CIA chief Petraeus quits over extramarital affair

[Razor]

Broad-Well, hmmm, a very interesting surname.

 

[Singh]

The woman can do pushups and plenty of them. The Good General didn't have to do much work, it appears.

 

[asianobserve]

Broad-Well, hmmm, a very interesting surname.

And the title of the Biography of the good General that Ms. Broadwell co-wrote is even more interesting, "ALL IN." So it seemed the good General did indeed put "ALL IN" his thing on Ms. Broadwell (I mean his life experiences...). :cool2: jhfkjhfkdjfhaskdjfhakjfhakjfhsakfjhaskfjhaskfjashf

 

[asianobserve]

The woman can do pushups and plenty of them. The Good General didn't have to do much work, it appears.

Hahahaha! This thread should be transferred to the Jokes section.

 

[pmaitra]

And the title of the Biography of the good General that Ms. Broadwell co-wrote is even more interesting, "ALL IN." So it seemed the good General did indeed put "ALL IN" his thing on Ms. Broadwell (I mean his life experiences...). :cool2: jhfkjhfkdjfhaskdjfhakjfhakjfhsakfjhaskfjhaskfjashf

Flowing LOVA!

 

[Singh]

@Blackwater can you produce some clips of Geo news's coverage of Petraeus Affair.
===
Most commentators saying he was fired for the Libya fiasco. Extra-marital affairs are pretty common, and nobody gets fired because of them.

 

[asianobserve]

He resigned (not fired) before the FBI investigation into his girl friend could go out of hand. Note that the FBI has an ongoing investigation into an attempt by his girlfriend to gain access to his email account, thus possibly gain access to highly confidential information. The question is was the girl acting on her own or was she doing it for somebody else... To save himself some credibility he resigned and reveled the matter voluntarily.

 

[Blackwater]

CIA chief Petraeus quits over extramarital affair

WASHINGTON: CIA Director David Petraeus resigned Friday over an extramarital affair, bringing an abrupt end to a brilliant career that saw him serve as military commander in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

The revelation shocked Washington just three days after the re-election of US President Barack Obama and shortly before Petraeus had been due to testify on the CIA's alleged failure to properly protect of a US consulate in Libya.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair," Petraeus said in a message to CIA staff, released to the media.

"Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours."

It was unclear why Petraeus felt he had to step down over the affair, and whether his liaison presented a purely personal problem or raised security issues that could affect his work at the spy agency.

NBC television and other US media reported that the FBI was investigating Paula Broadwell, who published a detailed biography of Petraeus, "All In," for improper access to classified information.

The resignation comes amid criticism in some quarters of Petraeus over his response to a deadly attack in September on a US consulate in Benghazi, which killed the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans.

Petraeus was due to face a tough grilling in a series of closed-door classified meetings in Congress next week, with some lawmakers questioning the former general's handling of the incident.

Michael Morell, Petraeus' deputy at the country's lead spy agency, will serve as acting director and Obama expressed his "utmost confidence" in Morell's leadership. Lawmakers said they expected him to testify in the probe.

As to who would be named the next permanent director, speculation focused on John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and CIA veteran who has played an instrumental role in Obama's drone war against Al-Qaeda militants.

The most celebrated military officer of his generation, Petraeus, 60, took over at the CIA just over a year ago after retiring as a four-star general.

He was credited by some with rescuing a failing US war effort in Iraq in 2007, after then president George W. Bush ordered a surge of troops into the country.

Obama later turned to him to lead a similar surge of American forces in Afghanistan in 2010, leaving a top post as commander of all US forces in the Middle East to do so.

But Obama chose not to promote Petraeus to the US military's top job as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as White House officials remained wary of the media-savvy general who had pushed for more troops and more time in the Afghanistan war.

It was a rare setback for the ambitious, hyper-disciplined officer, and being passed over came as a disappointment, according to a recently published biography, "All In."

Instead, Obama gave Petraeus the CIA post last year shortly after the agency's intelligence triumph in tracking down and killing Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Obama accepted the CIA chief's resignation after meeting with him on Thursday, hailing his "extraordinary service."

"By any measure, he was one of the outstanding general officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end," he said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper lamented the "loss of one of our nation's most respected public servants."

Although Petraeus had only been at the CIA for about a year, he had worked to shift the spy agency to a more "balanced" approach to intelligence gathering, after an intense focus on terror threats after the September 11, 2001 attacks, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank.

"He had already begun to position the agency to live in the post-911 world," he said.

Senator John McCain, a loyal supporter who championed the general's surge strategy in Iraq, heaped praised on Petraeus for his tenure as commander there.

"General David Petraeus will stand in the ranks of America's greatest military heroes.

"His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible -- after years of failure -- for the success of the surge in Iraq," McCain said.

Petraeus has long been suspected of harboring political ambitions but he has repeatedly fended off questions about a possible White House run.


CIA chief Petraeus quits over extramarital affair - geo.tv

 

[Blackwater]

Video Portal Geo TV Network : CIA Chief Resigns


[video]http://videos.geo.tv/VideoGallery.aspx?ID=9059[/video]


http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=4311465098223

 

[Blackwater]

Pasha, Petraeus held secret meeting: report

WASHINGTON: A US newspaper has claimed that a secret meeting between DG ISI Lt General Ahmed Shuja Pasha and CIA chief Gen David Petraeus was held this month.

The paper said the meeting took place this month in which both the officials discussed anti-terror cooperation between the two countries.

The report further stated that the US wanted to send special envoy to Pakistan Afghanistan Mark Grossman along with a high level delegation to Pakistan.


Pasha, Petraeus held secret meeting: report - geo.tv

 

[average american]

The US military sets very high standards for the conduct of officers. This affair was pretty well public knowledge among the officer core.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice, the military criminal code, bars married service members from having extramarital sex and unmarried service members from sleeping with married people. However, the rules come with qualifications. They say that the military will only prosecute when a case harms "good order and discipline" and when the adultery is "of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces." The ambiguity is intentional: Visits to prostitutes are not reasons for a court-martial, but long-term affairs and affairs between soldiers are considered dangerous and deserving of punishment. However, civilian prosecution for solicitation of a prostitute may well result in discharge from the service, and likely a dishonorable form of that discharge.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

GEN Petraeus married the daughter of the Commandant at USMA (West Point) right after he graduated as a LT.

I don't know why that fact interests me, except today Broadwell looks much hotter than his wife.

Broadwell also served in the Army, which reminds me of something else.

When I was at HQ, USASOC, the CG "mentored" young female company-grade officers, and that was an official policy AFAIK. Just a situation liable for problems, I thought.

Women are trouble everywhere.

 

[Daredevil]

Paula Broadwell: the woman behind CIA director David Petraeus's exit

World, Updated Nov 10, 2012 at 02:16pm IST

CIA Director David Petraeus resigned abruptly following reports of an extra-marital affair with a journalist. In a letter to the CIA, Petraeus acknowledged poor judgement in carrying on the affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell while in Afghanistan. He admitted it was unacceptable behaviour.

For the director of the CIA, being engaged in an extramarital affair is considered a serious breach of security and a counterintelligence threat. If a foreign government had learned of the affair, the reasoning goes, Petraeus or Broadwell could have been blackmailed or otherwise compromised. Military justice considers conduct such as an extramarital affair to be possible grounds for court-martial.

Failure to resign also could create the perception for the rank and file that such behavior is acceptable. At FBI headquarters, spokesman Paul Bresson declined to comment on the information that the affair had been discovered in the course of an investigation by the bureau.

His affair was discovered during an FBI investigation, according to officials briefed on the developments. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the matter. Petraeus carried on the affair with his biographer, according to several US officials with knowledge of the situation. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation that led to the resignation publicly.

The FBI discovered the relationship by monitoring Petraeus' emails, after being alerted Broadwell may have had access to his personal email account, two of the officials said. Broadwell did not respond to voice mail or email messages seeking comment.

Paula Broadwell was the valedictorian of her high school class and homecoming queen, a fitness champion at West Point with a graduate degree from Harvard, and a model for a machine gun manufacturer, a report in The New York Times said. Broadwell was hardly shy about her interactions with Petraeus as she promoted her book, 'All In: The Education of General David Petraeus', in media appearances earlier in 2012. She had unusual access, she noted in promotional appearances, taping many of her interviews for her book while running six-minute miles with Petraeus in the thin mountain air of Afghanistan.

According to her biography on the Penguin Speakers Bureau website, Paula Broadwell is a research associate at Harvard University's Center for Public Leadership and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of War Studies, King's College London. She also has a passion for leadership and security policies.

Her Twitter description on Twitter says, "Author (All In: The Education of Gen David Petraeus); National Security Analyst; Army Vet; Women's Rights Activist; Runner/Skier/Surfer; Wife; Mom!"

Petraeus, a star on battlefield

David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but was undone by "poor judgment" in engaging in an extramarital affair that led to his downfall as CIA director. Just two days after his 60th birthday, Petraeus stepped down from the spy agency where he had held the top office since September 6, 2011.

"After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation," Petraeus told the shadow warriors he commanded at CIA.

It was a stunning downfall for a revered military man who was seen as one of the top American leaders of his generation and was once considered a potential contender for the White House. Petraeus was credited with pulling Iraq from the brink of all-out civil war and for battlefield successes in Afghanistan after overseeing a surge of 30,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama in late 2009. He became known for counter-insurgency strategies that were seen as gaining ground against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"I don't think he was professionally overrated. His were genuine accomplishments," said James Carafano, a war historian with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank. At the time of his nomination to the CIA post, some Washington insiders had said the White House wanted to find a prominent position for Petraeus to ensure he would not be recruited by Republicans as a challenger to the 2012 Obama-Biden ticket.

When he was nominated to lead the CIA there were some concerns in intelligence circles that the high-profile four-star Army general might not be able to lead from the shadows as appropriate for a spy chief. But once he took over the head office at the U.S. spy agency, Petraeus kept a decidedly low public profile.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, expressed regret about the resignation of "one of America's best and brightest" and said it was an "enormous loss" for the country. "At CIA, Director Petraeus gave the agency leadership, stature, prestige and credibility both at home and abroad. On a personal level, I found his command of intelligence issues second to none," she said.

(With additional information from Reuters and AP)

 

[Daredevil]

E-mails from author to other woman led to David Petraeus

Washington: The FBI investigation that led to the sudden resignation of David H. Petraeus as CIA director Friday began with a complaint several months ago about "harassing" emails sent by Paula Broadwell, Petraeus' biographer, to another woman who knows both of them, two government officials briefed on the case said Saturday.

When FBI agents following up on the complaint began to examine Broadwell's emails, they discovered exchanges between her and Petraeus that revealed that they were having an affair, said several officials who spoke of the investigation on the condition of anonymity. They also discovered that Broadwell possessed certain classified information, one official said, but apparently concluded that it was probably not Petraeus who had given it to her and that there had been no major breach of security. No leak charges are expected to be filed as a result of the investigation.

The identity of the woman who complained about the messages from Broadwell has not been disclosed. She was not a family member or in the government, the officials said, and the nature of her relationship with Petraeus was not immediately known. But they said the two women seemed to be competing for Petraeus' loyalty if not his affection.

"It didn't start with Petraeus, but in the course of the investigation they stumbled across him," the congressional official said. "We were stunned."

Broadwell has made no statement since the affair became public Friday, and attempts to reach her for comment have been unsuccessful.

The circumstances surrounding the stunning collapse of Petraeus' meteoric career remain murky. It was not clear when Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. or Robert S. Mueller III, the director of the FBI, became aware that the FBI's investigation into Broadwell's emails had brought to light compromising information about Petraeus. Tracy Schmaler, a spokeswoman for Holder, declined to comment Saturday.

Neither the congressional intelligence committees nor the White House learned of the investigation or the link to Petraeus until last week, officials said. Neither did Petraeus' boss, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence.

A senior intelligence official said Saturday that Clapper had learned of Petraeus' situation only when the FBI notified him about 5 p.m. Tuesday, election night.That night and the next day, the official said, the two men discussed the situation, and Clapper told Petraeus "that he thought the right thing to do would be to resign," the intelligence official said.

Clapper notified the president's senior national security staff late Wednesday that Petraeus was considering resigning because of an extramarital affair, the official said.

The decisions on when to notify various administration officials, including Clapper on Tuesday, were "a judgment call consistent with policies and procedures," according to one of the government officials who had been briefed.

If the investigation had uncovered serious security breaches or other grave problems, he said, the notifications would have been immediate. As it was, however, the matter seemed to involve private relationships with little implication for national security.

Some congressional staff members said they believed that the bureau should have informed at least the Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees about the unfolding inquiry. A spokesman for Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the lawmaker had summoned Sean Joyce, the FBI's deputy director, and Michael J. Morrell, the deputy CIA director, for closed briefings Wednesday about the investigation.

Eric Cantor, the House majority leader, said Saturday an FBI employee whom his staff described as a whistle-blower told him about Petraeus' affair and a possible security breach in late October, which was after the investigation had begun.

"I was contacted by an FBI employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain Director Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security," Cantor said in a statement.

Cantor talked to the person after being told by Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash., that a whistle-blower wanted to speak to someone in the congressional leadership about a national security concern. On Oct. 31, his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, called the FBI to tell them about the call.

"They took the information," said Doug Heye, Cantor's deputy chief of staff, "and gave the standard answer: They were not able to confirm or deny any investigation, but said that all necessary steps were being taken to make sure no confidential information was at risk."

White House officials said they were informed Wednesday night that Petraeus was considering resigning because of an extramarital affair.On Thursday morning, just before a staff meeting at the White House, Obama was told.

That afternoon, Petraeus went to see him and informed him that he strongly believed he had to resign. Obama did not accept his resignation right away, but on Friday, he called Petraeus and accepted it.

Petraeus, 60, said in a statement that he was resigning after 14 months as head of the Central Intelligence Agency because he had shown "extremely poor judgment" in engaging in the affair. He has been married for 38 years.

Broadwell, 40, is also married. She and her husband have two children and live in Charlotte, N.C.

On Saturday, the two government officials who had been briefed on the case dismissed a range of media speculation that the FBI inquiry might have focused on leaks of classified information to the media or even foreign spying.

"People think that because it's the CIA director, it must involve bigger issues," one official said. "Think of a small circle of people who know each other."

The FBI investigators were not pursuing evidence of Petraeus' marital infidelity, which would not be a criminal matter, the official said. But their examination of his emails, most or all of them sent from a personal account and not from his CIA account, raised the possibility of security breaches that needed to be addressed directly with him.

"Alarms went off on larger security issues," the official said. As a result, FBI agents spoke with the CIA director about two weeks ago, and Petraeus learned in the discussion, if he was not already aware, that they knew of his affair with Broadwell, the official said.

Michael D. Shear, Charlie Savage and Michael S. Schmidt contributed reporting.
© 2012, The New York Times News Service

 

[Singh]

So Petraeus was having multiple affairs ? That's nice.

 

[pmaitra]

 

[average american]

I heard some officers discussing this some time ago, they were rather irate that an superior officer of that rank would set such a bad example while they are being pressured to see that no junior officers have relations with women soldiers in their command. I have been around the military for over 50 years, I have never seen or would have ever imagined that we would have such a high caliber of officers as we have today.

 

[JBH22]

Behind every downfall of a successful man there is a woman

 

[Blackwater]

i dont mind

 

[Daredevil]

And this is the other women with whom Petraeus has affair.