CIA Director Petraeus resigns, admits extra-marital affair

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – CIA Director David Petraeus resigned as head of the main U.S. spy agency today, saying he had engaged in an extramarital affair and acknowledging that he “showed extremely poor judgment.”

In a letter to the CIA workforce, Petraeus, 60, said that he met with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and asked “to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position.”

“After being married for 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” he wrote. “Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.”

Obama, who was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday, said in a statement that he accepted Petraeus’ resignation, praising him for his work at the CIA and for leading U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The sudden and dramatic turn of events appeared to end the public career of a widely admired man who played a key role in the Iraq war, led the U.S. Central Command and commanded U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.