When they found the messages contained information about the CIA chief’s activities that was not publicly available.
Kelley had gotten to know both Petraeus and Allen as a volunteer setting up social events at MacDill Air Force Base outside Tampa, headquarters of US Central Command.
President Barack Obama however backed the top US commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday after the four-star general was dragged into the sex scandal that brought down CIA director David Petraeus.
Due to face lawmakers this week for a hearing to confirm his promotion to the post of NATO’s supreme commander in Europe, Allen will now return to Kabul and remain in charge of allied forces in Afghanistan until the probe is over.
“The president thinks very highly of General Allen and of his service to his country, as well as the job he has done in Afghanistan,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
In more bad news about US generals, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, announced on Wednesday he was demoting a retiring four-star Army general for wasting taxpayer money on extravagant trips and would seek to recoup tens of thousands of dollars from him.
Panetta’s decision to strip a star from General William Ward, a former commander of Africa Command, comes as the military is reeling from a scandal involving two of the most powerful men in the United States’ national security app
Panetta stripped Gen. William “Kip” Ward of a star, which means that he will now retire as a three-star lieutenant general. Ward also has been ordered to repay the government $82,000.
All is not well as it seems with US generals
