The distractions just waiting to happen Drivers often get into accidents because they take their eyes off the road to look at people of the opposite sex. It's one of the sad facts of life. I found an article on the Daily Mail's website that said in Great Britain alone, 2,525 car crashes a day can be blamed on drivers who "lust through their windows." Men, it said, are five times more likely than women to be diverted in this way. Maybe that's all an exaggeration. But then again, maybe that's not. In recent days, the susceptibility of even the most disciplined of men to distractions of this sort has been on display for all to see - in the form of a chain-reaction pile-up that has shaken the US national security establishment to its core. The accidents began to happen last week when David Petraeus, former commander of US military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, stunned the nation by resigning as director of the Central Intelligence Agency and acknowledging an extramarital affair. His paramour was identified as Paula Broadwell, his biographer. The dalliance was discovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after Jill Kelley, a volunteer at a military base in Tampa, Florida, had complained of receiving harassing emails. These messages from Ms Broadwell reportedly told her to keep away from Mr Petraeus. Nor did the weirdness in Ms Kelley's inbox end there. Investigators found that the FBI agent to whom she made her original complaint had previously emailed a shirtless photo of himself to the Florida woman, who is married. They also discovered that Ms Kelley had conducted an active online correspondence with General John Allen, the top US commander in Afghanistan, prompting the Pentagon to say this week that it was investigating whether the married military leader had engaged in "inappropriate communication." The steady stream of salacious details has seized the imagination of a nation looking to decompress after the Sturm und Drang of our long presidential campaign. In the run-up to the scandal, both Ms Broadwell and Ms Kelley seemed to have been regularly photographed in clothing that lacked sleeves or significant breathing room; the resulting display of décolletage in the press has been sufficiently ample to divert our attention from the fiscal cliff and other hazards on the road ahead (I speak as a licensed driver myself in the state of New Jersey). Indeed, we had a presidential election scarcely more than a week ago, and the losing candidate, a guy called Mitt Romney (to borrow the inspired characterisation of Boris Johnson, London's mayor), is already well on his way to becoming a forgotten figure - a John W. Davis or Wendell Willkie for the 21st century. Of course, I'll take that back in the highly unlikely event that Mr Romney knows Ms Kelley, too. But I think there is a serious question to be asked about why people so deeply involved in the defence of our country for so long would be prone to the distractions that brought down General Petraeus and have put Gen Allen on the front pages. In broaching this subject, I would add that I don't mean to engage in psychoanalysis or to throw stones, since I lack the proper qualifications for either endeavour. Rather, I think it's fair to say that people are more open to distraction in some circumstances than others. A man on a mission - a military commander rushing to the front, a police officer chasing a bank robber, a husband taking his wife to a hospital delivery room - would be less likely to notice a pretty woman on the street than a fellow just cruising around town with no particular place to go. While I'm no expert on military life, I do know a thing or two about being bored - and on that basis, I can't help but wonder whether the turmoil in our national security elite reflects some sort of aimlessness in these circles. We have been at war for so long now that it's almost to be expected. Just consider the numbers: Americans have been fighting in Afghanistan since 2001, and from 2003 to 2011 we were also waging war in Iraq. By contrast, our participation in the first world war - as harrowing as that was - spanned two years and we wrapped up the second world war in less than four. President Barack Obama has promised to end the US combat mission in Afghanistan by 2014, but at moments like this that seems awfully far off. It's hard to fight the feeling that it's time for everyone to come home. After all, the men driving our national security efforts seem to have lost their way.