The leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee suggested any change to Gen. David Petraeus’ rank could be illegal even as Defense Secretary Ashton Carter is reportedly considering demoting the four-star general.
Reports last week said that Carter is considering reducing Petraeus’ rank for divulging classified information to his biographer and mistress, a misdemeanor he was convicted of nearly a year ago.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, defended the former CIA director, pointing to his honorable service and the fact that the crime occurred more than four years ago.
“We are concerned such a retirement grade review, taking place nearly a year after the misdemeanor conviction in which Gen. Petraeus admitted his guilt, and apologized for his actions, is manifestly unreasonable and unfair,” the senators wrote in a letter to Carter last week. “We take this opportunity to remind you of Gen. Petraeus’ long career of exceptionally distinguished, honorable and dedicated service to our nation and to the soldiers he so brilliantly led to success in combat.”
In fact, McCain and Reed went so far as to suggest that any change in Petraus’ rank now that he’s retired could be illegal.
“It is well established in law that administrative determinations, such as retirement grade determinations cannot be re-opened, set aside, or a different result ordered except for fraud, manifest error on the face of the proceedings, or newly discovered evidence, presented within a reasonable time and under such circumstances as would be a sufficient cause for granting a new review,” the letter says.
The Army’s regulations also place a time limit on how longer after an offense one may demote an officer. Army regulations state that an Army officer’s grade at retirement is “fixed,” except if “substantial new evidence [is] discovered contemporaneously with or within a short time following separation [that] could result in a lower grade determination.”
McCain is also seeking answers about how Petraeus’ case was handled and why the military is considering further punishment now, according to a Daily Beast report.
Before retiring from the Army in 2011, Petraeus gave his biographer, Paula Broadwell, several notebooks filled with classified information, the article said. He was serving in his next job as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency in 2012 when reports surfaced that he and Broadwell had been having an affair.
The scandal forced the four-star general, who had previously commanded operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, to resign.
He was sentenced to two years on probation and a $100,000 fine in April 2015.
Carter is currently reviewing the information former Army Secretary John McHugh had when he decided to take no action against Petraeus. Officials told the Daily Beast that the decision is up to the defense secretary alone.
