International
0

FBI Pursues Charges Against Ex-CIA Boss

FBI Pursues Charges Against Ex-CIA Boss
FBI Pursues Charges Against Ex-CIA Boss

US justice department and the FBI have recommended filing criminal charges against former CIA chief David Petraeus for allegedly leaking classified information to his subordinate, with whom he had an affair.

The FBI and prosecutors finished their probe into the matter last year and presented their findings to top Justice Department lawyers, according to the two officials, who asked for anonymity, Bloomberg reported.

The officials said agents and prosecutors have expressed frustration that a decision on whether to file criminal charges has yet to be made by Attorney General Eric Holder, whose tenure as the nation’s top law enforcement official is drawing to a close. Holder in September said he would resign pending confirmation of a replacement.

Petraeus, 62, resigned from his Central Intelligence Agency post on in November 2012, after his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, became public.

The former CIA chief has acknowledged the extramarital affair, which began about two months after he took over as CIA director in 2011 and ended four months before he resigned. After the affair came to light, he voiced regret for the “pain” caused by the relationship with Broadwell, a counter-terrorism expert and lieutenant-colonel, and pledged to try to “make amends to those I have hurt and let down.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation found a significant volume of classified information on a personal computer Broadwell used and determined it came from Petraeus, according to one of the US officials.

After FBI agents discovered the classified material, Broadwell’s defense department security clearance was revoked, a US military official who was briefed on the case said in 2012.

The extent of the security breach isn’t clear. President Barack Obama said in November 2012 that he’d seen no evidence that classified information was disclosed that “in any way would have had a negative impact on the national security.”

 

Financialtribune.com