This is the source article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Anybody who reads the history of previous intelligence/counterintelligence operations will note a few things that are of concern. It is pretty strange for a US General involved in Afghanistan to be exchanging "thousands of emails" with a civilian woman who is not his wife and who has no official duties whatsoever.
Jill Kelley, a Tampa resident who poured her energies into throwing lavish parties for and hobnobbing with area military brass, is now linked to two of the nation’s top commanders in a fast-moving scandal.
In recent years, Kelley and her husband, Scott, had appointed themselves ad hoc social ambassadors for military personnel at nearby MacDill Air Force Base, just a stone’s throw from the Kelleys’ mansion on Bayshore Boulevard.
The parties were how Jill and Scott Kelley eventually became friends with Holly and David Petraeus. They were also how Kelley came to be in regular contact with Allen. Both generals served as the top officers at the U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill
Kelley and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, often went shopping and out to lunch with Holly Petraeus, particularly when her husband was stationed in Afghanistan, the friends said.
Access. This woman was well positioned to interact with top US brass in the Middle East. Although by no means conclusive, why would a surgeon and his wife buy a very expensive house near a military base and immediately throw themselves into cultivating relationships with the top brass? The surgeon does not appear to be particulary wealthy, well respected but working for a University clinic. If you have family in the medical field you know oncologists are not particularly well-paid.
The social galas seemed to spare no expense, guests said, and often featured copious buffets, valet parking, string quartets, as well as premium cigars and champagne. While they were throwing glamorous parties, the Kelleys racked up substantial debt, prompting banks to initiate foreclosure proceedings on two properties
Motivation. The oldest motivation for espionage is money. People in debt with access to secrets are the greatest risk.
Khawam said that quality stemmed from the Catholic family’s persecution in their native Lebanon, when Jill, David and Natalie were small children and their parents eventually fled to the United States. All three built productive new lives in America, with both David and Natalie becoming lawyers.
Connections. These people are essentially foreign nationals which is no crime or sin, but their aggressive attempt to get access to top military personel certainly should have raised a warning bell in both Petraus's and Allen's minds (or the minds of their staff.) Oh wait...
A military officer who is a former member of Petraeus’s staff said Kelley was a “self-appointed” go-between for Central Command officers with Lebanese and other Middle Eastern government officials. She was a fixture at social and charity events involving Central Command officials in Tampa. The officer said Kelley’s presence was often a bit puzzling to Petraeus’s staff, but the officer said there was never any indication that her relationship with the general was anything more than social.
Opportunity. Somehow this woman's role has morphed from socialite to "go-between" for CC officers and Middle Eastern government officials. How one goes from partying in Florida to arranging our, um, affairs with other nations is a bit of a puzzle. Did she accept "gifts" from Middle Eastern government officials for arranging access? It is not a large step from that to active espionage.
“She is so gracious, so lovely,” he said. “She’s one of those people — she walks in the room, and the room lights up.”
Ability. Or maybe not such a puzzle.
Our military men are not thinking with the appropriate parts of their anatomy.
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