WASHINGTON: The former chief of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) David Petraeus has been fined $100,00 and put on two years’ probation for leaking classified information to his female biographer.
The ex-CIA chief had handed over the classified information to his the biographer while she was working on a biography of him.
Petraeus was once the highest profile U.S. Army general during the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was appointed by President Barack Obama as the CIA director in June 2011. He ran the country’s intelligence agency for a year, until resigning in late 2012.
His career unraveled two-and-a-half years ago with the disclosure of the affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell,
Two months ago, Petraeus pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material.
Prosecutors said when Broadwell was working on her book, Petraeus gave her eight binders of classified material that he had improperly kept from his days as the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan.
The binders included names of covert operatives, allied war strategy and notes of Petraeus’ conversations with President Barack Obama and the National Security Council.
The prosecutors said Petraeus at first lied to investigators, claiming he did not give the classified material to Broadwell.
With his guilty plea, Petraeus faced as much as a year in prison. The prosecutors had recommended a $40,000 fine and the two years’ probation. But U.S. Judge David Kessler in Charlotte, North Carolina was not bound by that agreement and said he was increasing the fine to “reflect seriousness of the offense.”
