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The plot surrounding the resignation of CIA chief David Petraeus over an extramarital affair thickened on Sunday with reports that his alleged lover had sent emails to a second woman seen as a threat to her love interest.

The affair came to light as the FBI was investigating whether a computer used by Petraeus -the celebrated ex-US commander in Iraq and Afghanistan - had been compromised, the New York Times reported, citing government officials.

NBC News and others have reported the FBI was focusing on Paula Broadwell, co-author of a favorable biography of 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.

Broadwell has offered no public comment on the revelations.

The Times and The Washington Post, citing an official briefed on the case, said on Nov 10 that the probe had been triggered by "harassing" emails sent by Broadwell to an unidentified second woman.

The recipient of the emails was so frightened, according to the Post, that she went to the FBI for protection and to help track down the sender.

According to the Post, the second woman did not work at the CIA and her relationship with Petraeus remains unclear. However, the emails indicated that Broadwell perceived her as a threat to her relationship with the top US spymaster, the paper said.

Broadwell, a counterterrorism expert, lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her husband Scott Broadwell, a local radiologist, and their two young sons. Until now, the 40-year-old wife had appeared to excel at juggling scholarly pursuits, family life, a military career, triathlons, charity work and even demonstrations for a machine gun manufacturer.

President Barack Obama had no inkling Petraeus, 60, was about to leave until Nov 8 and refused to accept his resignation straight away, according to the Times.

Petraeus himself said in a message to CIA staff, released to the media on Nov 8, that "such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours".

Broadwell first met Petraeus in 2006 when she was a soldier-turned-graduate student at Harvard University. The acclaimed US Army general gave her his card and offered to help her with her studies.

Broadwell soon began trading emails with the general, and four years later she was in Afghanistan turning a dissertation about his leadership into a book published this year entitled All In. Interviews for the book often took place on endurance-testing runs together, she would later say.

"That was the foundation of our relationship," Broadwell said of their runs when promoting the book on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show TV program in January.

Now the rumor mill is spinning with talk of who might follow in the footsteps of Petraeus, a former paratrooper and retired four-star general credited with turning around the Iraq war.

His deputy Michael Morell will serve as acting CIA director, and is expected to fill in for Petraeus at an upcoming congressional hearing about the CIA's alleged failure to protect a US consulate in Libya from a deadly attack that killed four US citizens, including Ambassador Chris Stevens.

As the most celebrated military officer of his generation, Petraeus 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.

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.