summer when she became concerned that agents were privy to too much personal information, and the case would ultimately be more trouble than it was worth. Obviously her instincts were right, as the media is now camped outside her home, and both she and Broadwell are the subject of creepy news photographs snapped when they stood near a window. The Fox affiliate in Tampa reports that Kelley has called police four times in the last two days to complain about the gawkers surrounding her home, but that didn’t do much good either, as the 911 calls were released to the media. Kelley suggested in one call that as an honorary consul general, she has “inviolability.” “So they should not be able to cross my property,” she said. “I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection involved as well.” Unfortunately for Kelley, like an honorary doctorate, her title does not grant her any diplomatic privileges.

Broadwell Investigated for Security Breach