Holly Petraeus, Military Family Watchdog Slated for Consumer Protection Agency Post

She adds that financial predators are only too willing to take advantage of the honor-and-duty “pay all your debts” culture inculcated in US armed forces personnel. The steady pay military employees earn also creates a target rich environment for the unscrupulous.

There’s no love lost between Petraeus and predators that target military personnel – and that’s exactly the mindset Washington needs to protect the military community. “You see that strip outside installations — the pawn shops, the tattoo parlors, the shady auto dealers,” Petraeus says. “I once heard those businesses described as bears lined up at a trout stream.” She tells USAA Magazine that once you add to the mix Internet fraud, life insurance scams, and high-pressure sales tactics just as distracted military personnel get set to deploy into dangerous war zones, you have a “perfect storm” of potential military fraud.

I am hopeful that Petraeus’ charge isn’t limited to keeping predatory lenders at arm’s length from our fighting men and women, but rather expands to dealing with all forms of financial fraud, including identity theft. The armed forces understand there is a colossal problem here and the CFPB must work to eradicate it. Without doubt, it is an issue of national security.

Last June, the Staten Island District Attorney’s Office indicted a gang of identity thieves, accusing them of stealing the checking, investment and credit card information of hundreds of consumers, including 20 soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, Tex. To show you how low this whale slime can go, they even lifted Social Security numbers from soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq – effectively compromising the security of the defenders of their own freedom. This was not an isolated incident but rather a brief skirmish in a continuing war at and around military bases across this country.

In the fight against fraud and predatory lending, failure is not an option. These practices, which invariably lead to credit and financial distress, create the type of mental distraction that can cost lives and endanger us all.

In the film “A Few Good Men” there’s a brief exchange that puts this all into perspective:

Lieutenant Sam Weinberg (played by Kevin Pollak): Why do you like them so much?

Lieutenant Commander JoAnne Galloway (played by Demi Moore): Because they stand upon a wall and say, “Nothing’s going to hurt you tonight, not on my watch.”

As they do their duty, protecting us on their watch, we must do ours and watch out for them. Holly Petraeus is the right person for the job. Let’s make sure she has the resources and jurisdiction she needs to effectively defend our defenders and put the bad guys on the defensive once and for all.

Image by United States Army, via Wikimedia Commons