FBI investigating how Petraeus biographer Broadwell obtained classified files

[alp227]

Source: washington post

The FBI is making a new push to determine how a woman who had an affair with retired Gen. David H. Petraeus when he was CIA director obtained classified files, part of an expanding series of investigations in a scandal that also threatens the career of the United States’ top military commander in Afghanistan.

Senior law enforcement officials said that a late-night seizure on Monday of boxes of material from the North Carolina home of Paula Broadwell, a Petraeus biographer whose affair with him led to his resignation last week, marks a renewed focus by investigators on sensitive material found in her possession.

“The issue of national security is still on the table,” one U.S. law enforcement official said. Both Petraeus and Broadwell have denied to investigators that he was the source of any classified information, officials said.

The surprise move by the FBI follows previous assertions by U.S. officials that the investigation had turned up no evidence of a security breach — a factor that was cited as a reason the Justice Department did not notify the White House before last week that the CIA director had been ensnared in an e-mail inquiry.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/fbi-investigating-how-petraeus-biographer-broadwell-obtained-classified-files/2012/11/13/e61a5cfc-2dd5-11e2-beb2-4b4cf5087636_singlePage.html

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Will this story finally change the narrative from a mere SEXXXXXX SCANDAAAAALLLLL!!!!1!!!! to a matter of national security?

[Poll_Blind]

1. Agreed. But the vampire-themed pee-parties are an eye-catcher.

I think I've only made 2-3 posts about the actual thing I think is important here: The first was, it's odd for him to have resigned over this. The second and third are a result of Broadwell's unusually candid (and authoritatively delivered) assertions about the CIA holding militants causing the Benghazi thing- delivered at her U of Denver alumni speech.

Those aren't as fun to riff about as wife-swapping, vibrating butt eggs, etc. But the very real possibility that he handed over classified intel to her (regardless of whether or not it was ultimately proved correct) and the slight (but explosive) possibility that she may have been one of the major leakers that's been plaguing the White House for the last few years.... Well, that is a big deal.

PB

[msongs]

2. she had a lot of time to ditch evidence from her house. is she that dumb to leave it there? nt

[DURHAM D]

4. I hope the FBI was smart enough to figure out if she has a storage unit.

[DURHAM D]

3. About damn time.

That has been my major interest from the get go.

[Whisp]

5. Maddow said there's nothing to see here.

move along. it's just picadillos.

let's not go all Hoover.

[bigdarryl]

9. How the hell does Meddow know what the FBI has

[Whisp]

18. I agree. I thought that was pretty weak of her

the story is still developing and she's saying Forgetaboutit.

To me the story is about Paula and her Denver speech about CIA having prisoners in Libya. Maybe Rach ain't all that and a bag of chips after all.

[bama_blue_dot]

6. It sounds to me as if she

wanted these things to be found.. They had an affair, it ended, she was bitter, got her FBI friend to start this, etc, etc..

[MADem]

11. It wasn't "her" FBI friend. It was the friend of the woman in FL that she was harassing w/anonymous

e-mails.

I think this was a whole lot of pissed off, and a little bit of crazy, and put those two things together, and a chain reaction started that NO ONE anticipated.

Now the only question is, what else might be revealed?

[WinstonSmith4740]

7. I'm having a problem with this...

Senior law enforcement officials said that a late-night seizure on Monday of boxes of material from the North Carolina home of Paula Broadwell...

Boxes? Really, boxes? Something really stinks here. This is beyond "access" to classified material. What possible reason is there for her to have had boxes of material in her apartment? Am I the only one who's thinking "spy", or have I watched on too many Bond movies?

[juajen]

8. Yeah, something is funny.

I had a thought at one time that she had promised a book on General Allen (?) and asked him for info for the book. This would explain the volume of info he foolishly gave her, and the possibility of it being classified. If she leaked anything that was classified, then I now understand why she needed a criminal lawyer. Question: Where did she get the money to hire the lawyer. What does her husband do, and what does her bank account say is her financial condition. I know she had a book out, but how many books did she sell?

[HereSince1628]

14. She's the author of a book about Petraeus. I have file boxes of files from my book projects

This stuff taken from her home may very well amount to nothing, but Petraeus had one of the most privileged security positions in the US and she had unusual access to Petraeus.

The FBI rummaging through boxes of likely worthless stuff seems like SOP for an investigation that at minimum is aimed at checking for leaks of national security material.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. FBI search grabs EVERYTHING, boxes it up, for later examination.

Amazing that she gave consent for the search, really.
But they do take anything that might be worth further examination, so it does not mean all the boxes were full of classified docs.
think about the papers you have in your home..tax returns, reciepts, resumes, mortgage papers, bank papers, etc.
My "stuff" would fill a dozen boxes, I have 2 filing cabinets and 2 desks of paper.
All of that would be grabbed and looked over back at the FBI office.

[sarcasmo]

21. My two cents, it's going to come out she is a Spy, no other explination for the boxes of material.

[pnwmom]

10. I read somewhere else that she had her own security clearance,

which means she could have had access to at least some classified documents

I haven't read anything mentioning that the content of the files had been connected to P.

[MADem]

12. I think the stuff might have been a result of her own access--the problem is, it didn't belong on

her laptop...

We'll just have to wait to find out what the stuff actually was and where she got it. If she got it from Petraeus, I smell toast.

Her writing sentences that contain information that the US has classified does not always make that material classified (you can find a lot of "classified" material in foreign language publications, for example; and it is incumbent upon the imparter of the material to make the classification level of the conversation clear). However, if she's got copies of message traffic on her computer that is classified, with classification markings assigned, that's a different situation.

It's a very curious case, certainly.

[Justice]

13. I heard Petraeus named Broadwell his archivist; she had his materials that he wanted back,

plus materials for a second book she was writing.

That is what they supposedly seized.

[Coyotl]

15. ABC w/VIDEO: Patraeus Scandal: Paula Broadwell in Classified Document Probe

Patraeus Scandal: Paula Broadwell in Classified Document Probe
http://abcnews.go.com/US/patraeus-scandal-paula-broadwell-classified-document-probe/story?id=17714560

[Coyotl]

16. CBS w/VIDEO: Broadwell warned Gen. Allen = "seductress" Jill Kelley

Sources: Paula Broadwell warned Gen. Allen against "seductress" Jill Kelley
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505266_162-57549505/sources-paula-broadwell-warned-gen-allen-against-seductress-jill-kelley/

A senior official has told CBS News correspondent David Martin the vast majority of the emails between Allen and Tampa socialite Jill Kelley were "completely innocuous," and the general believes many of the 20-30,000 pages under scrutiny are duplicates.

WRONG!! There are 20-30,000 pages of docs under review, including "hundreds of e-mails" RATHER THAN so many e-mails.

[Kingofalldems]

17. All republicans in this one

[skeptic at heart]

20. This is most likely political espionage

committed by the same group of conservative, wealthy, white men who also bought women to unseat, or attempt to unseat Clinton, Spitzer, Weiner etc. They were probably trying to undermine the President's reelection by finding something that would discredit his foreign policy standing. That would explain the Benghazi statement and repeated attempts by the Repubs to imply that it was not handled correctly. If only the individuals behind this attempt would be revealed and punished. These women are only pawns.

[warrior1]

22. Umm he gave them to her?

[Uncle Joe]

23. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, alp.