Should David Petraeus Have Resigned as CIA Director? >
David Petraeus Must Take Care of His Family First
You can't both lead the CIA and recover from a public betrayal of your family
November 13, 2012
It was for the best that CIA Director David Petraeus resigned following the revelation that he had an affair with his biographer. Running the Central Intelligence Agency and repairing the damage from an affair with one's family are both all-consuming endeavors. You cannot do both well.
The CIA is an agency under intense scrutiny in the wake of the tragic attacks on the U.S. mission in Benghazi and resulting Congressional investigations. Getting to the bottom of Benghazi while searching for Ambassador Christopher Stevens's killers and preventing future terrorist attacks is a 24/7 job. Were he not distracted, Petraeus would be well suited to this task.
The world is obsessed with the Petraeus resignation, following each twist and turn with the breathless attention of a Bravo reality series fan. But to the three families at the center, it must be painful dealing with FBI searches and media stakeouts. Petraeus, with his boy scout image and media savvy, has no practice in dealing with the public and private fall out from a scandal. He could not hope to avoid distraction on the job.
[See a collection of political cartoons on the David Petraeus Scandal.]
Some may argue that the nation needs someone of Petraeus's skill at the helm of the CIA right now, and the agency is prepared to look the other way on this affair. But Petraeus is not the only one qualified to lead the agency in the post-bin Laden era. He is, however, the only one who can face his wife and children and explain why he drifted so far from being the upstanding person they knew to being a man engaged in an affair under investigation by the FBI.
You cannot both lead such an important agency and recover from a wrenching public betrayal of your family. In retirement, a cabinet agency will not come visit you for the holidays. Take care of your family first. The nation will understand.
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- Other Arguments
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#14713
Yes — Leaving the spotlight will allow Petraeus and his family to heal out of the public eye
LAWRENCE J. KORB, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress
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#32220
Yes — Petraeus understood his institutional leadership was compromised by his own actions
HEATHER HURLBURT, Executive Director of the National Security Network
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#41515
Yes — But Petraeus should still testify before Congress to quiet conspiracy theorists
ROBERT NOLAN, Editor at the Foreign Policy Association
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#41616
Yes — The general is not immune to needing to atone for his behavior
JAMIE CHANDLER, Political Scientist at Hunter College
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