Questions remain over CIA visit

More than a week after America's top spy flew out of Prague, mystery continues to surround the reason for his secretive and unannounced visit.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency boss David Petraeus left the Czech Republic June 4 onboard a C-17 Globemaster III, an aircraft he regularly uses for transport.

Photographs published in the daily Právo showed the CIA director and his team boarding the military transporter at Prague's Ruzyně Airport headed for their next destination, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Reports from Bulgaria said Petraeus held talks with the country's president and prime minister, meetings that were confirmed by the U.S. Embassy in Sofia. U.S. authorities, however, have been less forthcoming on details about the intelligence chief's fleeting stopover here.

Paul Oglesby, spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Prague, said he was not authorized to comment on anything concerning the CIA and referred questions to the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

As of press time, the CIA was yet to respond to questions from The Prague Post about its director's covert mission to the Czech Republic.

A spokesman for the Defense Ministry, Jan Pejšek, confirmed to The Prague Post that Alexandr Vondra met with the intelligence chief during his brief but secretive stay.

"The ministry acknowledges Vondra met with Petraeus in Prague, and they had lunch. But we cannot reveal what was discussed at their meeting," Pejšek said.

A defense expert said off the record that the CIA director would have plenty of matters to discuss with Czech officials, including intelligence sharing between the close allies.

Petraeus has been CIA chief since September 2011, when he replaced Leon Panetta, and last came to Prague in 2009 to receive a high Czech military decoration.

On that occasion, Petraeus was joined by his daughter, who had been working for a year as an English teacher in Prague, unbeknown to the Czech media.

Andrew Greene can be reached at
agreene@praguepost.com