I still cannot believe that General David Petraeus would have an extant security clearance. He was caught sharing highly classified matter with his mistress & had a criminal conviction. How Petraeus could still have a valid security clearance is insane. Does Hillary Clinton? 
If David Petraeus still has a security clearance after both sharing highly classified material with his mistress & incurring a criminal conviction, then the whole thing is a complete joke. Hillary is probably consulting on communications security.
The worst aspect is that, across the Western world, ranks and Govt positions are traded off now in a way considered gauche and unthinkable not long ago. Retired officials/military officers want to maintain their clearance for access to contractor jobs & corporate advisory roles.
In the older British system, you retired as General X/former head of MI-Y, got a Knighthood+pension & more or less shuffled off the public stage to be chairman of the Lost Dogs homes, a School, or a football club-the American influence means grasping spivs want a paid CNN gig
Growing up, in our local parish, we had Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Daly KBE CB DSO, battalion commander in WW2 & Commonwealth Brigade commander in Korea. Spent his retirement as "Tom", daily Massgoer & volunteer at Sydney's Mathew Talbot Hostel, looking after the homeless.
