Keeping Secrets At the State Department

RETIRED GENERAL DAVID PETRAEUS is reportedly being considered by the Trump team for Secretary of State, and it might be a good idea. Petraeus has always seemed like the kind of intelligent, knowledgeable person who would do a complicated job well. He certainly understands the true nature of military action, its horrors and limitations, and in his various command positions at the head of international forces, Petraeus certainly has learned a thing or two about communicating diplomatically. Also, he undoubtedly has an excellent grasp of international geo-political circumstances, including political, military, and diplomatic realities. There is, however, a problem. Several years ago, while Petraeus was serving as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he was having an affair with a lady who was writing his biography, and, in the course of their association, he shared confidential, classified, government documents with her. hr resigned from the CIA, was indicted on felony charges, and mad a plea bargain in which he plead guilty to a misdemeanor, placed on two years probation, and fined one hundred thousand dollars. he has been engaging in many activities recently, including so chairing an organization which advocates for what they call reasonable, common sense gun control laws. Presumably he is no longer on probation, otherwise he probably wouldn't be eligible to become Secretary of State. Is the irony of this whole situation apparent? Consider this. Condoleezza Rice and Retired General Colin Powell, both of whom served as Secretary of State under George Bush, used private email servers in their official job capacity. Nobody seems to worry about it, then or now. Along came Hillary Clinton, who did the same thing, and half the country wants to lock her up without even the slightest bit of evidence that she did anything wrong or illegal with her private email account. The mere thought that she could have done so is enough to inspire half the country to hate her, without so much as pointing a finger at Rice or Powell. Now, along come Petraeus, another possible republican Secretary of State, who really has sold out the country and been punished for it, but, apparently, neither Trump nor anybody else cares. the moral of the story s; is you intend to become Secretary of State and use questionable judgment with regard to handling classified materials, make sure you're a republican.