• Ex-CIA director David Petraeus becomes college professor

    Frederic J. Brown / AFP - Getty Images

    Former CIA director David Petraeus addresses a University of Southern California event honoring the military on March 26 in Los Angeles.

    David Petraeus is replacing one kind of intelligence work for another.

    Macaulay Honors College at City University of New York said Tuesday the ex-Central Intelligence Agency director and retired four-star general has been named a visiting professor for public policy. He starts on August 1.

    Petraeus has a Ph.D. from Princeton University and has written widely on international relations, military strategy and tactics and national security issues.

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    In a statement released by the college, Petraeus said he was pleased to teach at the college, where 60 percent of students are children of immigrants. He also said he looks forward to leading a seminar on the global economic slowdown.

    Petraeus resigned in scandal from the CIA last November after it was uncovered he'd had an affair with his biographer.

    NBCNewYork.com

  • Intelligence officials: We knew attack in Benghazi was terrorist act from beginning

    Intelligence officials say they knew it was terrorist attack from the beginning, and U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was given unclassified talking points that were deliberately vague. But Republican critics say that helped mislead the public. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

     

    By Andrea Mitchell, NBC News

    Top intelligence officials told NBC News Monday night that they have known the Sept. 11 attack on the Benghazi consulate was a terrorist act from the beginning.

    White House and intelligence officials meanwhile are denying charges by Republicans that there was an attempt to whitewash the origins of the Benghazi attack to protect the president politically. In the months since the attack, Republican lawmakers have focused on comments by Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who said Benghazi was “initially a spontaneous reaction” to demonstrations in Cairo against a  “hateful and offensive video.”

    The attack in the Libyan city resulted in the deaths of Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

    Officials said that although there was no question that the attack was terrorism, they did not know whether they were spontaneous or planned long in advance. They also did not have the suspects’ identities.


    That’s why, they said, they kept their unclassified talking points for Rice vague to avoid compromising future legal proceedings. 

    On Sept. 16, Rice said on Meet the Press that the violence sweeping the Islamic world at the time was “a spontaneous reaction to a video, and it’s not dissimilar but, perhaps, on a slightly larger scale than what we have seen in the past with 'The Satanic Verses' with the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.”

    She then elaborated on the specific attack on the US consulate in Libya: “Putting together the best information that we have available to us today, our current assessment is that what happened in Benghazi was in fact initially a spontaneous reaction to what had just transpired hours before in Cairo, almost a copycat of the demonstrations against our facility in Cairo, which were prompted, of course, by the video.”

    Rice added, “Obviously, that’s our best judgment now.  We’ll await the results of the investigation.“

    NBC's David Gregory interviews U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice about the violence against Americans in the Islamic world.

    On Sept. 20, nine days after the attack, White House spokesman Jay Carney told a gaggle of reporters on Air Force One that the attack was “terrorism.”

    Previously, the White House had used the term “extremists” to describe those who had breached the consulate grounds. In the Rose Garden on the day after the attack, President Obama said, "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. ... We will not waver in our commitment to see that justice is done for this terrible act. And make no mistake, justice will be done."

    Republicans have since pounced on Rice’s comments, saying that she had misled the public. Their outrage sparked calls for an investigation into whether politics played a role.

    A senior intelligence official told NBC News that members of the intelligence community changed the reference from al-Qaida to “extremists” – not anyone from the White House who had a political agenda.

    Officials confirm that then-CIA Director David Petraeus testified in a closed session immediately after the attack that it was a terrorist assault, as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Sunday on Meet the Press.

    Petraeus repeated that testimony in closed sessions on Friday. Congress has held several hearings, public and closed, into what happened in Benghazi.

    So why were those unclassified talking points created in the first place?

    Officials say they were produced in response to requests from the House Select Committee on Intelligence for language that could be used in media interviews. 

    The main purpose was to provide talking points sensitive to the fact that there could be legal proceedings in the future, the senior official said. Initial intelligence was tenuous, and affiliations were unclear.

    Investigators also worried the investigation could be compromised if they provided too much information. 

     

  • Petraeus says he didn't share classified information with Broadwell

    Just-resigned CIA Director David Petraeus says he will testify this week at congressional hearings looking into the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, as new details emerge about the emails that helped end his career. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

    By NBC News staff

    Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus reportedly said in an interview that he did not share classified information with his biographer Paula Broadwell, the woman with whom he is said to have had an affair.


    In a series of interviews with Kyra Phillips of Headline News, Petraeus also said his resignation as CIA director was not tied to his upcoming testimony on the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans. He is due to testify Friday in closed-door Senate and House hearings, the first formal congressional inquiries into the September attack.

    Petraeus’ comments, which came in a series of interviews with Phillips beginning last week, were first reported Thursday.

     "In our first conversation," Phillips said, Petraeus "had told me he had engaged in something dishonorable. He sought to do the honorable thing in response -- and that was to come forward. He was very clear that he screwed up terribly ... even felt fortunate to have a wife who is far better than he deserves."

    Petraeus told Phillips he had not spoken with Broadwell since the scandal broke.

    "He insisted to me that he has never passed classified information to Paula Broadwell," Phillips said. "He said this has nothing to do with Benghazi, and he wants to testify. He will testify."

    Defense officials told NBC News on Thursday that earlier this week, the FBI came to Army officials with material discovered in Broadwell’s emails and asked, “Is this real and is it classified?” After Army officials determined it was indeed classified material, the FBI launched a search of Broadwell’s North Carolina home, with her consent.

    The Defense officials could not reveal the nature of the classified material.

    On Wednesday, an Army official told NBC News that Broadwell had lost her security clearance.

    The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Broadwell’s security clearance and access to classified material was suspended because of an address she gave to an alumni symposium on Oct. 26 at the University of Denver, which appeared on the video-sharing site YouTube. Broadwell holds a master's degree in international study from the school.

    In the address, Broadwell talked about security at the consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

    "Any time that the Army has a reason to believe that an officer has mishandled classified information, there is grounds for such action," the Army official said, referencing the YouTube clip.

    Broadwell, a West Point graduate and former military intelligence officer, is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, though she is not currently on active duty, according to Pentagon records obtained by NBC News.

    Multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News that Petraeus, a retired four-star general who is married, had an extramarital affair with Broadwell, 40. Broadwell, who also married, authored “All In,” a book about Petraeus’ leadership philosophy.

    FBI investigators who looked into a series of anonymous threatening emails sent to Tampa, Fla., socialite Jill Kelley later determined they were authored by Broadwell, multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News.

    Petraeus will testify Friday about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi before the Senate Intelligence Committee after he briefs the House Intelligence Committee.

    NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube contributed to this report.

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  • Obama: 'No evidence' of national security harm in Petraeus scandal

    President Barack Obama answered a range of questions Wednesday at the White House in his first press conference since being re-elected. NBC's Chuck Todd reports.

    Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

    Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus speaks to members of a Senate Intelligence hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on January 31, 2012.

    By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News

    President Barack Obama said Wednesday that he has seen no evidence that a scandal that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus  harmed national security.


    “I have no evidence at this point from what I’ve seen that classified information was disclosed that in  any way would have had a negative impact on our national security,” Obama said at a White House briefing.

    Petraeus, a decorated four-star general who received widespread praise for the surge strategy in Iraq, resigned as CIA director on Friday, citing an extramarital affair.

     

    Numerous federal government officials have told NBC News that the married general had a relationship with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, 40, who authored “All In,” a book about Petraeus’ leadership philosophy.

    Obama brushed aside questions about whether he felt he should have been notified sooner of the investigation of Petraeus.

    “Obviously, there’s an ongoing investigation. I don’t want to comment on the specifics of the investigation, Obama said, “The FBI has its own protocols in terms of how they proceed. … I have a lot of confidence in the FBI.”

    The president was not informed of the FBI investigation that revealed Petraeus’ affair until Nov. 8, one day before he accepted his resignation.

    FBI investigators who looked into a series of anonymous threatening emails sent to Tampa, Fla., socialite Jill Kelley later determined they were authored by Broadwell, multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News.

    Investigators have looked into whether Broadwell violated cyber-harassment laws or improperly possessed classified information, and Obama indicated that the investigation was “ongoing.” Law enforcement officials say they have developed no evidence indicating that Petraeus improperly provided classified information to Broadwell.

    Earlier on Wednesday, NBC News confirmed from a veteran senator that Petraeus will testify Thursday about the attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi before the Senate Intelligence Committee. 

    The Thursday hearing will be the first formal congressional inquiry into the September attack that killed U.S. Ambassador in Libya Chris Stevens, information management officer Sean Smith and security personnel Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Petraeus is also scheduled to appear at a closed hearing of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday. 

     As FBI investigated Petraeus, he and Allen intervened in nasty custody battle

    Republican lawmakers have criticized the administration’s evolving explanation of what triggered the Benghazi attack. Officials early on said it was a spontaneous reaction during a protest about an anti-Islamic film. Later, it was termed a planned terrorist attack.

    Commenting on the scandal involving General Petraues, President Obama says he's not aware of any breaches of national security resulting from the scandal.

    Questions have also been raised about whether the consulate had adequate security and whether the State Department responded appropriately to requests for more protection.

    Military analyst Col. Jack Jacobs (Ret.) said the sex scandal will affect the way Petraeus is questioned by Congress, because members were kept in the dark about the FBI inquiry that led to his resignation. 

    Defense official fires back, denies Afghanistan commander exchanged 'inappropriate' emails

    “It will be interesting to see what tenor it takes and what the senators and congressmen, assuming he gets before both houses, have to say before talking to him. As you know, these hearings have a tendency to be less a question and answer period than it is an opportunity for the members to vent their spleen or talk about what they want to, so that part will be very, very interesting,” Jacobs said.   

    “In terms of extracting real information about what actually took place and what role the CIA had in what took place in Benghazi, I believe that investigation will determine that they had no role, that by the time the CIA could do anything, it was all over.” 

    NBC's Michael Brunker contributed to this report.

    President Obama says he will "cooperate in any way that Congress wants" in an investigation around the attack on the U.S. consulate in  Benghazi while saying his administration did "everything we could to makes sure we protected our people."

    NBC's Chuck Todd discusses the political fallout from Petraeus-Allen scandal, noting that the White House national security team is probably more worried about wobbly leadership at the CIA and in Afghanistan than political damage.

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