My gut reaction to the affair between General Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, his fangirlish biographer, was to ignore it and move along because it was a personal matter, but over the course of today and tonight it is morphing and changing by the hour into a curiouser and curiouser tale including more and more people. It's starting to sound and feel like a cross between Fatal Attraction and All the President's Men. Or maybe an episode of NCIS.
In fact, this post is going to be a monster just to catch up with the news.
New York Daily News: All In with Broadwell
Petraeus’ romance with Broadwell began two months after he became the nation’s top spy in September 2011, though they met years earlier, Boylan said. The steamy romance ended four months ago, said Boylan, who served as Petraeus’ spokesman in Iraq and spoke with his old boss over the weekend.
Boylan said Petraeus, 60, is “devastated” that he hurt his wife and lost “one of the best jobs he ever had” by falling for Broadwell, a married Army Reserve officer with two young sons.
From Business Insider: Wife is Furious
As his biographer, Broadwell didn't gloss over what is by all accounts a huge factor in Petraeus' success: his wife, Holly. All In: The Education Of General David Petraeus chronicles how the couple met and fell in love.
Holly's father was the superintendent of West Point, where Petraeus went to school, and a respected military academic. Petraeus found the status of Holly's family "intoxicating," because it was in stark contrast to his own parents, a humble librarian and sea captain, Broadwell wrote.
Holly has also reportedly moved 23 times since she married Petraeus. Today, she's a director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
. . . So far, Holly has been silent on her husband's affair.
An ex-CIA spokesperson said that his wife is so angry over the affair that "furious would be an understatement."
Via Washington Post: Petraeus Regrets
In a farewell letter last week to CIA staff members, Petraeus described his affair with Broadwell as behavior that is “unacceptable both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.” The statement and others from his allies in the days that followed created an impression that he had stepped down of his own volition, and out of a sense of moral obligation.
But some of his closest advisers who served with him during his last command in Iraq said Monday that Petraeus planned to stay in the job even after he acknowledged the affair to the FBI, hoping the episode would never become public. He resigned last week after being told to do so by Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. on the day President Obama was reelected.
NY Daily News: Secret Correspondent
As Washington was roiled by the scandal, new details about the affair and its aftermath emerged:
-- Petraeus and mistress Paula Broadwell used an email trick favored by terrorists and drug dealers to hide their messages to each other, storing them as drafts in an account they could both access, instead of sending traceable messages to each others’ inboxes.
-- After Broadwell was revealed to be the mystery correspondent who was sending menacing emails to comely Petraeus pal Jill Kelley, he told her to end the harassment campaign, The Washington Post reported.
-- Kelley, a social liaison for an Air Force base in Tampa, was in near-daily contact with Petraeus when he was overseeing the war in Afghanistan, though his ex-staffers say the frequent emails and instant messages were not romantic.
(From L to R) Natalie Khawam, Gen. David Petraeus, Dr. Scott Kelley, his wife Jill Kelley and Holly Petraeus, the wife of Gen. David Petraeus, watching the Gasparilla parade from the comfort of tent on the Kelleys front lawn on Jan. 30. 2010, in Tampa, Fla.
Daily Beast Exclusive ~ Cat Fight: Paula Broadwell's Emails
The messages were . . . what the source terms “kind of cat-fight stuff.”
“More like, ‘Who do you think you are? … You parade around the base … You need to take it down a notch,’” according to the source, who was until recently at the highest levels of the intelligence community and prefers not to be identified by name.
Kelley herself seemed mystified as to what was behind the emails, much less who sent them. “I don’t know who this person is and I don’t want to keep getting them,” she told the FBI, as recounted by the source.
When the FBI friend showed the emails to the cyber squad in the Tampa field office, her fellow agents noted that the absence of any overt threats.
. . . The squad was not even sure the case was worth pursuing, the source says.
. . . Some of the steamier messages made clear that it was an affair. The besotted Broadwell may have viewed the curvaceous Kelley as a threat. Broadwell may be able to run a six-minute mile with Petraeus, but Kelley looks like a woman who lets the guys do all the running—and in her direction.
Wall Street Journal: FBI Agent Investigated
The FBI agent who started the case was a friend of Jill Kelley, the Tampa woman who received harassing, anonymous emails that led to the probe, according to officials. Ms. Kelley, a volunteer who organizes social events for military personnel in the Tampa area, complained in May about the emails to a friend who is an FBI agent. That agent referred it to a cyber crimes unit, which opened an investigation.
However, supervisors soon became concerned that the initial agent might have grown obsessed with the matter, and prohibited him from any role in the investigation, according to the officials.
One official said the agent in question sent shirtless photos to Ms. Kelley well before the email investigation began, and FBI officials only became aware of them some time later. Eventually, supervisors told the agent he was to have nothing to do with the case, though he never had a formal role in the investigation, the official said.
The agent, after being barred from the case, contacted a member of Congress, Washington Republican David Reichert, because he was concerned senior FBI officials were going to sweep the matter under the rug, the officials said. That information was relayed to top congressional officials, who notified FBI headquarters in Washington.
Eric Cantor Involvement
On Saturday, Oct. 27, Cantor spoke by phone to an FBI employee who told him about an investigation, including the details about Petraeus’ affair, and said he was concerned that classified information had been compromised.
Cantor then asked his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, to inform FBI Director Robert Mueller. Because the federal government was closed Monday and Tuesday of that week because to Hurricane Sandy, Stombres did not connect with Mueller’s chief of staff until Wednesday, Oct. 31. Mueller took the information, but gave no indication whether there was an investigation, according to the aide.
The senior aide also said Cantor did not inform anyone else.
Indeed, House Speaker John Boehner did not find out about Cantor’s role in this until the story (of Cantor’s contact with the FBI) broke two days ago. Cantor believed the FBI agent was credible enough to pass on the information to Mueller, but, given that it was a single source whom he had never met, he did not believe there was a need to pass the information on to his fellow House leaders.
New York Mag ~ Security Leak?
. . . a video has surfaced that adds fuel to the speculation about whether Petraeus shared classified information with Broadwell. While speaking on October 26 at the University of Denver, Broadwell said in response to a question about the 9/11 attack in Benghazi, “Now I don’t know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually — had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that’s still being vetted.” That sounds to some like Broadwell was referring to an unreported detail about the attack — though it's also possible that she just misunderstood something she heard on Fox News.
. . . The Washington Post reports, "Officers close to Petraeus grew concerned about her posts on Facebook, which they believed sometimes divulged sensitive operational details." According to the New York Times, when Broadwell was first interviewed by the FBI on October 21 she voluntarily turned over her computer. Agents found several classified documents during the search, but both Broadwell and Petraeus denied that he'd given her the files.
NBC: Senator Dianne Feinstein on Andrea Mitchell Video
Via CNN
An angry Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein warned again Monday she would investigate why the FBI did not notify oversight committees about its probe into CIA Director David Petraeus after the bureau determined he was having a secret and risky extramarital affair.
"...A decision was made somewhere not to brief us, which is atypical," the California Democrat told NBC's Andrea Mitchell about how the top Democrats and Republicans on the House and Senate intelligence committees are usually briefed on key developments.
"This is certainly an operationally sensitive matter. But we weren't briefed. I don't know who made that decision."
Section 501 of the National Security Act of 1947 spells out the requirements for the executive branch to inform the congressional intelligence committees of key intelligence related activities.
"The President shall ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept fully and currently informed on the intelligence activities of the United States, including any significant anticipated intelligence activity as required by this title," the statute reads.
Feinstein described the unfolding scandal, which she learned first about only on Friday when Petraeus announced publicly his resignation, "like peeling an onion. Every day another peel comes off and you see a whole new dimension to this."
Charlotte Observer: Broadwell's NC Home Searched by FBI
About eight to 10 agents brought cardboard boxes used for carrying papers and were on both floors of the home for the search, which began shortly before 9 p.m. About two dozen members of the local and national media gathered. It wasn’t immediately clear what the agents were focused on. The search ended at 1:09 a.m. Tuesday.
The agents appeared to start their search in the kitchen at the rear of the house, turning on lights as they moved into different rooms. Two hours into the search, lights appeared to be turned on in most rooms. After midnight, an agent walked out of the kitchen and retrieved boxes from a Chevy Malibu parked outside. She didn’t comment.
Just after 1 a.m., about eight FBI agents came out of the house with a half-dozen file boxes, a Dell PC, an iMac, a briefcase and a printer. The agents left at 1:09 a.m. The agents declined to comment on what they found.
Washington Post: Probe of Petraeus Scandal Snares Commander John Allen, Head of Nato
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT — The FBI probe into the sex scandal that led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus has expanded to ensnare Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced early Tuesday.
According to a senior U.S. defense official, the FBI has uncovered between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of “potentially inappropriate” e-mails between Allen and Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old Tampa woman whose close friendship with Petraeus ultimately led to his downfall. Allen, a Marine, succeeded Petraeus as the top allied commander in Afghanistan in July 2011.
. . . Petraeus’s fall from grace shocked the CIA but especially stunned his former colleagues in the Army, where he was considered one of the most brilliant and influential commanders of his generation. Allen, a Marine, was likewise seen as an intellectual, upstanding role model who first made his mark as a general in Iraq and later earned the professional and personal confidence of Obama.
Gawker: Jill Kelley Hires Big Attorney
Among the many odd, swirling facts surrounding the unfolding David Petraeus scandal: Jill Kelley, the longtime friend of the former CIA director who reportedly went to the FBI complaining of harassing emails from Petraeus' mistress Paula Broadwell, has reacted to the mess by bringing out the scandal equivalent of heavy artillery. She's hired DC superlawyer Abbe Lowell and crisis PR specialist Judy Smith—despite the fact that the FBI has concluded its investigation and there are no criminal allegations on the table.
. . . Even if Kelley simply found it prudent to keep a lawyer handy—why Lowell? It's like hiring David Boies because your friend got a speeding ticket. Lowell is the quintessential Washington power broker. He represented Clinton before the Senate during his impeachment trial. He specializes in disgraced political figures, including John Edwards. He's the kind of guy you hire when you're seriously f***ed.
Likewise, Judy Smith is one of those unique DC creatures one hires to make serious problems go away. Her clients have included Monica Lewinsky, Larry Craig, Wesley Snipes, Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, and the family of Chandra Levy.
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