Petraeus, Allen letters in custody battle slammed as inappropriate
Source: Agencies |
November 17, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
NATALIE Khawam had been through a contentious divorce and had lost custody of her four-year-old son after a bitter court battle against her ex-husband.
The judge in Washington who denied custody of the boy to Khawam last year has characterized her as a financially and emotionally troubled woman who built many of her court arguments around false and dramatic claims of abuse.
It's not clear whether then-CIA Director David Petraeus and General John Allen knew all of that eight weeks ago, when they each wrote letters to the judge supporting Khawam's appeal for custody of the boy.
Even so, the letters were unwise and inappropriate, according to military and intelligence analysts who say the expressions of support for Khawam have become symbols of questionable behavior by two of the nation's top warriors.
Khawam's twin sister, Jill Kelley, is at the center of the sex scandal that forced Petraeus, a retired Army general, to resign from the CIA and revealed what investigators called "flirtatious" e-mails between Allen and Kelley.
The letters from Petraeus and Allen - written as the FBI was uncovering the scandal - suggest they did not follow military and intelligence guidelines that warn senior officers to avoid linking their official work with personal activities in their civilian lives.
"I am shocked that they wrote those letters, and I am shocked that no one on their staff said to them, 'We need to find out more about these people,'" said Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former adviser to the Defense Department.
Military lawyers would have told Petraeus and Allen that "the intervention of someone of your level in a pending litigation is going to be a big deal and get you into hot water," Brooks said. "...Other people's marriages are really complicated. Just the words 'custody battle' in court should have been enough."
Retired Colonel Chuck Allen, professor of leadership and cultural studies at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania, said senior officers are told to avoid such situations because "it might look as though you are trying to impress or pull rank on somebody who really isn't under your purview. What you don't want is to imply an endorsement by the institution."
Petraeus retired from the Army in 2011 to take over at the CIA; Allen is the current commander of US forces in Afghanistan. Their letters gave glowing accounts of Khawam, 37, who befriended the duo when they served at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
The base is home to the US Central Command, which runs military operations in the Middle East and South Asia.
It was Kelley who set off the investigation that revealed the sex scandal that forced Petraeus to step down as CIA chief.
The judge in Washington who denied custody of the boy to Khawam last year has characterized her as a financially and emotionally troubled woman who built many of her court arguments around false and dramatic claims of abuse.
It's not clear whether then-CIA Director David Petraeus and General John Allen knew all of that eight weeks ago, when they each wrote letters to the judge supporting Khawam's appeal for custody of the boy.
Even so, the letters were unwise and inappropriate, according to military and intelligence analysts who say the expressions of support for Khawam have become symbols of questionable behavior by two of the nation's top warriors.
Khawam's twin sister, Jill Kelley, is at the center of the sex scandal that forced Petraeus, a retired Army general, to resign from the CIA and revealed what investigators called "flirtatious" e-mails between Allen and Kelley.
The letters from Petraeus and Allen - written as the FBI was uncovering the scandal - suggest they did not follow military and intelligence guidelines that warn senior officers to avoid linking their official work with personal activities in their civilian lives.
"I am shocked that they wrote those letters, and I am shocked that no one on their staff said to them, 'We need to find out more about these people,'" said Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University and a former adviser to the Defense Department.
Military lawyers would have told Petraeus and Allen that "the intervention of someone of your level in a pending litigation is going to be a big deal and get you into hot water," Brooks said. "...Other people's marriages are really complicated. Just the words 'custody battle' in court should have been enough."
Retired Colonel Chuck Allen, professor of leadership and cultural studies at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania, said senior officers are told to avoid such situations because "it might look as though you are trying to impress or pull rank on somebody who really isn't under your purview. What you don't want is to imply an endorsement by the institution."
Petraeus retired from the Army in 2011 to take over at the CIA; Allen is the current commander of US forces in Afghanistan. Their letters gave glowing accounts of Khawam, 37, who befriended the duo when they served at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.
The base is home to the US Central Command, which runs military operations in the Middle East and South Asia.
It was Kelley who set off the investigation that revealed the sex scandal that forced Petraeus to step down as CIA chief.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
