A womanizing spy plays well at the box office. “Skyfall,” the latest James Bond movie, is currently the No. 1 movie in the world at the box office, having already made more than $500 million.
In real life, that sort of liaison was too dangerous for America’s spymaster. And the ripples from last week’s shocking resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus keep spreading.
Petraeus, 60, quit after the FBI found out that he had an extra-marital affair with Army reservist and former intelligence officer Paula Broadwell, the woman who co-wrote his biography.
Petraeus was considered one of the best generals of his generation after his successful leadership of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Some people considered him a potential presidential candidate.
He might need his Army training to survive. A Petraeus family friend told ABC, “Furious would be an understatement,” to describe the reaction of Holly, Petraeus’ wife of 32 years. I hope the CIA has found a comfortable safe house for Petraeus to hide in until things cool down.
One of the most fascinating aspects of this case is how all of the threads seem to lead to a Tampa, Fla., social climber named Jill Kelley.
A surgeon’s wife and mother of three children, Kelley was a self-appointed social ambassador for the nearby U.S. Central Command and other officers at MacDill Air Force Base. The Kelleys opened their home to lavish parties where military brass mingled with Tampa’s elite. In this role, she befriended Petraeus and his wife when he took over Central Command in October 2008.
Kelley, who reportedly dropped Petraeus’ name often, remained in touch with the general after he left to become the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. They exchanged nearly daily emails.
Kelley, 37, also frequently socialized with Marine Gen. John Allen, who followed in Petraeus’ footsteps at Central Command and in Afghanistan. The FBI unearthed “inappropriate communications” between Kelley and Allen, who is married. The Pentagon is still digging through 20,000 pages of documents and emails which have been described as “flirtatious” and “suggestive.”
Apparently, the generals who lead the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan have a lot of free time on their hands. Allen is still in Afghanistan, but his nomination to lead U.S. forces in Europe and command NATO is on hold.
The generals were so close to Kelley that two months ago, Petraeus and Allen wrote letters lauding Kelley’s twin, Natalie Khawam, as a devoted mother to help her in a bitter child custody battle with her ex-husband. The judge in the case awarded Khawam’s ex-husband custody last year of their son. He also called Khawam, a lawyer, dishonest and lacking in integrity.
Kelley set this scandal in motion last May when she told a longtime friend in the FBI, veteran agent Frederick Humphries, about harassing emails she had been receiving that warned her to stay away from Petraeus. Here’s a fun fact: In 2010, Humphries sent Kelley a shirtless photo of himself. Kelley seems to have an eventful life.
In D.C., most of the concerns about this growing scandal seem to revolve around the political staples of turf and timelines. The FBI began investigating the matter last summer but didn’t notify the White House or Congress until after the election.
I’m sure that timing had nothing to do with the fact that the administration had been on the defensive for weeks about a terror attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, that left four Americans dead.
Obama said he’s seen no evidence that national security was damaged by the revelations that ended his CIA director’s career. But lawmakers aren’t taking Obama’s word for it and have grilled FBI and CIA officials privately about the same issues: whether national security was jeopardized by the case and why they didn’t know about the investigation sooner.
There certainly appears to have been a breach of some kind. Broadwell, who had unprecedented access to Petraeus while he he ran the CIA, has told FBI agents that she took classified documents out of secure government buildings.
Both Petraeus and Broadwell have said she didn’t get any classified documents from him. But the FBI has found a substantial number of classified documents on her computer and in her home in Charlotte, N.C..
The president’s assurances aside, it seems like a lot of people still have some explaining to do.
• Contact Charles Corder at 581-7241 or ccorder@gwcommonwealth.com.
