Gen. David Petraeus, the retired four-star general who led the U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, resigned Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 as director of the CIA after admitting he had an extramarital affair. AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File
WASHINGTON— Fresh from re-election, President Barack Obama’s already full plate got fuller with the resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus over an extramarital affair, giving him another high-profile position to fill.
The revelation brought a shocking end to the four-star general’s stellar career, one so productive it had even sparked speculation he would one day run for the White House.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” the CIA director said in a message to staff released Friday.
While Obama praised Petraeus as he acknowledged his departure, there was no denying it added to his headache over the makeup of his future administration, already expected to lose heavyweights such as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Obama had no inkling Petraeus was about to leave until Thursday morning and refused to accept it straight away, the New York Times reported.
“He was surprised, and he was disappointed,” the Times quoted one senior administration official as saying. “You don’t expect to hear that the Thursday after you were re-elected.”
According to the paper, White House officials were only informed of the matter late Wednesday, a day after the election.
As he heads into his second term, Obama will likely also have to replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Speculation is already rife about who will succeed Clinton, who has stressed she wants to reclaim a private life put on hold by decades in the spotlight.
Now, adding to the rumor mill is talk of who might follow in Petraeus’s footsteps, a 60-year-old former paratrooper credited with turning around the Iraq war.
Michael Morell, Petraeus’s deputy at the lead US spy agency, will serve as acting director amid signs he might only be a placeholder.
Morell is expected to fill in for Petraeus at an upcoming hearing in Congress about the CIA’s alleged failure to protect a US consulate in Libya from a deadly attack on September 11 that led to the deaths of four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.
One name being floated is that of John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and a CIA veteran who has played an instrumental role in Obama’s drone war against Al-Qaeda militants.
Others, according to the Wall Street Journal, include Michael Vickers, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, and Congressman Michael Rogers, a Republican who heads the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
“It needs to be someone who has a lot of credibility … and doesn’t have a partisan reputation,” Stephen Wayne, professor at Georgetown University, told AFP.
Wayne also floated the name of former Republican senator Chuck Hagel but said his guess would be that Morrell will stay put permanently if he does well in the interim.
FBI probe of biographer
The affair came to light as the FBI was investigating whether a computer used by Petraeus had been compromised, the New York Times and other US media reported, citing government officials.
NBC News and other media reported the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating Paula Broadwell, co-author of a favorable biography of Petraeus, “All In: The Education of David Petraeus,” for possible improper access to classified information.
Unnamed officials told the Times that Petraeus’s lover was Broadwell, a former Army major who spent long periods interviewing Petraeus for her book. She offered no public comment on the revelations.
The most celebrated military officer of his generation, Petraeus, 60, took over at the CIA a little more than a year ago. He was credited by some with rescuing a failing US war effort in Iraq in 2007, after then president George W. Bush ordered a surge of troops into the country.
Obama later turned to him to lead a similar surge of American forces in Afghanistan in 2010, leaving a top post as commander of all US forces in the Middle East to do so.
His military background, however, sometimes clashed with the intelligence agency’s culture and there was some friction with the congressional committees that oversee the spy services.
With his infidelity, Petraeus, a married father of two, joins a list of high-profile adulterers in the US public sphere, including ex-president Bill Clinton, Arnold Schwarzenegger and former senator John Edwards.
In this case, however, the liaison raises potential security concerns in light of Petraeus’s highly sensitive position.
Still, the journal Foreign Policy, in a blog post, called his downfall a “huge loss for the United States.”
“Petraeus’s exit leaves a bitter taste. We all make mistakes. Here’s hoping he makes a comeback.”