Going Dark: As CIA Boss, Petraeus Is Less Visible—By Design

Things change when one leaves the often-brash U.S. military to run the Central Intelligence Agency, a secretive organization populated by silent professionals. That includes how often one talks to reporters when charged with keeping the lone global superpower's deepest secrets.

CIA Director David Petraeus has largely gone dark—and, like most things with the decorated war commander, that is very much a calculated change. "As for Petraeus's curious absence from the spotlight," says Christopher Preble of the CATO Institute, "he has been—especially by David Petraeus standards—notably quiet."

Read about the spy chief's silence, and why Petraeus is merely following a long-set precedent.

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