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Paula Broadwell

TOPIC 2. Media News

David Petraeus Media Coverage

David Petraeus Resigns as CIA Director CNN Nov. 9, 2012

Pick up the paper, turn on the tube, crack open the laptop, stop at any Starbucks, and the chatter is all about Dave and Paula.

Earlier this afternoon, David Petraeus, perhaps the most celebrated US general of his generation, abruptly resigned as CIA director while admitting to having an extramarital affair. His stellar military and intelligence career came crashing to a halt on Friday when President Barack Obama accepted his resignation because of an affair with his personal biographer, Paula Broadwell.

The 60-year-old married father of two grown children issued an apologetic message to CIA staff: "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair," he said. "Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours."

David Petraeus, who ran the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was routinely called the greatest strategic military mind of his generation, shocked America by resigning as head of the CIA. Forget the fiscal cliff. There is no other topic in the country today. Every reporter, columnist, commentator, and blogger is finding an angle. Questions abound: Why now? Who did he have the affair with? Is this really the whole story? But the most important question of all is: What headline will the Post use on its front page tomorrow?

Paula Broadwell

The femme fatale of the drama is Paula Broadwell, a glamorous major in the Army reserve. The 40-year-old counter-terrorism expert lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her radiologist husband and their two young sons.

Petraeus first met Broadwell when he spoke at Harvard University in 2006, handing her his card and offering his help when she told him about her research interests. Paula Broadwell was a rising star who seemed destined for a sparkling career in foreign policy. At that time she was pursuing a doctorate at Harvard and had found a mentor in Gen. David Petraeus, an iconic U.S. military leader.

Two years later, Broadwell, who had made her dissertation topic a case study on Petraeus' leadership, was invited to join the general for a run along the Potomac River in Washington. In 2010 and 2011, Broadwell made multiple trips to Afghanistan, gaining unprecedented access to Petraeus and his command for her glowing biography: "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus."

It had long been rumored that something was going on between Petraeus and Broadwell. When she was staying with him in Afghanistan, they went on frequent five-mile runs together. But Petraeus went on five-mile runs with many reporters, and few people who knew him took the rumors seriously. Few could have imagined that his end would come as the result of a morals scandal.