By Lawrence W. Daly, MSc
Forensic Expert – Senior Author
Yesterday President Barack Obama, citing using poor judgment by having an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, accepted the resignation of top spy CIA Director David Petraeus. The resignation comes at a time when Director Petraeus was to testify in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee November 15, 2012, who are investigating the bombing of the consulate in Benghazi, Libyaon September 11, 2012. According to Petraeus he does not intend to testify in front of the committee at this time. Allegedly interim CIA Director Mike Morell will be taking his place and will testify in behalf of Petraeus.
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| English: Gen. David H. Petraeus chats with Sen. Barack Obama after a briefing to a congressional delegation led by Sen. Jack Reed, which also included Sen. Chuck Hagel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
The question is being raised that the timeliness of the resignation questions specifically what Petraeus may be trying to hide and is a ploy by the Whitehouse for him not to testify. The Committee must make the decision to subpoena Petraeus to testify and this is something the Committee will have to decide at a later date. However, Americans need to have closure on the Benghazi incident where four Americans were killed. New reports indicate the FBI was investigating another matter when they came across the extramarital affair.
Each time there is a scandal dealing with politicians and government officials, who are in the law enforcement profession, later cause all law enforcement's integrity to be placed in question. The average citizen generally can’t compare how the Top Spy in America somehow affects the law enforcement who works in Seattle, Washington.
Most Americans view law enforcement officials in a compartmentalized paradigm, where either they are eating donuts and drinking coffee when crime is being committed in their community or are pursuing women single or married. There is a risk to the reputation of law enforcement officers no matter what their position is.
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| General David Petraeus (Photo credit: Talk Radio News Service) |
The average law enforcement officer who has an extramarital affair is not something which the community reads on the front page of the local newspaper or news show. It just doesn’t seem that important. However, it may be something which is serious and can’t be tolerated by the community or law enforcement officials.
If a law enforcement officer has sex on his mind, then his focus is not on the responsibilities of his job; which is to protect and serve. He avoids the reality that his improper actions have consequences and sooner or later his behavior will eventually ‘leak’ out and then there will be an accounting.
The integrity of law enforcement officers is a serious issue in that there is more to the event of an extramarital affair. If those in the law enforcement profession are known as an individual who lack common sense and expends his time on the job chasing women, he will be judged and viewed as lacking integrity. He disrespects the uniform in which he wears and generally once viewed as a disrespectable and indecent human being others look down their nose at him and wonder what he was thinking. This is one of the main questions being asked of Petraeus.
Sooner or later the mud slides far enough downward where it takes everyone who is in the quagmire down the hill where at the bottom stands individuals who will hold the officer accountable for his behavior.
In Petraeus resignation, the media is talking about his wife Holly and that he has been married for 37 years. There is little known about the woman he had the affair with, nor is there any indication that she will step forward until such time that some media outlet or publisher offers her millions of dollars to ‘tell all.’ Moreover, the social media will expend hours trying to draw people out who have knowledge about the affair.
The moral majority will provide advice to others that having an extramarital affair is something which has and will be destructive if you are married. There are no winners when you are sleeping with a man or woman who is married.
The standard of whether a law enforcement officer should be held to a higher standard must be decided by the expectations of the community and law enforcement officials. If there is a ‘moral clause’ in the agreement of employment with the law enforcement agency then there must be a definition for what specifically does the ‘moral clause’ include? If there is no definition then an officer probably will not be held accountable for his extra-curricular activity, unless the improper conduct occurred while on duty.
Law enforcement integrity according to Captain Randy S. Belasic (n.d.) of the Zephyrhills Police Department:
Police integrity is a serious topic that has been the spotlight of law enforcement’s concern for the last fifteen years. Corruption and integrity are germane where corruption is basically dishonesty for personal gain and integrity can best be defined as “the normative inclination among police to resist temptations to abuse the rights and privileges of their occupation” (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005). Integrity can be measured based upon an individual’s moral principles or ethical values.
Did Director Petraeus see the value of the “Integrity which can be measured based upon an individual’s moral principles or ethical values?” In comparing moral principles and ethical values there is this thin line between these principals where the community of law enforcement officers should abide by? Here is a man for 40 years dedicated himself to the United States of America and now with a major indiscretion has lost all that he has represented across his professional and personal life.
The general attitude about who has sex and with who is demonstrated in the number of children being born out of wedlock. Currently two-thirds of children are born to mothers under thirty. Making good decisions about why and who people have sex with has diminished over the past decade. The changing in the attitudes of this new attitude comes from a multitude of reasons.
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| WASHINGTON - APRIL 28: (L-R) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Vice President Joseph R. Biden and President Barack Obama listen while the new Secretary of Defense nominee, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Leon Panetta, speaks in the East Room of the White House April 28, 2011 in Washington, DC. President Obama announced he is nominating Director of the CIA Leon Panetta as Secretary of Defense, commander for International Security Assistance Force and US forces in Afghanistan Gen. David Petraeus as Director of the CIA, Ryan Crocker as US ambassador to Afghanistan and Gen. John Allen as commander for International Security Assistance Force and US forces in Afghanistan. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife) |
The percentage of married couples who cheat according to author Lindsay Shugerman is “…approximately 50 percent married women and 60 percent of married men will have an extramarital affair at some time in their marriage.” (Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, n.d.)
When taking a broad stroke of the pen when evaluating and examining the Top Spy caught in an extramarital affair, to the integrity of law enforcement officials when it comes to their integrity or to women and men having an extramarital affair may seem like a stretch. The question is, “Is it, really a stretch; isn’t there some correlation between these issues?” Isn’t the attitude of Americans being demonstrated inside the bedroom and who you have sex with is something that appears to be significantly consistent with research and morals.
Law enforcement officers, no matter if it is the Top Spy in America or the law enforcement officer working the streets in Seattle must live by a higher standard than other individuals and professions. Their integrity, reputation, morals, honesty, presentation, attitude, behavior, and other characteristics, which reflect upon them not only as individuals but as an individual who enforces the law must be above reproach.
There can be no indiscretions, there can be no excuses, there can be no missteps, and there must be a law enforcement code of morality which can never be abused, twisted, violated, or put to question. Obviously Director Petraeus no matter how honorable he was for 40 years in the United States Armed Services or married to a woman (Holly) for 37 years, he has indirectly and directly negatively affected the image of law enforcement officials. The ripple effect of his behavior will have consequences for all who wear the law enforcement uniform who serve and protect their community, especially the men and women in the CIA. The ramifications of such conduct always has a lasting affect and with the facts which came out today it appears Americans have much to learn about his behavior over the past year.
His conduct can only be viewed as extremely improper, inappropriate, and possibly dangerous as he was the leader of thousands of men and women with a magnitude of responsibilities worldwide. Instead of protecting the four dead Americans who died in Benghazi, Libya on the anniversary of 9/11, possibly being preoccupied with Ms. Broadwell, a married woman, may later be determined that his lack of leadership had something to do with their deaths. This statement is written with the hope that this isn't true, but his refusal to testify now speaks highly of what information is unknown to Americans.
In Petraeus’s personal life, his wife is also the victim here and everyone should pray that she will rise above the hurt and pain and move forward from this tragedy.
Lawrence W. Daly
206-650-0229
Kent, WA
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