Petraeus submitted his resignation after admitting he had an affair (revealed to be with the woman who wrote his biography)—even though the affair apparently is over. During the Cold War, it was generally assumed that spies or officials who had affairs posed a potential threat to national security. Why? Officials who fell into “honey traps” would be susceptible to blackmail. If the Soviets had evidence of a high official cheating on his wife—or, worse, in the closeted era, engaging in homosexual activity—the official would be more easily compromised.
That’s not what really happened with Petraeus. Nobody suggested that having an affair compromised his ability to do his job, or even his focus—although it certainly occupied some of his attention. Rather, it makes more sense to think of Petraeus as the CEO of a business. The business of the CIA is discretion, loyalty, keeping secrets, keeping information closely held. In allegedly using his work computer, and his position, to pursue an affair, this CEO was being highly indiscreet. By investing a professional writer-subject relationship with a deeper personal one, he also raised questions about how closely he would guard vital information. Because his personal behavior was at odds with the explicit mission of the organization he led, Petraeus found himself in an untenable position. It would be a little like the CEO of an organic-food company admitting that he subsists entirely on a diet of Cheetos, Twinkies, and Mountain Dew.
In 2007, as he commanded the troop surge and counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that over time led to an American withdrawal from the country, the general faced strong opposition from antiwar Democrats, who accused him of lacking candor in his assessments of the fighting. When President Obama came into office in 2009, he allowed Petraeus to finish his term in charge of Central Command, the region that included Iraq and Afghanistan. When Petraeus dismissed his commander in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, Petraeus took over his responsibilities as well.
By the time Petraeus came to his job as director of the CIA, he was largely behind the scenes, often turning down requests for media interviews.
Paula Broadwell 39, lives in the historic, upscale Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C., with her radiologist husband and two young boys. To say Paula Broadwell is an overachiever is an understatement. She grew up in North Dakota, graduated from West Point and worked in military intelligence. She studied Arabic in the Middle East—Jordan in particular—and specialized in counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and geopolitical analysis. This is not a field that includes many women, so the stunning Broadwell likely stood out among her peers.
As the story goes Broadwell and Petraeus first laid eyes on each other in 2006 when she was a graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. After she told him about her interests he reportedly handed her his card, offered his help and told her to stay in touch. When it came time to write her doctoral dissertation Broadwell included a case study of Patraeus’s leadership techniques. She apparently did so with the general’s blessing and cooperation.
Several media reports, including one in The Washington Post indicate that the Petraeus admission came after the FBI conducted an investigation into the possibility that the CIA director’s e-mail security had been breached. The FBI apparently accidentally discovered director David Petraeus’s extramarital affair after being asked to investigate “harassing” emails sent by Mrs.Broadwell, a government official briefed on the case told The New York Times on Saturday. The official said the investigation “started with two women,” but “in the course of the investigation, they stumbled across him. We were stunned.” Whether Broadwell was under suspicion of reading Petraeus’s classified e-mails is also unknown. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has commented.
David Howell Petraeus, 60, is a graduate of West Point and steeped in the academy’s honor code—which demands that “a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” His wife of nearly 40 years, Holly, also knows the code her husband lives by. When she first met the young Petraeus in 1973, he was a cadet at West Point where her father was superintendent.
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| Paula Broadwell |
Paula Broadwell 39, lives in the historic, upscale Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte, N.C., with her radiologist husband and two young boys. To say Paula Broadwell is an overachiever is an understatement. She grew up in North Dakota, graduated from West Point and worked in military intelligence. She studied Arabic in the Middle East—Jordan in particular—and specialized in counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and geopolitical analysis. This is not a field that includes many women, so the stunning Broadwell likely stood out among her peers.
As the story goes Broadwell and Petraeus first laid eyes on each other in 2006 when she was a graduate student at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. After she told him about her interests he reportedly handed her his card, offered his help and told her to stay in touch. When it came time to write her doctoral dissertation Broadwell included a case study of Patraeus’s leadership techniques. She apparently did so with the general’s blessing and cooperation.
Several media reports, including one in The Washington Post indicate that the Petraeus admission came after the FBI conducted an investigation into the possibility that the CIA director’s e-mail security had been breached. The FBI apparently accidentally discovered director David Petraeus’s extramarital affair after being asked to investigate “harassing” emails sent by Mrs.Broadwell, a government official briefed on the case told The New York Times on Saturday. The official said the investigation “started with two women,” but “in the course of the investigation, they stumbled across him. We were stunned.” Whether Broadwell was under suspicion of reading Petraeus’s classified e-mails is also unknown. Neither the FBI nor the CIA has commented.
David Howell Petraeus, 60, is a graduate of West Point and steeped in the academy’s honor code—which demands that “a cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” His wife of nearly 40 years, Holly, also knows the code her husband lives by. When she first met the young Petraeus in 1973, he was a cadet at West Point where her father was superintendent.