How disgraced general Petaeus avoided prison.

[Platapus]

This story disgusts me.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...mepage%2Fstory

...Petraeus admitted that he improperly removed and retained highly sensitive information in eight personal notebooks that he gave to Broadwell. The Justice Department said the information, if disclosed, could have caused “exceptionally grave damage” [aka Top Secret]. Officials said the notebooks contained code words for secret intelligence programs, the identities of covert officers, war strategy and deliberative discussions with the National Security Council.

50 USC Section 421-426 aka the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 establishes a federal crime to deliberately expose the identity of covert officers (among others) to anyone who does not have a proper clearance and need to know. Petraeus admitted to committing the crime. What else did the prosecution need???

If I even thought of this, the government would be on me like a ton of bricks and I am just a low level research minion. I guess it is good to be a general.

“Oaths do matter, and there are indeed consequences for those who believe they are above the laws that protect our fellow officers and enable American intelligence agencies to operate with the requisite degree of secrecy,” Petraeus had said.

That was from

http://www.jonathanpollard.org/2012/102312.htm

What's hypocrisy when you have already given classified information in exchange for a snarlin' or two?

Even worse, this POS gets to retire.... with a pay raise to boot [active general salary is capped, but retirement pay is not]. Some punishment. Not even a slap on the wrist.

In the military, we used to joke about "different spanks for different ranks" but it is really not funny at all. How can we expect young troops to respect their oaths when high ranking military/government people can walk?

I would like to know at what level do the laws stop applying? I think that is important information for anyone considering a government position if they want to betray their oaths.

I am just disgusted with Petraeus. He is a man without honour.

[Torplexed]

Yeah, he sure was.

[August]

I never liked the guy. He was too into wearing medals and badges.

[Commander Wallace]

It seems the higher up the chain you go, the dumber they get.

Air Force Chief Chuck Horner along with General Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell seemed like a knowledgeable group. They were together during desert Storm. I'm not sure what everyone else thinks.

Sadly, General Schwarzkopf passed away December 27, 2012

[Oberon]

Stormin' Norman always seemed like a pretty forthright guy, I never knew what to make of Petaeus, always seemed a little too smart for his own good. Guess he was smart enough to know how to play the system to his benefit.

[Stealhead]

In my experience things got in done in spite of higher ranking officers much of the time. To me they seemed like pensil pushers that only looked at metrics but didn't have a true understanding of what was going on.

[Cybermat47]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

In my experience things got in done in spite of higher ranking officers much of the time. To me they seemed like pensil pushers that only looked at metrics but didn't have a true understanding of what was going on.

Really? Shameful display for military officers

How can you win a war if you don't know the state of your soldiers? Apparently you don't, the soldiers win it for you.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Cybermat47

[...] How can you win a war if you don't know the state of your soldiers? Apparently you don't, the soldiers win it for you. [...]

I beg your pardon? When, in military history, has the fate of individual soldiers ever mattered, to a "general", or military leader 'in general' ?

If there ever was any "care", it was about what can be done to keep them in the fight, from being fed, to ideology, to psychology whether soldiers will fight on when they know they e.g. know they have to die of radiation. In my "career" in the military i have stumbled about the most gross idiots i ever heard of.
The boredom, and the unprofessionality, along with formal drill done by braindead brats..
It may be all nice and polished from outside, but from technical maintenance to professionality of officers, to the real state the military is in..

[August]

Originally Posted by Catfish

It may be all nice and polished from outside, but from technical maintenance to professionality of officers, to the real state the military is in..

The state of a peacetime military in a country that hasn't fought a war in 75 years you mean. That does make a big difference. The martinets and the idiots tend to fade away once the shooting starts.

[Platapus]

Deutch was another loser.

https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/...s-1/deutch.pdf

He had a long history of handling classified information on unclassified computers hooked up to the Internet, while he was the DCI! He also stored classified information in his three residencies and none of them were approved for storage.

He first put classified information on unclassified computers 35 days after becoming DCI. How much information are we talking about?

The equivalent of 17,000 pages of classified information... not exactly a simple oversight.

Punishment? Bah, that's for the little people.

After his presidential pardon, Deutch is back earning the big bucks on several intelligence related commissions.

Yeah, that's justice.

[Jimbuna]

Stormin' Norman reminded me of Patton.

I never really knew much about Petaeus but what little I've read on the subject he may well be a lucky man.