Link to Petraeus uncovered
By late summer, after the monitoring of Broadwell’s emails uncovered the link to Petraeus, prosecutors and agents alerted senior officials at FBI and the Justice Department, including Eric Holder. The investigators never monitored Petraeus’s email accounts.
When Petraeus’s name surfaced, FBI investigators were concerned that the CIA director’s personal e-mail account had been hacked and that national security had been threatened.
Mails also sent to senior Military
Besides the emails sent directly to Kelley, Broadwell also sent emails denigrating Kelley from a pseudonymous account to senior military officials. In the email received by General John R. Allen, Broadwell — writing under the pseudonym KelleyPatrol — described Kelley as a “seductress” and warned the general about being entangled in a relationship with her. Gen. Allen was concerned by that email and forwarded it to Kelley.3
FBI agents link mails to Broadwell
Federal officials who spoke with NBC News said it took agents a while to figure out the source. They did that by finding out where the messages were sent from — which cities, which wi-fi locations in hotels. That gave them names, which they then checked against guest list from other cities and hotels, looking for common names. That led them to Broadwell, they said, noting that the pattern coincided with her travel to promote her book.
FBI agents and federal prosecutors used the information as probable cause to seek a warrant to monitor Broadwell’s email accounts. They learned that Broadwell and Petraeus had set up private Gmail accounts to use for their communications, which included explicit details of a sexual nature. But because Mr. Petraeus used a pseudonym, agents doing the monitoring didn’t immediately uncover that he was the one communicating with Broadwell.
Rather than transmitting emails to the other’s inbox, Petraeus and Broadwell composed at least some messages and instead of transmitting them, left them in a draft folder or in an electronic “dropbox,” the official said. Then the other person could log onto the same account and read the draft emails there. This avoids creating an email trail that is easier to trace.
Jill Kelley receives anonymous threatening mails
In early May Jill Kelley, an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, receives five to 10 threatening emails. Kelley did not know who sent the emails but fearing for her safety complained to Frederick Humphries, an F.B.I. agent who is also a personal friend.
The first email sent anonymously to referred to Kelley socializing with other generals in the Tampa area and suggested it was inappropriate and should stop, according to the source close to Kelley. More anonymous emails were sent from multiple alias accounts — and some later ones in the sequence contained references to Petraeus, though not by name.
Kelley asked Humphries ‘What do you make of this?’ Humphries replied: ‘This is serious. They seem to know the comings and goings of a couple of generals.’
Some commentators have questioned whether the bureau would ordinarily investigate a citizen complaint about unwanted e-mails, suggesting that there must have been a hidden motive, possibly political, to take action. But law enforcement officials insisted on Monday that the case was handled “on the merits.”
According top a source who talked to NBC News, what most alarmed Kelley and the FBI, the source said, were references to “the comings and goings” of high-level generals from the U.S. Central Command, which is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and the U.S. Southern Command, as well as Petraeus — including events that were not on any public schedule. This raised the question as to whether somebody had access to sensitive — and classified — information. Moreover, the sender of the emails had “covered her tracks pretty well,” the source said.
One e-mail accused Kelley of “touching” Petraeus inappropriately under a dinner table.
The New York Post reported that the emails contained such language as: ‘I know what you did,’ ‘back off’ and ‘stay away from my guy.’ The official added: ‘[Broadwell] clearly thought something was going on’ and thought she was in a ‘lovers triangle.’ Some emails appeared to be accusing her of an inappropriate relationship but didn’t name Petraeus.
Broadwell interviewed
Prosecutors and agents began a legal analysis to determine whether there were any charges that could be brought. Among the discussions: whether to interview Broadwell, who was the focus of the criminal probe, and Petraeus. Top officials signed off on the interviews.
During Broadwell’s first interview in September, she admitted to the affair and turned over her computer, the officials said. On her computer, investigators found classified documents, the U.S. officials said, a discovery that raised new concerns.