Talk about a soap opera! David Petraeus initially was in the Army doing things such as commanding the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Between 2010-2011 he retired from the Army and went on to be the Director of the CIA. Petraeus no longer has his job because, in late 2011 Petraeus begins to have an affair with Paula Broadwell, an author. For some odd reason Broadwell was sending threatening e-mails to Jill Kelley, a friend of the Petraeus family. Kelley went on to inform the FBI of what was happening, but apparently the FBI agent that she contacted responded by sending her inapproriate photos of himself with his shirt off. The initial investigation on Petraeus and Broadwell lead into other details. Details such as commander in Afghanistan Gen. John Allen sending Kelley between 20,000-30,000 pages of e-mails spanning over two years. For now, Allen will remain the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. As the facts of these e-mails unfolds, we’ll see what happens next. Tune in. Check down bottom for more.
The nature of the communications between Allen and Kelley remains unclear. The senior defense official said officials are reviewing 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents — mostly emails — between 2010 and 2012. The official would only say “there is the distinct possibility” this case is connected to the Petraeus investigation.
That investigation, it appears, it still ongoing. FBI agents on Monday conducted a search of Broadwell’s home in Charlotte, N.C. FBI agents appeared at Broadwell’s home carrying the kinds of cardboard boxes often used for evidence gathering during a search. They walked through the open garage of Broadwell’s house and knocked at a side door before entering the home, but refused to talk to the media.
Further, Fox News confirms that the FBI agent who originally spurred the Petraeus investigation was taken off the case because authorities grew concerned about his relationship with Kelley. Kelley had alerted this agent to her concerns about the harassing emails from the start, but the agent was removed from the case over the summer because of his behavior, which included sending shirtless photos of himself to Kelley. He now faces an internal investigation.
As for Allen, for now he will remain the head of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan. However, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has referred the case to the Pentagon’s inspector general’s office for investigation. For the time being, Allen’s nomination to be commander of U.S. European Command and commander of NATO forces in Europe is on hold. Allen was scheduled to have a nomination hearing for that position Thursday and had been expected to take that new post in early 2013, if confirmed by the Senate, as had been widely expected.
