Tagged: John Allen

Marine Gen. John Allen has been cleared in a misconduct inquiry prompted by the extramarital-affair scandal that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus.

The Washington Post, which broke the story, reports:

"No one should leap to any conclusions" about whether the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan did anything inappropriate when he was communicating with a Tampa socialite, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters today.

Update at 11:30 a.m. ET: The Associated Press just moved a "bulletin" saying that according to a "senior defense official" the emails between Gen. John Allen and Jill Kelley were "flirtatious."

Update at 4:33 p.m. ET: NPR's Tom Bowman reports that U.S. officials tell him Paula Broadwell sent Gen. Allen messages warning him about Kelley. Allen, in turn, warned Kelley about those messages.

Our original post:

Feb. 19, 2013: See our note below about Gen. John Allen.