Gen. Allen Affirms that He Will Cooperate with the Investigations

The Marines are involved in the Petraeus scandal because of emails sent to a woman who is threatened by the lover of the former CIA director. Marine Corps Gen. John Allen is being investigated by the Department of Defense because of his email communications from Afghanistan with a married woman from Tampa. Allen declared this Wednesday that he will “fully” collaborate with the investigation. In an announcement sent through the Marines Corps Allen stated that he ordered his team in Afghanistan to fully cooperate with inquiries from the Pentagon so the issue can be solved “completely and in the quickest possible way.”

In 2011, Allen succeeded David Petraeus, who worked as the CIA Director until last week, to become the commandant of the American and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Petraeus, a retired General from the Marine Corps Infantry, resigned after the FBI discovered that he had maintained an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. Broadwell had sent various threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a woman from Tampa, because she suspected Kelley of seeking a relationship with Petraeus. Thus began the investigation.

Finally, FBI agents found between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails sent between Kelley and Allen. The Pentagon referred to these emails as “inappropriate.” Nonetheless, Allen immediately declared himself innocent. A series of Senate hearings to confirm Allen’s promotion, which would give him general command of NATO troops and American soldiers in Europe, was scheduled to begin on Thursday, Nov. 15. The hearings have been postponed by order of the White House.

The Pentagon is investigating whether Allen leaked classified information to Kelley. In the U.S. Armed Forces, adultery is punishable by expulsion and up to one year in jail. In can be applied retroactively, so Allen and Petraeus, who is already retired, could potentially face military trials.

The New York Times has identified the FBI agent who initiated the investigations as 47-year-old Frederick W. Humphries, an expert in anti-terrorist tactics. Humphries has known Kelley for a long time, and he decided to head the investigation because of this. According to other American media, the agent even sent pictures of his naked torso to Kelley.