The woman with whom former CIA Director David Petraeus had an affair has been identified as Paula Broadwell, the co-author of a recent biography about the retired four-star general.
Broadwell is currently under FBI investigation for improperly trying to access Petraeus’ emails and possibly gaining access to classified information, NBC News reported Friday, the same day Petraeus resigned from his post as director of the top U.S. intelligence agency. He cited the extramarital affair as his reason for stepping down.
Holly Petraeus, the general’s wife, is employed in the Obama administration’s Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Her work involves advocating on behalf of military veterans and their families.
David and Holly Petraeus (Getty Images)
US Army General David Petraeus gives a thumbs-up after presenting his wife Holly with a bouquet of roses during an Armed Forces Farewell Tribute and Retirement Ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall in Arlington, Virginia, on August 31, 2011. (SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
Slate first identified the “other woman” as Broadwell, who co-authored “All In: The Education of General David Petraeus” with Washington Post editor Vernon Loeb.
A fit, attractive married mother of two, Broadwell spent three years conducting research on the book, which her website says included “extensive access by General Petraeus, his mentors, his subordinates, and his longtime friends.”
According to her biography, Broadwell lives in Charlotte, N.C., with her husband Dr. Scott Broadwell, a radiologist, and their two young sons Landon and Lucien.
“[W]hen Paula is not on the frontlines, online, or writing lines,” the biography reads, “they love to run, ski, and surf together.”
Broadwell, like Petraeus, is a graduate of U.S. Military Academy. She is a a commissioned officer — a major in the Army Reserve — and a research associate at Harvard University’s Center for Public Leadership.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus and his biographer Paula Broadwell (www.paulabroadwell.com)
According to the Charlotte Observer she met Petraeus in 2006 at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government when she was a student there. He offered to help her after she told him about her research interests.
“He really cares about mentoring,” she told The Observer, which added that after her book tour Broadwell would be finishing her doctorate. Petraeus was one of her dissertation advisers.
Broadwell did not immediately respond to TheDC’s request for comment.
She told Inspired Woman Magazine in February that she “wear[s] a number of hats. But my most important title is mom and wife.”
In a Q&A interview Broadwell conducted for The Daily Beast this week, the general said that one of his “rules for living” is that “[w]e all will make mistakes. The key is to recognize them and admit them, to learn from them, and to take off the rear view mirrors—drive on and avoid making them again.”