TROVE Of CLASSIFIED INFO At Broadwell's Home

[Segami]

Paula Broadwell, the author who allegedly had an affair with former CIA Director David Petraeus, is suspected of storing significant amounts of military documents, including classified material, at her home, potentially in violation of federal law. A source familiar with case told ABC News that Broadwell admitted to the FBI she took the documents from secure government buildings. The government demanded that they all be given back, and when federal agents descended on her North Carolina home on Monday night it was a pre-arranged meeting.




Prosecutors are now determining whether to charge Broadwell with a crime, and this morning the FBI and military are poring over the material. The 40-year-old author, who wrote the biography on Gen. Petraeus "All In," is cooperating and the case, which is complicated by the fact that as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Military Reserve she had security clearance to review the documents.




The FBI found classified material on a computer voluntarily handed over by Broadwell earlier in the investigation. Prosecutors will now have to determine how important the classified material is before making a final decision. Authorities could decide to seek disciplinary action against her rather than pursue charges. Senior FBI officials are expected to brief the House and Senate Intelligence Committees today on their handling of the Petraeus investigation. The officials are expected to lay out how the case was developed and argue that there were no politics involved.




The case is so critical that FBI Director Robert Mueller may attend to defend the bureau, ABC News has learned. Members of Congress have been angry that they were not informed about the case before the story was reported by the media, but FBI officials maintain that their guidelines forbid them from discussing ongoing criminal cases. This summer, Florida socialite and "honorary ambassador" to the military Jill Kelley received anonymous emails accusing her of flaunting a friendly relationship with military brass in Tampa. Kelley then called the FBI, which traced those emails back to Broadwell's computer. Investigators are said to have then found emails in Broadwell's inbox that pointed to an intimate affair with Petraeus, who on Friday admitted to the affair and announced his resignation as CIA director.






cont'

http://gma.yahoo.com/broadwell-classified-document-probe-114054139.html

[ann---]

1. She may have had clearance

to SEE them, but she certainly didn't have the right to take them into her home.

[Segami]

2. Thats the part that got my attention and

curious to know her motive for removing and storing such classified material.

[TorchTheWitch]

10. the whole reason she was there was as Betrayus' biographer

One would assume that she had all this info so she could continue writing and speaking glowingly of him which is why he wanted her there in the first place. Wouldn't surprise me if the sole reason she had any security clearance was so that Betrayus could pass her such information in order for her to continue writing and speaking glowingly about him.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. We must remember that she had a ghostwriter for "her" book.

Vernon Loeb wrote about his part as ghost writer, which inckudes, apparently, seeing and reading some if not all of that "classified" information.

the way he describes it, Broadwell found and provided the info, and HE wrote the actual book.

As he wrote in the Post: "My role was far less dramatic: I sat in my basement in Maryland and wrote what was virtually a real-time narrative fashioned from the torrent of e-mails, documents and interview transcripts Broadwell sent my way. ...

"I had no say over the book’s ultimate take on Petraeus, which some have found excessively laudatory. Broadwell was free to make whatever revision or modifications she desired to the text, and did so liberally. "
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-11-13/features/bal-david-petraeus-ghostwriter-blindsided-by-broadwell-affair-20121113_1_broadwell-petraeus-paula-broadwell-david-petraeus

[global1]

32. Yeah - What Was She Doing With This Material Or What Were Her Intentions As To What To Do.....

with this classified material. One doesn't take classified info just because they can. They have some reason for taking it. I want to know what her intentions were?

[TorchTheWitch]

37. so what?

Plenty of people use ghost writers. Either they just aren't good writers or they don't have the time or inclination to do the writing. She was a biographer and did the research and had a ghost writer do the writing. Big deal. Many many publications are collaborations. What, she's supposed to be perfect at everything?

It's obvious what she was doing with the material. Petreaus wanted her to be his biographer and write and speak glowingly about him because he's a self-promoting bloated ego, so that's what her roll was - it's the entire reason why she was there and given access to all this material. OBVIOUSLY she had all this material because he GAVE it to her for that purpose. They took it because it MAY have been improperly secured seeing as it was in her house and on her computer though she did have the security clearance to review it. They aren't yet even sure if having it in her home and on her computer was an issue or not at this point. And I'm not seeing why she would have had it so obviously in her house or on her computer if it weren't for Petreaus having her believe there was no problem with that.

HE is the one with the ultimate responsibility here. She's just an underling doing the self-promoting bidding of the top dude, and it was HIS responsibility that she got no material she wasn't entitled to and that it was stored correctly. What the hell was he thinking anyway as the CIA Director having some underling glued to his side given access to who knows what material and doing who knows what with it solely so he could self-promote his bloated ego anyway?

She's already blabbed publicly in a speech saying that the CIA was in Benghazi and holding prisoners there which was the reason for the attack. She didn't just pull that out of her ass - she obviously was given access to that info and didn't even know that it was illegal for the CIA to do (which now the CIA vehemently denies it happened of course). How else would she know that and go blabbing it publicly if Petreaus didn't let her in on that info and didn't bother telling her it was illegal as hell and to keep her yap shut about it? He already had a reputation for doing whatever the hell he wanted even ignoring what the president wanted and doing end runs around him.

This saga isn't about Broadwell, it's about PETREAUS and HIS actions that have little to nothing to do with where he was dipping his wick.

[global1]

39. I Agree Mostly With What You Are Saying However.....

there was another party involved that she could have passed on this material to - the ghostwriter. I know that this person has been identified - don't know his name. Unfortunately - he didn't have the same security clearance as Broadwell. We don't know the background of this person. He could have been a spy.

Both Petreaus is at fault for first giving her access to this info and even letting her take it and store it in her home. He could have provided her access to info at a secure location - and not allow her to take it with her.

Broadwell - being military with security clearances should have also known better. We don't know how much of this material she shared with the ghost writer or anyone else for that matter. You indicated that she already blabbed publicy. This was at a speech - but who else might she have shared this info with. So I don't absolve her in this matter.

[HooptieWagon]

40. She included classified material in a book?

WTF? Shouldn't this book have been vetted before publication? And wouldn't that vetting by intelligence agencies have turned up questions about her access to classified materials?

[rso]

33. Broadwell

Classified info can only be stored in computers which are specifically designated. And such a computer cannot be removed from locations which are cleared to hold both the computer and the information. A private residence is definitely not a location where classified computers and info can be stored. In addition, even if she possesses an active security clearance, it does not mean that she meets the second condition, which is referred to as "the need to know". So there are definitely grounds here for taking legal action should the USG decide to do so. (Just FYI, I am a retired federal agent and worked similar cases).

[JPZenger]

38. Good point. Wasn't Broadwell a reserve officer?

Broadwell I believe had been a reserve officer, so she probably had some clearance (expired?). However, you don't keep classified information on a home computer. Period.

[justiceischeap]

3. This pisses me off: "...decide to seek disciplinary action against her rather than pursue charges."

Pursue fucking charges if they are warranted. Otherwise, it's nothing more than a slap on the wrist and leaves no reasons for someone to do this again. If I break the law, I get charges, if this woman breaks the law, she possible gets disciplined? What is this, high school?

[Segami]

4. So much risked for nothing more than selfish reasons.

High schoolers might have faired better judgement than them.

[DCKit]

15. Is Bradley Manning in the brig for her crimes?

There's no real evidence on Manning, only circumstantial.

[justiceischeap]

19. That's my point... there are people serving time

for all sorts of things that can be considered a lesser crime. I'm not assigning any kind of guilt to Broadwell at this point but if she is found to have had material she shouldn't have had, disciplinary action isn't harsh enough. She needs to go to the brig (if there is a crime).

[MADem]

28. I had a good kid who worked for me many years ago, who fucked up a transfer of classified material.

Nothing was lost, nothing was compromised. He simply fucked up the paperwork.

It ended his career, and there wasn't shit I could do to help him. I did try.

[Jersey Devil]

30. I think "disciplinary action" includes court martial rather than civilian criminal charges

A court martial for a Major and West Point graduate is no "slap on the wrist".

[justiceischeap]

36. It could also mean just losing rank.

THAT is a slap on the wrist.

[Barack_America]

5. Awesome that this is how we find out the documents were taken.

Gives me great confidence in our country's intelligence.

[DetlefK]

6. Whoa. "Removing official documents from the workplace"

Don't know about the US, but IIRC in Germany that's worth up to 2 years of jail-time for public servants.

And on top of that, they are classified.

[warrior1]

7. In law enforcement

it's called the right to know and need to know. She could see some jail time. Especially if she passed this info on.

[grasswire]

8. is it possible that some documents were E-MAILED to her?

Maybe she didn't sneak hard copies out of the buildings. Maybe she got them by e-mail, or by hacking, or even by using the general's own files/accounts.

[nc4bo]

13. What was there 100, 500, 20,000 emails some of which had attachments?

I asked sarcastically were they hot pictures or hot documents?

[FarCenter]

9. Leavenworth for her

Depending on classification, only a small number of copies are made, the copies are numbered, you sign the copies out, and they have to be stored in your office in an approved safe when not in use.

[livetohike]

27. Yep. That was my experience handling classified documents

too. Even though it was decades ago.....I doubt the procedures have changed. I can still see the font type on the stamps and the shade of the red and blue stamp pad ink.....

[AlexSatan]

41. In some areas

but if you are in a facility with open storage of classified, it is FAR less controlled.

I used to have classified stuff all over my desk most of the time (even when I wasn't there).

Even today, not working in an open storage facility, I can print out classified without having to log it or have anyone double-check it. The whole point of getting a clearance is that the gov't should be able to trust you.

[HooptieWagon]

11. Could she have been passing the info to republicans?

If she's a spy, she's the dumbest one ever.

[glinda]

20. That occurred to me today. Used her Petrius connections, gets info

about Dems by gleaning documents and passing them to Rove and interested parties. I think this could be big actually. Could be Kelly was also doing the same thing and in the spirit of "jealous competition" or even "warning emails to lay low" this whole thing blew open.

[broiles]

12. Bradley Manning anyone?

[Octafish]

14. For whom did she collect it?

DIA?

[DCKit]

16. Wikileaks? nt

[MADem]

29. That would be hilarious. I doubt she's a "Friend of Assange." Or "Anonymous" with their new effort

either...

[Octafish]

35. No, they publish what they find.

For instance:

WikiLeaks Stratfor Dump Exposes Continued Secret Government Warmongering

[hrmjustin]

17. Gets more interesting.

[marions ghost]

18. This timeline from the article was helpful

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fullpage/sex-spy-petraeus-affair-infographic-timeline-17702062

[sally5050]

21. So let me Get this Straght Vis a Vis Bradley Manning

fuck a general,

take all the documents you like , classified or not, and peruse them in the oh so secure environment of your home.
NO PUNISHMENT...

Don't fuck a general,
take documents, and forward them to an independent news organization that releases the data mostly redacted without impact to individuals

Rot in jail without a jury, trial or sentencing for over 800 days.

Bradley should have found a way to fuck a general! ; 0

[glinda]

22. Maybe they were going to join these????

http://www.nationofchange.org/boxes-top-secret-documents-go-missing-1336223295

[Poll_Blind]

23. Oh SNAP! If this is an accurate report, this is just the BEGINNING.

Those who aren't already familiar with it should really look into the series of events which led to the capture of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, here.

Hit the reset button or put what you know about the case on hold, or just move it aside in your mind: If they really have discovered classified material improperly stored and/or acquired in her posession there is a whole 'nother investigation which will go on to determine everything about the trail of that material, such as where it originated from, the circumstances under which it was passed to her, who paseed it to her, why it was passed to her, and (last but not least) what the use(es) of that material was.

B-L-A-M-M-O!!!!!

PB

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Oh wait, WHAT?

It keeps getting stranger by the hour, isn't it?

[MADem]

26. Potentially in violation of federal law? That's a sweet way of putting it. She's screwed. nt

[AlexSatan]

42. That is what I was thinking

If she has classified at home, there is no "potential" about it.

[riverwalker]

31. CNN: Broadwell's security clearance suspended

CNN Breaking News?@cnnbrk

U.S. officials: Paula Broadwell's security clearance has been suspended pending outcome of investigations
NBC News?@NBCNews

A U.S. Army official tells NBC News that Paula Broadwell's security clearance and access have been suspended

[GP6971]

34. That shouldn't come as a surprise

what they've done is place an "Adverse" report on her clearance which effectively suspends the clearance until an investigation is completed. If there is no wrongdoing, then the Adverse report is rescinded.