The Sins Of General David Petraeus

[Tino]

From what I've heard, part of the reason he left is because they have a strict policy with high ranking military and/or intelligence officers that says you can't have any affairs. They're afraid you'll wind up with a Mata Hari and accidentally compromise national security secrets. While I think that specific rule may need to be looked at somewhat, it would be difficult for him to command the respect of the genrals under him if he can't follow the same rules he expects them to follow.

A little bit more on this TJ. I've been through the polygraphs they give for high level clearances, and the issue isn't that you can't have had an affair, used drugs, had gay relationships or any other "problem" - it's whether the situation exists that you can be blackmailed with it. When Patraeus took over the CIA he would have needed to be re-polygraphed, and would have been asked questions that would have revealed the affair. So the question is why this didn't raise the issue at the time - or perhaps it did. Did he lie about it, or was this step skipped in his hiring, or did he reveal it and it's just now being used. I'm interested to see the answers to those questions as they are learned.