Paula Broadwell is the author of All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, a biography of the military hero released this January. She's a West Point graduate and former US Army Major who's worked with the FBI, CIA and Department of Defense. She's also the 40-year-old married woman accused of having an affair with the celebrated general.
According to Broadwell's website, which was wiped Friday night, she's married to an interventional radiologist. "They have two very busy young boys, Lucien and Landon," her bio reads. "They live together in Charlotte, NC." Broadwell, 40, has said that she and her husband Scott like to run, ski, and surf together.
Here she is on The Daily Show in January:
Here's the married Broadwell talking about Petraeus' "personal side."
On Monday, Newsweek published her story "General David Petraeus’s Rules for Living". Here's an excerpt:
1. Lead by example from the front of the formation. Take your performance personally—if you are proud to be average, so too will be your troops.
2. A leader must provide a vision—clear and achievable “big ideas” combined in a strategic concept—and communicate those ideas throughout the entire organization and to all other stakeholders.
3. A leader needs to give energy; don’t be an oxygen thief.
NBC News is reporting that she is under investigation for attempting to read Petraeus' e-mails.
FBI investigating Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell for improperly trying to access his email, officials tell @NBCNews
FBI investigating Petraeus biographer Paula Broadwell for improperly trying to access his email, officials tell @NBCNews-- Breaking News
More: Officials say they don't believe FBI investigation into Broadwell will result in criminal charges - @NBCNews http://t.co/rmh1fLNL
More: Officials say they don't believe FBI investigation into Broadwell will result in criminal charges - @NBCNews http://t.co/rmh1fLNL-- Breaking News
And according to her Twitter, she's considerably well-connected.
Thanks for meeting with me to discuss how energy security IS national security, @boonepickens! You're #ALLIN! Txs for your leadership!
Thanks for meeting with me to discuss how energy security IS national security, @boonepickens! You're #ALLIN! Txs for your leadership!-- Paula Broadwell
Sitting with @katiecouric and @AnnMarieSlaughter in Aspen. Why #womencanthaveitall?
Sitting with @katiecouric and @AnnMarieSlaughter in Aspen. Why #womencanthaveitall?-- Paula Broadwell
BuzzFeed's Michael Hastings previously reviewed Broadwell's All In for Rolling Stone, calling it "a work of fan fiction so fawning that not even Max Boot – a Petraeus buddy and Pentagon sock puppet – could bring himself to rave about it." He also pointed out the following quotes from the book:
"I took full advantage of his open-door policy to seek insight and share perspectives."
"I will note in the pages that follow that [Petraeus] is driven and goal-oriented, but his energy, optimism and will to win stand out more for me than the qualities seized on by his critics. Serving, in his mind, is winning."
The New York Observer found a clip of Broadwell describing how she met David Petraeus.
“He came to Harvard University where I was a graduate student and wanted to speak with students about the merits of [the] counter-insurgency approach to fighting the Iraq War, which we were losing at the time….I went up to him and said I’m writing my thesis on negotiating with terrorists and I think it could help your team win and you should really read it and he was kind of enough to indulge me and take the paper and give me his business card. We kept in touch via email for a couple years, and I was still a graduate student. Two years later, I reached out to him if he would speak to students at Harvard…He agreed to do a video teleconference from Baghdad. I asked him if I could use him as a case study in my doctoral dissertation, and he agreed.”
Her husband Scott Broadwell comes up often in interviews. Here he is on The Daily Show, coming in around the nine-minute mark to do push-ups with Jon Stewart.