Retired four-star general and former CIA director David Petraeus will plead guilty to mishandling classified information, reported NBC News. However, despite Petraeus’ reckless behavior, the plea agreement states that he will receive no jail time.
In 2012, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI alleged that Petraeus gave secret information to Paula Broadwell, who was writing a book about the retired general. She was also Petraeus’ mistress.
Petraeus gave Broadwell eight black books that contained various forms of sensitive information including the names of US spies, military information, and presidential briefings. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina, Petraeus “maintained bound, five-by-eight inch notebooks that contained his daily schedule and classified and unclassified notes he took during official meetings, conferences and briefings.”
The Daily Beast reported that the black books “collectively contained classified information regarding the identities of covert officers, war strategy, intelligence capabilities and mechanisms, diplomatic discussions, quotes and deliberative discussions from high-level national Security council meetings . . . and discussions with the President of the United States.”
In October 2012, while he was CIA director, the FBI interviewed Petraeus because of their suspicions that the retired general was unlawfully sharing classified information. Petraeus denied the allegations, although he had delivered the black books to Broadwell some time prior to the interview.
The plea deal is intended to avoid a public trial that would outline the detailed information of Petraeus’ relationship with Broadwell, mainly because he’s still married to his wife, Holly, reported The Daily Beast.
Terms of the plea agreement say that Petraeus will receive two years of probation and a $40,000 fine. That’s all. He plays fast and loose with sensitive information and all he gets is probation and a fine. The government wanted to throw the book at Edward Snowden, and his leak was a noble exposure of government misbehavior. The fallen general merely gave secret information to his mistress.
