Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




MILPLEX
US Congress to grill spy chiefs over Petraeus probe
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Nov 12, 2012


Fresh reports piled pressure on Monday on FBI and CIA officials to explain the circumstances and timing of an investigation that ended the storied career of spy chief David Petraeus just three days after President Barack Obama's re-election.

Petraeus, an American hero credited with turning the tide of the Iraq war, resigned as head of the Central Intelligence Agency on Friday after admitting an extramarital affair, sparking concerns of a security breach and sending shockwaves around Washington.

A leading Republican on Sunday questioned why, if there were serious concerns about comprised intelligence, it had taken several months for the FBI to finally notify the Obama administration.

"It just doesn't add up," Peter King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. "I have real questions about this. I think a timeline has to be looked at and analyzed to see what happened."

The questions were expected to multiply following a New York Times report on Monday that high-level officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department had known about Petraeus's affair since late summer, but did not notify anybody outside of the agencies until last week.

The law requires that the Senate and House intelligence committees be kept "fully and currently informed" of what the CIA and FBI are doing.

And Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein made it clear Sunday she was not pleased.

Appearing on the "Fox News Sunday" television show, she said she wanted to know why the FBI didn't notify the intelligence committees sooner.

"We should have been told," Feinstein remarked.

The US government is closed on Monday as part of the Veterans Day holiday. But on Tuesday, when the government reopens, senior FBI and CIA officials were scheduled to meet with leading members of Congress to bring them up to date about details of the probe, media reports said.

It has emerged that the woman he was having an affair with is Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old former Army major granted unprecedented access to the general as she co-authored a best-selling biography: "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

Newspaper reports on Sunday revealed that the affair came to light after the FBI was called in as part of a criminal investigation launched when a second woman complained that she had received vicious emails from Broadwell.

The threatening and harassing emails from Broadwell, a married mother of two, indicated that she thought the other woman was a potential rival for the 60-year-old general's affections, officials told the US media.

A government official told The New York Post that the emails contained such language as: "I know what you did," "back off" and "stay away from my guy."

-- Second woman --

US media identified the other woman as 37-year-old Jill Kelley, a "social liaison" to a Florida air force base who apparently had a longstanding friendship with Petraeus but no official status in the military.

The recipient of the emails was so frightened, according to the Washington Post, that several months ago she went to the FBI for protection and to help track down the sender.

The FBI soon uncovered Broadwell's sexually explicit correspondence with Petraeus, leading to initial fears of a national security breach if someone had broken into the CIA chief's private email account.

Broadwell lives in North Carolina with her radiologist husband Scott and their two young sons. She planned to celebrate her 40th birthday with a big party in Washington this weekend, but the event was reportedly canceled.

Kelley said in a statement that her family and the Petraeuses had been friends for five years. Her husband, also named Scott, is an oncologist.

"We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children," she said in the statement sent to ABC News.

A close friend of Petraeus told ABC News it was "very clear there was nothing going on other than friendship" between the general and Kelley.

-- Replacement headache --

Obama's director of national intelligence James Clapper was only informed of the situation on Tuesday evening, providing a dramatic behind-the-scenes backdrop to the president's re-election night.

Clapper discussed things with Petraeus on Wednesday and advised him "the right thing to do would be to resign," an intelligence official told the Times. Obama was not told until Thursday morning, the White House said.

Republicans have pointed to the fact that Petraeus was days away from testifying about the September 11 attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya as evidence of some kind of conspiracy.

Petraeus had been due to testify Thursday about the Benghazi attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans. CIA deputy director Michael Morell, now acting director, will testify in his place.

The stunning departure of Petraeus has left Obama with an added headache as he begins his second term.

The president will likely have to replace not only departing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but also Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.

One name being floated as a possible Petraeus replacement is John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and a CIA veteran who has played an instrumental role in Obama's drone war against Al-Qaeda militants.

.


Related Links
The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








MILPLEX
Algeria eyes 1,200 armoured vehicles from Germany: report
Berlin (AFP) Nov 11, 2012
A subsidiary of Germany's Rheinmetall, a specialist maker of automotive parts and defence equipment, intends to produce up to 1,200 Fuch-type armoured vehicles for Algeria, Der Spiegel said Sunday. According to Monday's edition of the weekly, which quoted government sources, the German government believes that the Rheinmetall subsidiary will produce in Algeria over the next 10 years 1,200 ar ... read more


MILPLEX
Moon crater yields impact clues

Study: Moon basin formed by giant impact

NASA's LADEE Spacecraft Gets Final Science Instrument Installed

Astrium presents results of its study into automatic landing near the Moon's south pole

MILPLEX
More Driving And Imaging At 'Matijevic Hill'

Curiosity Team Switches Back to Earth Time

Survey of 'Matijevic Hill' Continues

Mars Longevity Champ Switching Computers

MILPLEX
Obama Win Keeps NASA's Space Plans on Course

Next steps into the final frontier

CSA: Canada finds its space in space

Clarkson Professor Co-writes Book Promoting Space Exploration

MILPLEX
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

MILPLEX
Crew Prepares for Spacewalk After Progress Docks

Crew Preparing for Cargo Ship, Spacewalk

Russian cargo ship docks with ISS: official

Packed Week Ahead for Six-Member Crew

MILPLEX
Ariane 5 is poised for Arianespace's launch with the EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

Ariane 5 orbits EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3 satellites

Arianespace's heavy-lift Ariane 5 flight is cleared for liftoff with EUTELSAT 21B and Star One C3

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building Prepared for Multiple Rockets

MILPLEX
Discovery of a Giant Gap in the Disk of a Sun-like Star May Indicate Multiple Planets

New habitable zone super-Earth found in exosolar system

Cosmic sprinklers explained in active planetary nebula

Nearby six-planet system could be life friendly

MILPLEX
India unveils new version of 'world's cheapest tablet'

Buzz building for debut of Wii U videogame console

NASA tests 'interplanetary Internet'

Atmospheric CO2 risks increasing space junk: study




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement