Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus together on a plane. (Photo: PaulaBroadwell.com)

Slate's Fred Kaplan reports that David Petraeus resigned as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency after he had an affair with one of his biographers, author Paula Broadwell. Ms. Broadwell co-authored a glowing portrait of Mr. Petraeus titled, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.

According to the biography of Ms. Broadwell on the website of her book, she is a "a research associate at Harvard University's Center for Public Leadership and a PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies at King's College London" who spent most of a year in Afghanistan with Mr. Petraeus working on the book. Her site, which was deleted sometime this evening, described the book as having built on her two-year doctoral dissertation, which was "a study in transformational leadership and organizational innovation influenced by U.S. Army General David Petraeus."

In addition to her studies of Mr. Petraeus, the book site describes Ms. Broadwell as having "graduated with academic and leadership honors from the United States Military Academy at West Point." It also notes her devotion to physical fitness and outdoor activities saying she, "graduated at the top of her class in physical fitness" after running on the prestigious military academy's outdoor, indoor and cross country track teams.

Paula and Scott Broadwell in Paris. (Photo: Facebook)

Ms. Broadwell's book site also identifies her as being married to Scott Broadwell, an interventional radiologist with whom she has two children.

"They love to run, ski, and surf together," the site says of the couple.

In a reading at a Washington, D.C. bookstore in February, Ms. Broadwell described how she met Mr. Petraeus while a graduate student at Harvard:

"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."

At that same interview, Ms. Broadwell said that, while writing her book, "I got to know his family." Mr. Petraeus' wife, Holly, became the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Office of Servicemember Affairs. In that capacity she works to protect members of the military and their families from predatory loans and financial scams. They have two children together, Stephen and Anne, who writes a food blog where she often discusses her family.

In a February, 2012 video interview with Arthur Kade [see below], Ms. Broadwell went into greater detail about her military background. She also described the process of writing her biography of Mr. Petraeus, which involved extensive interviews, phone conversations and emails.

"It's not a hagiography, I'm not in love with David Petraeus, but I think he does present a terrific role model for young people, for executives, for men and women. No matter what, there's a great role model there," Ms. Broadwell said in her interview with Mr. Kade.

Though Ms. Broadwell refuted the notion her book was overly flattering, it certainly presented a complimentary picture of Mr. Petraeus. Daily Show host Jon Stewart noted this fact when Ms. Broadwell appeared on his program in January.

"The most controversial thing is--I would say that the real controversy here is, is he awesome or incredibly awesome? It's very--it's a nice portrait," Mr. Stewart quipped.

"I have a detail I can share with you, he can turn water into bottled water," Ms. Broadwell responded.

In that same interview, the television host asked Ms. Broadwell if Mr. Petraeus, who had been rumors as a potential running mate for Mitt Romney, would ever consider running for president himself.

"My husband wants me to say he is, cause it will sell more books," Ms. Broadwell said. "I'm sorry honey, I couldn't do it."

The Associated Press reported Friday evening that the alleged affair between Ms. Broadwell and Mr. Petraeus came to light during an FBI investigation into her knowledge of the former general's email correspondence. The Observer has called phone numbers listed to the Broadwells and Ms. Broadwell's co-author Vernon Loeb, but, as of this writing, we have yet to receive a response.

Additional reporting by Colin Campbell 

 Updated with additional information 8:18 p.m.

David Petraeus (Central Intelligence Agency)

Former four-star general and current director of the CIA David Petraeus has tendered his resignation to the president. Wire services are still sorting out the details, however NBC is reporting that Mr. Petraeus resigned due to an extramarital affair.

Mr. Petraeus, once touted as a potential candidate for president, played a crucial role in the Iraq war prior to resigning his Army commission to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Republicans and Democrats alike were pleased with his appointment, unanimously approving the choice.

Only the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, which has been viewed by some as an intelligence failure, called his leadership into question.

From the White House, President Obama's statement on the resignation:

David Petraeus has provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades. By any measure, he was one of the outstanding General officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end. As Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, he has continued to serve with characteristic intellectual rigor, dedication, and patriotism. By any measure, through his lifetime of service David Petraeus has made our country safer and stronger.

Today, I accepted his resignation as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission, and I have the utmost confidence in Acting Director Michael Morell and the men and women of the CIA who work every day to keep our nation safe. Going forward, my thoughts and prayers are with Dave and Holly Petraeus, who has done so much to help military families through her own work. I
wish them the very best at this difficult time.

Rumors reported via social media that Mr. Petraeus had an affair with an aide to Massachusetts Senator-elect Elizabeth Warren were false.

Mr. Petraeus may have had no choice but to resign. New York Magazine noted a Reuters report regarding rules of conduct for CIA employees in which an agency spokeswoman said, "CIA employees must take - and pass - a polygraph test as part of the process to receive a security clearance, and must regularly undergo reinvestigations to maintain that clearance."

Earlier this month, Newsweek published "General David Petraeus’s Rules for Living." Rule number five: "We all will make mistakes. The key is to recognize them and admit them, to learn from them, and to take off the rear­ view mirrors—drive on and avoid making them again."

Gosling and Carell.

What to say about an uphill slog called Crazy, Stupid, Love? It’s not nearly crazy enough to clear the clogged arteries of summer comedies, and when the love appears, it’s in all the wrong places. Oh well, at least they nailed the stupid part.

This movie is so hapless that not even two directors could get it right. Guided with a sledgehammer by the team of Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and written with a No. 2 soft-lead kindergarten pencil by Dan Fogelman, this snore stars a number of  talented people who should have known better. After 25 years of marriage, square suburban doofus Cal (Steve Carell, who invents these roles as vehicles, and produced this one to prove it) is devastated to learn that his wife, Emily, (Julianne Moore) is committing adultery with her boss (Kevin Bacon) and filing  for divorce. Their creepy 13-year-old son is in love with his 17-year-old babysitter, but she’s in love with Cal, who doesn’t know it. Drowning in self-pity, Cal lands in dating hell, hanging out at a local bar for the depressed and displaced, sipping vodka and cranberry with a straw. A supercilious stranger and self-anointed King of the Babe Magnets named Jacob (a dismally miscast Ryan Gosling) says, “I don’t know whether I should help you or euthanize you,” but takes on the task of helping Cal get his mojo back while sticking him with a bar bill for $837.

This is the kind of movie in which real men drink scotch instead of Cosmos and wear suede instead of Ralph Lauren. After all the counseling and all the hours at the gym and the new wardrobe, the woman Cal chooses to try out his new sex appeal is Marisa Tomei, who turns out to be his son’s eighth grade English teacher. Meanwhile Jacob, who is supposed to be all man (but with a weakness for buying things on the Home Shopping Network), blows his own cover when he meets a girl he calls a “game changer,” played by Flavor of the Month Emma Stone. It’s the first time he’s ever taken a woman to bed and talked himself to sleep. Of course the “game changer” turns out to be the movie’s only big surprise. I’d be a cad to reveal her identity before you have a chance to head for the doors marked “Exit.” From here, this thumping snooze rattles and woofs its way into a crazy quilt of mistaken  identity with almost the  entire cast punching it out in a massive donnybrook in Cal’s back yard, where he sometimes shows up in the middle of the  night to water his  old rose bushes. Before it all ends at a junior-high graduation that has to be seen to be believed, they all grow up, learn to be  better people and discover the true meaning of love in  a finale that can only be described as utterly preposterous.

None of this is much fun to watch. The pace drags. The acting is without contrast or color. Farce is not Ryan Gosling’s style; he looks like he’s coming down with something contagious. Steve Carell plays this kind of nerdy, squarely dressed, aging dweeb in his sleep. He has a patent on the role, but hasn’t got a clue about how to make it look anything more than ossified. Crazy Stupid Love is an alleged comedy comprising currents of disconnected irony. For it to work those threads should meet in some believable fashion. Instead, they unravel faster than the drawstring on a pair of 32-inch gym shorts worn by a man with a 42-inch waistline.

rreed@observer.com

CRAZY STUPID LOVE

Running time 117 minutes

Written by Dan Fogelman

Directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa

Starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore

1/4

Hot stuff! Putin's probably sicced his old KGB buddies on the those with loose lips, seeking to quash the rumors. But the release of a certain magazine may make it hard to lower Alina's profile -- the beauty is set to stare out from newsstands across the world as the cover girl for January's Russian Vogue.

The Telegraph reports that Putin sternly denied any improper relationship between him and Alina, who also works within Putin's party, after a newspaper ran a story saying he had left his wife and two daughters and taken up with the gymnast.

The issue will almost certainly place newly appointed Russian Vogue editor Viktoria Davydova in hot water, and will come out in January.

If the rumors, which first surfaced in 2008, are true, let's just hope that Putin doesn't croon his love interest to sleep. Yes, Vlad, we know you like Fats Domino tunes, but we can't say we're a fan of the singing voice.

nfreeman [at] observer.com | @nfreeman1234