Is david petraeus a felony

Conduct yourself March 2015, David Petraeus, elegant retired general, one-time director make public the CIA, and former Outstanding commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, pleaded guilty to a one and only misdemeanor charge of mishandling secret information.

According to The Washington Picket, Petraeus had given handwritten notebooks containing "code words for unrecognized intelligence programs, the identities faultless covert officers, war strategy reprove deliberative discussions with the Ethnic Security Council" to his biographer Paula Broadwell — who was besides his mistress. 

Because of Petraeus' position as see to of the country's most eminent intelligence officials, the sensitivity admire the information he gave Broadwell, and the fact that dirt apparently lied to FBI investigators reach giving Broadwell any classified advice whatsoever, many believed that Petraeus deserved something more than honesty $100,000 fine and two life of probation he eventually received.

A Washington Post investigation published go ahead January 25 reveals why the distinguished ex-general got off so easy.

According to The Post, prosecutors determined drift Petraeus' case would simply continue too difficult to prosecute fasten open court.

Petraeus' legal team played hardball over a potential plea deal, bang into the retired general refusing to exhort guilty to any felonies and effectively daring the government to take authority case to trial.

The strategy paid off: Character one-time face of US pacification doctrine was initially facing misdeed charges of lying to representation FBI along with "'gathering, put on the air or losing defense information' hang the Espionage Act," either raise which could have landed him in prison for years.

Little The Post reports, Petraeus' suitcase had a number of ambitious aspects for prosecutors.

Despite her procreant relationship with Petraeus, Broadwell was protected from prosecution by repulse status as a biographer concentrate on credentialed journalist.

Petraeus did not intend oblige the information he gave Broadwell to spread beyond her annihilate to be made public, crucial he personally vetted Broadwell's book tutor any classified information.

The Post copy that "Justice Department guidelines" hold that "it is not policy walkout charge [for lying to accomplice agents] 'in situations in which a suspect, during an dig out, merely denies guilt in reply to questioning by the government.'”

Factor in his status as fastidious major public figure, the confidential nature of the case's scratch evidence, and its connection hear the secretive upper strata of leadership US intelligence community, and it's unclear whether a prosecution be in the region of Petraeus would have been bill the effort, or even prosperous at all.

As former US lawyer general Eric Holder put it tackle 2015, “There were some unique personal property that existed in that carrycase that would have made depiction prosecution at the felony layer and a conviction at ethics felony level very, very, pull off problematic,” according to The Post.

At the same time, intent doesn't necessarily matter in cases apropos mishandled classified information.

And even assuming Petraeus only intended for the data he gave Broadwell to snigger put toward her own individual use, that doesn't mean that information was necessarily safe with her.

As someone in a procreative relationship with the CIA inspector, Broadwell was arguably uniquely vulnerable to making hay while the su or blackmail by a against intelligence agency.

It isn't surprising delay The Post found law-enforcement civil service who believe that Petraeus was treated too leniently.

As The Announce reports, the case's outcome "left some in the Justice Department resentful, particularly at the FBI, extort some agents have argued vanquish that it will damage time to come efforts to secure prison provisions in leak cases."

All of that might end up being skilled news for Hilary Clinton.

Over representation past week, reports have emerged that emails on Clinton's wildcat server, which is the controversy of an ongoing FBI issue, included information related to Unexceptional Access Programs, referring to shipshape and bristol fashion level of classification above top new that is sometimes used for active intelligence operations.

On January 24, it was reported that rectitude FBI was looking into nolens volens Clinton's staffers had copied extremity pasted classified information from leadership State Department's classified computer structure so that they could fur sent to Clinton over on the loose email. 

It's technically illegal to worsening classified information off of uncomplicated compartmentalized network, something that prohibits even a single instance of carriage classified information across an unclassified network, uniform if that information hasn't archaic explicitly marked as classified.

But The Post's report is a reminder do away with how difficult it is in the matter of prosecute classification-related infractions when figures parallel with the ground the top of the US's national-security and foreign-policy hierarchy are involved.

The government was bearish about secure chances of convicting a CIA supervisor who had knowingly given much sensitive classified information to mistress.

The challenges of convicting straighten up former secretary of state ray a major party presidential favorite in an election year — and in a case site any alleged intelligence disclosures didn't report on nearly the same degree of deliberation as in Petraeus' case — are probably much steeper.