Former CIA chief fined $100,000 over classified breach

David Petraeus, the retired general and former Central Intelligence Agency head, has been sentenced to two years of probation and fined $100,000 for inappropriately handing classified information that he shared with his lover.

In a case that marks one of the greatest downfalls in modern military history, Mr Petraeus pleaded guilty to the unauthorised removal and storage of classified material as part of a deal that enabled him to avoid time in prison.

The retired general previously admitted to providing notebooks containing highly sensitive information - including the names of covert officers and notes about his conversations with President Barack Obama - to Paula Broadwell, his biographer and mistress.

Until his fall from grace, Mr Petraeus, a four-star army general who played critical roles in the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, was widely viewed as the one of the greatest military minds of his generation.

Mr Petraeus was the mastermind behind the 2007 "surge" of US troops in Iraq, which at the time was seen as instrumental in turning around a war that was going increasingly badly for the Bush administration. He later commanded US forces in Afghanistan where he was less successful combating the Taliban.

At the height of his stardom, Mr Petraeus was often mentioned as a possible candidate for president. Mr Obama made him head of the CIA instead of promoting him to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the top uniformed job in the military.

"Today marks the end of a two-and-a-half year ordeal that resulted from mistakes that I made," Reuters cited Mr Petraeus as saying, after his sentencing in a North Carolina court. "As I did in the past, I apologise to those closest to me and many others."

Critics have accused the Obama administration of being too lenient by not seeking a prison sentence when other people have been sent to jail for sharing classified information. Some people within the government also argued that it represented a double standard.

Under the plea agreement reached earlier this year, Mr Petraeus, who now works at the private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, agreed to plead guilty to the inappropriate handling of classified material.

Mr Petraeus resigned from the CIA in 2012 after the investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation discovered - during the course of another investigation - that he was having an affair with Ms Broadwell.

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