Affair

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3:57 PM, Nov 19, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

The evening before he was sworn in as CIA chief, I emailed David Petraeus seeking help with a story. The message he sent back is privileged. But I can share that he banged out a 2-page email of approximately 40 sentences. I learned how his last run went, where his aches and pains were, and what spy novel he’d just finished. I also got some meaty on-the-record quotes. That’s the work of a master–disgraced today, to be sure–but a master of the craft of media cultivation.

Wonder why Petraeus got a lot of good ink before his inexplicable fall from grace? Wonder no more. In the world of journalism, I’m a relative nobody so how, one wonders, must Petraeus have treated scribes from the NY Times and Washington Post? Let’s not forget that Petraeus, like all truly sophisticated modern military leaders, never missed an opportunity to make a friend in the media. ...

As the mainstream media wolves gather around the carcass of the indomitable David Petraeus—still indisputably one of the five greatest generals of the last 100 years–I recall another incident some five years back.

It was around 10 a.m. on Sunday, a time when my out-of-town brother David often calls. The phone rang.

“Hey, Willy, it’s David.”

“Yo’ man, what’s up?”

“My public affairs officer said you had questions for me. Let’s do it.”

Heart racing, I feel a fool. “Hello General Petraeus,” I stammer. “Thanks for getting back to me.” I‘d written a profile of then 4-star general for a national running magazine, and had embedded in Iraq in 2007 to research the story. My editor, an insecure and controlling sort of bloke, had a query in almost every line. Now back stateside, I had sheepishly called Petraeus’ PAO, hoping he might be able to get one or two of these inane questions answered.

Instead, it is the general himself on the line. “Willy, I understand we’ve got 26 questions to wade through. Might as well get started.”

More than 90 minutes later, we’re done. That was the work of a media maestro.

9:31 AM, Nov 15, 2012 • By JEFFREY H. ANDERSON

At yesterday’s press conference, Chuck Todd of NBC News asked, “Are you withholding judgment on whether you should have known sooner that there was a potential — that there was an investigation into whether your CIA director — potentially there was a national security breach with your CIA director? Do you believe you should have known sooner, or are you withholding judgment until the investigation is complete on that front?”

12:15 PM, Nov 13, 2012 • By TWS PODCAST

THE WEEKLY STANDARD podcast with Bill Kristol, hosted by Michael Graham:

6:48 AM, Nov 13, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

"The FBI probe into the sex scandal that prompted CIA Director David Petraeus to resign has expanded to ensnare Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S.

5:57 PM, Nov 12, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta seemed not to have extensive knowledge of the Petraeus affair when talking to the press earlier today on board a flight to Australia.

7:23 AM, Nov 12, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

The New York Times reports that the Petraeus affair has been known about since the summer:

WASHINGTON — High-level officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department were notified in the late summer that F.B.I. agents had uncovered what appeared to be an extramarital affair involving the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, David H. Petraeus, government officials said Sunday.

8:38 PM, Nov 11, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

This morning on NBC's Meet the Press, Andrea Mitchell revealed that the Petraeus affair would not have been public had it not been for a whistleblower who approached Republican House majority leader Eric Cantor.

"[Authorities] have pretty much shut down any idea that there was any kind of security or national security leaks," Mitchell revealed on the Sunday show. "So, this is not a criminal matter."

Related to the Petraeus affair?

9:18 AM, Nov 10, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

Here's a letter to the New York Times Magazine's "ethicist," which was published over the summer:

1:46 PM, Aug 22, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER

When asked whether John Edwards has been invited to next month's Democratic National Committee's convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, a Democratic convention official had only one word for THE WEEKLY STANDARD: "No."

Edwards, who represented North Carolina in the U.S. Senate from 1999-2005, was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2004 presidential election. Edwards's old running mate, however, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, has been invited to the convention and will be delivering a speech.