CIA chief dimissed over affair

CIA director David Petraeus has resigned from his post, admitting he had an extra-marital affair, BBC News reported.
In a statement, he has described his behavior as “unacceptable” for the leader of the nation’s main intelligence agency.Unnamed officials said he conducted the affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.Petraeus became CIA boss in 2011 after heading international forces in Iraq and later in Afghanistan.He was the highest-profile military officer of the post-9/11 years, winning plaudits for his role running the “surge” in Iraq and implementing a counter-insurgency strategy in Afghanistan.He left his command role in Afghanistan in mid-2011, resigning from the US Army to head the CIA after Leon Panetta became defence secretary.Shortly after Petraeus resigned, reports emerged that the FBI had uncovered the affair during the course of an investigation into Mrs Broadwell.The FBI was monitoring Petraeus’ email account to check whether Mrs Broadwell had access to it, administration officials were quoted as saying by the Associated Press.Petraeus&# 8217; resignation came just three days after President Barack Obama’s re-election, and prompted a flurry of statements from the White House, intelligence community and Mr Petraeus himself.Announcing his decision to stand down, the former general was full of contrition.”After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extra-marital affair,” Petraeus said in a statement.”Such behaviour is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organisation such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.”Broadwell is a Harvard University research associate and PhD candidate at King’s College, London.She has a military background, graduating from the same West Point Academy as Mr Petraeus. She is married to radiographer Scott Broadwell and lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.She spent months embedded alongside the then-general in Afghanistan while researching her 2011 book , All In: The Education of General David Petraeus. The book was widely seen as a positive account of his leadership methods.   Read more... (323 words)

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