It's like that John Hiatt song:
"I'm just so easily led
when the little head
does the thinkin'"!

(ear worm alert!)

I don't see the email as the problem.
The bigger issue is that we now have a government that either can't or won't mind their own business. This was the electronic version of the TSA on steroids.
Everyone has a few skeletons in their closet, and if the government can go on fishing expeditions through everyone's computer, THEY WILL FIND SOMETHING.
Remember that kiddie porn site that came up on your computer when your pop up blocking software was malfunctioning?
Yea, neither do I, but that can be bootstrapped into four years in prison buddy, so watch your back.

Karl Denninger over at the Market Ticker really flays Petraeus aboutthis. He goes into a bit of detail bout how easy it is to use PGP and an e-mail client to create robust privacy.
I'm guessing that even though he's "top spook," Petraeus has no personal knowledge of tradecraft and relies on minions to tend such details professionally. The stupid - it burns!

> Sex Makes People Stupid

Verily.

A serious timeline.

The bigger issue is that we now have a government that either can't or won't mind their own business. This was the electronic version of the TSA on steroids.

While I agree with your sentiment, I don't think it's "now" in particular. How did this come out? A woman who appears to like to flirt with powerful men persuaded one of them (the FBI agent) to conduct an investigation in the absence of compelling federal interest. People using their ties to other folks with power to pursue their own petty vendettas is an old story and one that will probably never vanish.

An unserious timeline.

> People using their ties to other folks with
> power to pursue their own petty vendettas is
> an old story

The acceptance and complicity of the American voter is new.

Gotta be.

OK, I bungled the unserious timeline: Here it is.

That JJ thing was just the best joke of the day so far.

Moar & moar.

People here have probably heard this before, but it's always cracked me up:

A husband and wife were dining at a fine restaurant when a stunning young woman comes over to their table, gives the husband a kiss, says she'll see him later, and walks away.

His wife glares at him. "Who the hell was that?"

"Oh," replies the husband, "she's my mistress."

"Well, that's the last straw," says the wife. "I've had enough, and I want a divorce."

"I can understand that," replies her husband, "but remember, if we get a divorce it means that you don't get any more shopping trips to Paris, no more wintering in Barbados, no more summers in Tuscany, no more Ferraris and Lexus's in the garage and no more yacht club. But the decision is yours."

Just then, a mutual friend enters the restaurant with a gorgeous babe on his arm.

"Who's that woman with Jim?" asks the wife.

"That's his mistress," says her husband.

"Ours is prettier," she replies.

Sex is more important than murder. Nothing else matters.

You can even sell your country to the Chinese while people gossip about sex.

If this guy was a Democrat, it would be no big deal.

BlogDog's right about the Denninger posting, well worth a glance.

☑ Meloni Joke

"Sex Makes People Stupid"

We should have a class based on that fact early as the 3th Grade. "Sex makes you Stupid" should get equal time in our mythology with all the "True Love" crap. It would be a step forward in human evolution when a sixteen year old thinks "Holy crap, Sex does makes ya Stupid!" instead of "I'm in love the glory shall last forever."

If an experienced, worldly General/CIA head doesn't understand this basic human principle, we really need to get the word out.

We should have a class based on that fact early as the 3th Grade. "Sex makes you Stupid" should get equal time in our mythology with all the "True Love" crap. It would be a step forward in human evolution when a sixteen year old thinks "Holy crap, Sex does makes ya Stupid!" instead of "I'm in love the glory shall last forever."

If an experienced, worldly General/CIA head doesn't understand this basic human principle, we really need to get the word out.

Posted by: bmused at November 14, 2012 1:01 PM
______________________________

In 1955, Harlan Ellison wrote the book "Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled."

In the same vein, though, abstinence also makes you stupid when you're a teen. This is one reason 18-year-old virgin brides used to be much more common in the U.S. - and even if the marriages didn't break up, chances are they weren't too happy either.

Not that I have any simple solutions.

I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here for a minute. Gen P has never seemed like a stupid man. He's trained in military maneuvers to out flank, out gun, ambush, etc his opponents. As the head of the CIA, he was probably tied in knots knowing things behind the scenes that could blow the lid off of this Administration.
So, now that he's a private citizen, and going to testify in front of congress, what will he be able to reveal that he would not have been able to as the Director of the CIA?

Ok, so I read a lot of mystery novels, but I can hope, can't I?

"Ours is prettier," she replies. -- Meloni at November 14, 2012 11:06 AM

This is a very pertinent comment. The military cannot actively charge Petraeus. Unless they were caught in the act in act or could prove element 3 (below) applied then maybe they could. About the only way the military can charge adultery is if the wife complains. Most military spouses are smart enough that if they are are going to go for the adultery charge it is going to be early on in the spouse's career. At the 15-17 year mark it is worth dealing with it and divorcing when the spouse retires and they get half the pension.

Even the Petraeus' resignation letter doesn't give them the evidence they would need.

Petraeus took a polygraph when he became the CIA director. And the investigation caused by Kelly against Broadwell started at least 9 months before Benghazi.

Do you believe that the investigation of a CIA chief would not have reached Obama's desk?

Article 134 (Adultery):
b. Elements.

(1) That the accused wrongfully had sexual intercourse with a certain person;

(2) That, at the time, the accused or the other person was married to someone else; and

(3) That, under the circumstances, the conduct of the accused was to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces or was of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces.

> what will he be able to reveal that he
> would not have been able to as the Director
> of the CIA?

Not much, I fear...

> Ok, so I read a lot of mystery novels, but
> I can hope, can't I?

I seriously admire your thinking, because it's (A) optimistic and (B) contrarian, and those pennies rarely share a pocket.

But the thing is, while there are still thousands of firms out there who'd like to have Petraeus on the payroll, the best-paying and most influential ones will require him to work within the conventions of DC morality, both sexually and politically. Guys in the M/I complex can't cheat on their wives or burn their superiors publicly... And if they get caught in a big way, they'll be made to grovel so pathetically that they'll wish they'd made quiet careers in insurance.

(Exceptions live quietly.)

So I think Patraeus' options for renegade truth-telling are pretty limited.

Furthermore, Amy's analysis of the email scheme these two used is not much less sophisticated than that offered by security superhero Bruce Schneir. She's right: This guy was not a security genius. (Follow the link in blogdog's comment for more on the tech of it all.) It's possible that Petraeus' mastery was entirely bureaucratic; that he was good at flattering the right people and initialing the right memos, but holds no grand insight into world affairs or human nature (especially as viewed morally).

Otherwise, this begins to look like the Tiger Woods thing, or the Bill Clinton pattern... Such a tasteless, dispassionate, and risky selection of partners as to be more about taunting fate than about nookie or love.

And if Patraeus has important secret information about Benghazi or anything else, he's probably got his own fingerprints on some filthy pages of the file, with edgy witnesses in his staff who'd expose him if he tried to deny it.

But for the last time (well, the last time tonight)... Let's all agree that government is not a realm of erotic fulfillment... At least, not on the illicit side of the coin. Consider this newpaper report, which is handsomely unpolished. I mean, these people were all effed up. They were not thoughtfully engaged in a challenging, well-rooted social circle. These were seventh-graders with security clearance.




> Do you believe that the investigation
> of a CIA chief would not have reached
> Obama's desk?

Yes, I do. I certainly believe it would not (and DID not) arrive without compromised purpose. I don't trust my government to run a clean shop.