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A salute is due Adm. William Fallon, who tried to prevent a wider war with Iran. After serving one year as commander of U.S. Central Command, Fallon has resigned, saying he was quitting because his differences with official U.S. policy had become a “distraction.” But there is a widespread perception that he was pushed out by the neo-conservatives among President George W. Bush’s aides, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, because of Fallon’s reluctance to go along with the administration’s hawkish moves toward Iran. Cheney, who took five consecutive draft deferments to stay out of the Vietnam war, does not mind...

David Petraeus will not be replacing Michael Flynn as Donald Trump's next national security adviser. Trump ousted Flynn on Monday in a controversy over the retired lieutenant general's contacts with Russia. Petraeus, a retired general and former CIA director, expressed concern about Trump's reluctance to grant the new adviser full discretion over policy and staffing. On Friday, Petraeus told the Munich Security Conference: 'Whoever it is that would agree to take that position certainly should do so with some very, very significant assurances that he or she would have authorities over the personnel of the organization. 'That there would be...

He did his country a great service, but he also broke the law. If Donald Trump doesn't understand now, he will eventually. Integrity and truth ultimately do matter, and if he wants to be a successful president, he's going to have to appoint people to high office who won't violate the public's trust. That means appointing more men like Neil Gorsuch and James Mattis. And it means keeping David Petraeus out of the White House... It's no understatement to say that by the September 2008 -- when he turned over command in Iraq to General Raymond Odierno -- he was...

Petraeus would be a disaster — a stalwart of the old establishment in an administration that said it would “drain the swamp.” In May 2016, he published what was essentially an anti Trump screed, saying that proposals to restrict immigration from Muslim countries that are hotspots of jihad terror shouldn’t even be made, so as to avoid offending Muslims. He was in favor of using al Qaeda jihadis to defeat the Islamic State, which would give us a region full of al-Qaeda jihadis with American weapons and materiel who hate the United States and want to destroy it. (This is...

Vice Adm. Bob Harward is one name that has come up to replace Flynn as national security adviser, and the leading candidate to get the job, a senior official told Fox News. Harward is a U.S. Navy SEAL, but also has a previous relationship with Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Harward was the deputy commander of the U.S. Central Command under Mattis and was also the deputy commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command. He also served on the National Security Council for President George W. Bush and commissioned the National Counter Terrorism Center. White House sources described Harward as the...

Retired Gen. David Petraeus warned lawmakers on Wednesday that the world order created in part by the United States in the 20th century is under “unprecedented threat from multiple directions,” pointing to Russia, China, Islamist extremists and cyber threats. Those threats are compounded by an America whose “resolve about its defense has become somewhat ambivalent,” he added. “Americans should not take the current international order for granted,” Petraeus said at a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “It did not will itself into existence. We created it. Likewise, it is not naturally self-sustaining. We have sustained it. If we stop doing...

Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with then-CIA director David Petraeus cost him his job, has accused him of having her 'thrown under the bus' over their illicit relationship. The former intelligence officer said she felt 'betrayed' by Petraeus after news of their affair broke in 2012. 'I was in such a state of mental shock and quickly spiraled into a depression,' she told Vanity Fair.

In an interview with Katie Couric for Yahoo Global News, Edward Snowden (shown) said what many already know: America has a “two-tiered system of justice.” People with political value and government connections are handled with kid gloves when they mishandle or disclose classified information, even when it is for their own gain, while others — those with no political value or government connections — are given the iron fist for mishandling or disclosing classified information, even if it is for the public good.Answering a question about what a plea deal would look like in his case, Snowden said he wasn’t...

In an exclusive interview with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric, Edward Snowden says that former CIA Director Gen. David Petraeus — under consideration to be President-elect Donald Trump’s secretary of state — disclosed “information that was far more highly classified than I ever did” and yet never “spent a single day in jail.”

Disgraced former general David Petraeus would have to check in with parole officer before being named secretary of state and he would need to clear ALL work travel in advance David Petraeus would have three days to check in with his parole officer if Donald Trump picks him to be secretary of state in his administration Petraeus pleaded guilty to sharing classified information with his mistress The ex-general was sentenced to two years probation and fined $100,000 Parole deal states he would also have to clear all work travel Disgraced former general David Petraeus would have to check in with...

President-elect Donald Trump is down to his final four candidates in what has been a drama-filled search for his secretary of state. Republican National Committee communications director Sean Spicer told reporters during a Wednesday morning press call that Trump was down to four candidates for the administration post. Spicer said no additional appointments are expected this week. On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the search was down to five candidates: 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker, former CIA Director David Petraeus, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and retired Marine Corps Gen. John...

Whether Trump will select Petraeus is one question. Whether Petraeus would make a good secretary of state, however, is another. Unfortunately, the answer to the latter is likely no. Much of the hagiography surrounding Petraeus is the product of politicking rather than a true judgment of history.

Gen. David Petraeus may be on the short list to be our next secretary of state, but his affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell, led to him being convicted of mishandling classified information; Broadwell had access to journals of Petraeus that contained sensitive material. I’m not so sure he’s the best pick to lead the State Department. Moreover, isn’t mishandling classified information exactly what we’re trying to avoid and what we slammed Clinton for? Well, another venture Gen. Petraeus is diving into is gun control policy (via CNN):

NEW YORK – In recent weeks, both General David Petraeus and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have woven into public speeches the theme of combining the United States, Canada and Mexico into a single, North American Union. “After America, there is North America,” explained Petraeus, the former U.S. military commander and former head of the CIA, to a panel entitled “After America, What?” held at the Margaret Thatcher Conference on Liberty on June 18, 2014, hosted by the Center for Policy Studies in Great Britain. In his presentation to the conference, Petraeus proclaimed the coming of the “North American...

Washington (CNN)Retired U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus, who has long resisted calls to run for political office, is teaming up with retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly to create a new group urging greater gun control. The two announced on Friday that they were launching Veterans Coalition for Common Sense to encourage elected leaders to "do more to prevent gun tragedies." The group will feature veterans from every branch of the military who are urging lawmakers to toughen gun laws, the organization said in a news release.

General David Petraeus spent an hour meeting with Trump on Monday at his offices in Trump Tower in Manhattan and has emerged as a top contender for Secretary of State, along with Mitt Romney and Rudolph Giuliani. He is praised as a politically astute military commander with extensive experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, two hot spots that will immediately be facing the new president. His CIA experience gave him broad exposure to America’s clandestine operations around the world, and he already has an extensive network of connections with heads of state and foreign and defense ministers. Under President Bush, Petraeus...

"Others inside Trump’s orbit, particularly Vice President-elect Mike Pence, are viewed as Romney supporters, believing that he has a steady hand that would benefit Trump in the turbulent world of diplomacy, according to people familiar with the dispute who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Romney’s supporters have largely counseled Trump privately, while his opponents — Conway, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and a handful of other Trump loyalists — have gone public in recent days to stoke a revolt."

President-elect Trump is set to meet with retired Army Gen. David Petraeus at Trump Tower on Monday amid rumors that the former CIA director is a leading contender for secretary of state.

No doubt Rudi Guiliani, a staunch loyalist and the face of our grieving Nation on 9/11, would make an excellent Secretary of State. That said, he is more Richard Armitage than Colin Powell, more cut to the chase than the 35-year military man, more maverick than mollifier. Mitt Romney? Steady mollifier, a proven manager-in-chief, turn-key source for dispassionate counsel. But is that what the Trump/Pence Administration is hunting, as they prepare to remake America’s Foreign Policy? Or is the best choice General Keane, General Kelly, Senator Corker? Maybe. Maybe not. Comes now a new name, General David Petreaus. Here...