If not General Allen, then who?

Both the President and the Pentagon continue to back Allen.. Time will tell if he can survive this Jill Kelly mess. It also looks like General Ham is still in the running.

If the investigation proves career-ending for Allen, who currently serves as commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, it raises an obvious question: Who else could take the helm of U.S. European Command and fill the role of supreme allied commander Europe?

While President Barack Obama has stated that he remains confident in Allen’s ability to serve, Pentagon planners are likely drawing up a short list of potential alternatives to the Marine four-star.
While no names have been floated publicly, here are some commanders likely to be in the running:

Gen. Carter Ham, who heads Africa Command, could be a comfortable choice. Presumably slated to retire next year, Ham’s deep experience in Europe could separate him from the pack. Ham, who previously commanded U.S. Army Europe, also has led in Iraq and headed the Pentagon review that looked at the effects of repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Prior to Allen’s nomination in October, there was media speculation that the Obama administration was pondering retired Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute as the next commander of EUCOM. Lute has served as an unofficial “war czar,” coordinating policy on Afghanistan and Pakistan for the Obama administration, according to a Washington Post report earlier this year. While bringing a general out of retirement might have been deemed too unconventional a few months ago, a series of high-profile scandals within the active-duty force could make such a move more feasible now.

Other names in the mix:

Gen. Lloyd Austin, vice chief of staff of the Army, who also is considered a top candidate to lead Central Command.
Gen. John Kelly, recently confirmed to serve as the new commander of Southern Command, which traditionally has been a stepping stone to EUCOM. Current EUCOM boss Adm. James Stavridis and previous commander retired Gen. John Craddock both served at the helm of SOUTHCOM before heading to Europe.
Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former head of Northern Command, also could be considered to have the kind of pedigree needed to work with allies in Europe.
If Winnefeld were moved to Belgium, that would leave an opening at the Pentagon. Stavridis, who was recently cleared of any wrongdoing in connection with an inspector general probe that is believed to have derailed his chance to serve as chief of naval operations, had long been considered by Pentagon watchers as a likely future chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Now absolved of wrongdoing, the White House could feel compelled to give Stavridis a second chance as vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

• http://www.stripes.com/blogs/stripes...n-who-1.197075

Some background on Gen. Allen...
:huh:
Gen. John Allen: A Marine of distinction
Wed November 14, 2012 - Gen. Allen's stellar Marine career makes it hard for those who know him to write him off; Allen has a habit of replying to every e-mail he gets, an official close to him says; Allen did not have an affair with Jill Kelley, the official says; Allen is a married father of two daughters

Quote:

---

A story told about Marine Gen. John Allen while commanding troops in Iraq describes his ability to inspire the loyalty. A mortar shell landed near a mess hall where Allen was eating, sending a young soldier under the table for cover. Allen, who remained upright during the attack, bent over and said to him, "Son, you're not going to win the war from down there." Allen may be tempted to find cover under a mess hall table this week as he has been entangled in the sex scandal that ended the career of Gen. David Petraeus, who he followed as commander of international troops in Afghanistan. An investigation into "flirtatious" e-mail exchanges between Allen and Jill Kelley, the woman whose complaint about anonymous, harassing e-mails uncovered Patraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell, has put Allen's promotion as NATO commander on hold.

The married father of two daughters did not have an affair with Kelley, who is also married, according to a senior official close to the general. "Allen has never been alone with her," the official said. "He does everything with his wife." Allen, who has a habit of replying to every e-mail he gets, never wrote about sex although he may have said "thanks sweetheart," in casual e-mail conversation, the official said. Allen's stellar career in the U.S. Marines has made it hard for those who know him to write him off because of the controversy. Allen became the first U.S. Marine to command the International Security Assistance Force - Afghanistan and United States Forces when he took over from Patraeus in July 2011.

President Obama will keep him in his Afghanistan post for now. "He has faith in General Allen, believes he is doing and has done an excellent job at ISAF," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Tuesday. "His leadership has been instrumental in achieving the significant progress that ISAF, working alongside our Afghan partners, has made in bringing greater security to the Afghan people in ensuring that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists," Defense Department spokesman George Little said. Fran Townsend, who served as Homeland Security Adviser in the last Bush administration, called him "a competent, respected, admired leader of troops." Allen's military career began when he graduated with honors from the Naval Academy in1976. He returned there in 1988 to teach in the political science department, earning the "military instructor of the year" award in 1990.

He became the first Marine to be appointed commandant of midshipmen, the second highest post at the Naval Academy, in 2002. When Allen was promoted from colonel to brigadier general in 2003, he was made principal director of Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He held the position for nearly three years. He served in Iraq as commanding general of the 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade from 2006 to 2008. He championed the "Sunni Awakening" strategy that organized and paid former insurgents or sympathizers who turned against al Qaeda.

More http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/13/us/gen...ile/index.html

---

See also:

The tricky nature of investigating Gen. Allen's emails
November 14th, 2012 - A U.S. official familiar with the content of the e-mails Gen. John Allen sent to Jill Kelley described them as "embarrassing" and warranting the investigation that has been launched.

Quote:

---

"They are embarrassing. If they got out, John Allen would be very embarrassed by them," according to the official, who emphasized that there is no evidence of "physical contact between the two." The official noted that the e-mails that are under investigation - which have been called "potentially inappropriate" - are from Allen. It is Allen's e-mails that are under investigation, and the official did not know the content of any of Kelley's e-mails to Allen. "The e-mails are concerning enough to warrant an investigation," the official said. A second U.S. official, who has had the e-mails described to him, characterized the content as "sexy," but emphasized he could not say whether they "crossed the line."

They "are not the type of e-mails you would want your wife to read," the second official explained. But a senior official close to Allen told CNN's Nick Paton Walsh Tuesday that there was nothing pointing or referring to sex or an affair or anything of a romantic nature. Allen may have said, informally, "thanks sweetheart" in an e-mail, the official close to Allen insisted. "Anyone who knows him knows his style - he has a habit of replying to every single e-mail (he is sent). Kelley would e-mail his business and personal accounts," that official said.

It will be up to the Defense Department’s inspector general to decide specifically if the content of the e-mails is so inappropriate that they would be considered conduct unbecoming an officer, according to a third source, a senior U.S. official. This official pointed out this may be a very difficult matter to decide because everyone has a personal definition of what is "affectionate, admiration, all the way to what some might define as sexting."

Source

---

'Shirtless FBI Agent' in Petraeus Affair Is Named...
:wink:
Veteran F.B.I. Agent Helped Start Petraeus E-Mail Inquiry
November 14, 2012 - NYT says it's veteran agent Frederick Humphries

Quote:

---

The F.B.I. agent who spurred the investigation that led to the resignation of David H. Petraeus as C.I.A. director is a “hard-charging” veteran who helped investigate the foiled millennium terrorist plot in 1999, colleagues said on Wednesday. The agent, Frederick W. Humphries II, 47, is also described by former colleagues as relentless in his pursuit of what he sees as wrongdoing, which appears to describe his role in the F.B.I. investigation involving Mr. Petraeus. Suspecting that the case involved serious security issues and was being stalled, possibly for political reasons — a suspicion his superiors say was unjustified — he took his concerns to Congressional Republicans. “Fred is a passionate kind of guy,” one former colleague said. “He’s kind of an obsessive type. If he locked his teeth onto something, he’d be a bulldog.”

The question of how and why the F.B.I. opened the investigation that has had such momentous consequences has been central from the moment Mr. Petraeus stepped down Friday. The emerging portrait of the agent who initiated the inquiry is another step toward an answer. Mr. Humphries, who was identified on Wednesday by law enforcement colleagues, took the initial complaint from Jill Kelley, a Tampa woman active in local military circles and a personal friend, about anonymous e-mails that accused her of inappropriately flirtatious behavior toward Mr. Petraeus.

The subsequent cyberstalking investigation uncovered an extramarital affair between Mr. Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, his biographer, who agents determined had sent the anonymous e-mails. It also ensnared Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, after F.B.I. agents discovered what a law enforcement official said on Wednesday were sexually explicit e-mail exchanges between him and Ms. Kelley.

A spokesman for Ms. Kelley provided her version of events in two conference calls with reporters on Wednesday. Ms. Kelley’s concern when she took the e-mails to Mr. Humphries was that she feared the sender was “stalking” Mr. Petraeus and General Allen, said the spokesman, who asked not to be identified. “She asks the agent, ‘What do you make of this?’ ” the spokesman said. “The agent said: ‘This is serious. They seem to know the comings and goings of a couple of generals.’ ”

MORE

---

See also:

Military suspends privileges of women at center of Petraeus scandal November 14, 2012 - The military has suspended the security clearances of Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the women in the heart of the David Petraeus sex scandal.

Quote:

---

Broadwell, a West Point graduate, is a former Army intelligence officer and held a high security clearance. Because her clearance was issued through the Army, it was the service's move to suspend it. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Warren says the decision to indefinitely suspend Kelley's pass to MacDill Air Force Base was made in the last couple of days.

Warren said it was decided the pass suspension would be in the best interest of the Air Force base community. Kelley can still enter the base but now must report to the visitor center and sign in like everyone who doesn't have a pass. Kelley's complaints about threatening emails triggered the FBI investigation that turned up CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell and led to his resignation. The military is separately probing communications between Kelley and Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

A person close to Kelley says the first anonymous email in the case was sent to Allen and came from someone who used the handle "kelleypatrol." Allen forwarded it to Kelley. That email, which investigators traced to Broadwell, warned Allen to stay away from Kelley. In the e-mail, Broadwell said she knew Kelley and Allen had a meeting scheduled.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz2CHopSJya

---

Lots of information on General Allen...........