Biographer Paula Broadwell's Affair with David Petraeus Leads to His Resignation as Head of CIA

Posted on November 10, 2012

The Washington Post reports today that the FBI investigation of CIA Director and four star general David Petraeus was triggered when an unidentified female who knew Petraeus (colleague? Mrs. Petraeus? Another mistress?) received extremely threatening emails. They emails were so worrisome that she called the FBI. The FBI traced the emails to General Petreaus' personal gmail account. At first, the FBI thought that Petraeus' personal email had been hacked, most likely by a foreign spy agency withe malicious intent. The case was treated as a security matter.

But it quickly became clear that the general was carrying on a torrid affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. She wrote the New York Times bestselling book All In: The Education of General David Petraeus after being embedded with Petraeus (apparently, literally embedded) with him in Afghanistan. She is ex-military, was pursuing a graduate degree and is married with two children. She caught the ex-general's eye at a Harvard function and they exchanged email addresses. She later landed the book gig and got close to the ex-general in Afghanistan where she would go for five mile runs with him at the crack of dawn.

The FBI found thousands of emails from Petraeus to Broadwell, many of which were of a sexually explicit nature, including references to having intimate relations "under his desk." Petraeus resigned in a letter to President Obama citing an illicit affair and a lapse of judgement. The FBI was so concerned with this "lapse in judgement" that they felt Petraeus was not fit to lead the CIA, what with all the insecure, sexy emails, and giving access to his gmail account to Broadwell.

Broadwell isn't talking yet, but journalists are hounding her with calls and emails. No word what her co-writer on the book, Washington Post editor Vernon Loeb, thinks about it all. Screenwriters: this is a Lifetime movie waiting to happen.

Here's a video of Broadwell singing Petraeus' praises on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart while she was on the book tour for the biography. She jokes "he can turn water into bottled water." Take a look:

Photo: Penguin Press