While the Petraeus Affair is playing out like an absurd soap opera (the CIA, the FBI, mistresses and sex under a desk, oh my!), author of Legacy of Ashes and NYT reporter Tim Weiner is questioning why the FBI has not been called into account for agent Frederick W. Humphries II's actions leading to the scandal. Weiner points out that the agent acted not out of concerns for national security or breach of law, but because he believed that he knew better than his superiors and that somehow not reporting Petraeus' private behavior was part of a conspiracy to re-elect president Obama. Humphries' "whistle blowing" was reminiscent of the backstabbing, CIA-hating, paranoid rule of J. Edgar Hoover.
While these agencies have the extraordinary power to access emails, eavesdrop and survey targets such as Broadwell for as little offense as sending catty emails to the agent's special gal pal, they can't be counted on to share the most basic of materials with each other when more important interests are at stake. Anyone who read the 9/11 commission's findings could see that the failure of the CIA and FBI to cooperate with each other led to the major failure to protect our citizens.
You can listen to Time Weiner's NPR interview here: http://www.npr.org/2012/11/17/165345519/fbi-and-petraeus-affair-back-the-bad-old-days
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