Gen. Davis Petraeus, left, shakes hands with Paula Broadwell, co-author of his biography "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus," on July 13, 2011.(Photo: International Security Assistance Force's Flickr website)
WASHINGTON -- Paula Broadwell, whose extramarital affair with CIA
chief David Petraeus led to his resignation, is telling friends she is
devastated by the fallout.
A person close to Broadwell said Sunday
she deeply regrets the damage that's been done to her family and
everyone else's, and she is trying to repair that and move forward. The
friend spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
speak publicly.
A group of friends and neighbors welcomed
Broadwell, her husband, Scott, and their young sons back to their home
in Charlotte, N.C., after Broadwell spent more than a week being hounded
by media while staying at her brother's home in Washington. The family
friend said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from her
neighbors.
Broadwell is still being investigated by the FBI over
classified documents found on her laptop and in her home, which
investigators believe the author gathered while researching her
biography of Petraeus in Afghanistan. Investigators say many of the
documents are old and may no longer be classified despite their labels,
and say Broadwell told them she did not get them from Petraeus.
The
FBI stumbled onto their relationship after tracking anonymous emails
Broadwell allegedly sent to Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, warning Kelley
to stay away from Petraeus and Afghanistan war commander Gen. John
Allen.
Kelley served as sort of an unpaid social liaison for
Central Command, hosting parties at her and her husband's home, where
senior officers would mingle with Tampa's elite. Officials say Kelley
kept in near constant contact with Allen, and Petraeus before him,
apparently trading on her friendship with the four-star commanders to
advance her social status in the military-conscious community of Tampa.
The
scandal widened when the Pentagon announced it was looking into that
copious correspondence between Kelley and Allen, searching for possible
evidence of an inappropriate relationship between the two married
people. Allen's nomination to lead the U.S. European Command has been
put on hold, pending results of the investigation, though officials now
concede only a handful of the emails between Kelley and Allen are of
flirtatious or questionable nature.
The FBI found no reason to
further investigate Petraeus, but the CIA is now investigating whether
the former director behaved inappropriately, such as possibly using
agency resources to further the affair.
Associated Press