With Speech, Petraeus Returns to Public Life, ‘Keenly Aware’ of Altered Reputation
Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — Since he resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency last November after acknowledging an extramarital affair, David H. Petraeus has all but vanished from the national scene. But in a speech on Tuesday night, Mr. Petraeus will seek to open a new chapter in his career — one that carves out a role for himself as a voice on energy, economic and veterans issues and in the private sector. Mr. Petraeus’s speech, which will take place at an event honoring veterans and the R.O.T.C. program at the University of Southern California, will begin with an account of the “personal journey” he has undergone since his resignation. “Needless to say, I join you keenly aware that I am regarded in a different light now than I was a year ago,” Mr. Petraeus will say, according to an advance text of his speech that was made available to The New York Times. “I am also keenly aware that the reason for my recent journey was my own doing,” he will say. “So please allow me to begin my remarks this evening by reiterating how deeply I regret — and apologize for — the circumstances that led me to resign from the C.I.A. and caused such pain for my family, friends and supporters.” The resignation of Mr. Petraeus, one of America’s most decorated four-star generals, marked a stunning end to a meteoric career in which he helped draft the military’s field manual on counterinsurgency; commanded the American-led coalition during the troop “surge” in Iraq; led the military effort in the more fraught Afghan conflict; and became the director of the C.I.A., where he urged, unsuccessfully, that the White House provide arms to a select cadre of Syrian rebels. President Obama accepted Mr. Petraeus’s resignation on Nov. 9, after Mr. Petraeus acknowledged the affair with a biographer, Paula Broadwell. Overnight, Mr. Petraeus left behind the days in which he would start work at 5 a.m. in a specially constructed intelligence office at his Arlington, Va., home before arriving at the C.I.A. at 7:15 a.m. Instead, he lived a largely homebound existence in which much of his contact with current and former associates was by e-mail. After resigning, Mr. Petraeus testified behind closed doors to Congress about the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the American diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, but avoided public appearances and turned down a stack of news media requests to tell his story. In recent months, however, Mr. Petraeus has increasingly appeared in public for lunches and dinners with former colleagues, foreign officials, members of Congress and policy experts. He met not long ago in New York with Fouad Ajami, the Middle East scholar, and recently attended a small off-the-record seminar on Iran at a Washington research institution. Acquaintances of Mr. Petraeus say he supported Mr. Obama’s decision to nominate John O. Brennan as his successor at the C.I.A., a view he communicated privately to two Republicans, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, as well as to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Mr. Petraeus has received offers from the financial community and has taken trips to New York to explore what one of his associates called “long-term opportunities.” He has been asked to serve as a consultant to major companies, been offered the opportunity to give paid speeches and is exploring positions in academia. Mr. Petraeus, 60, is also keeping up his physical fitness regimen, alternating between daily seven-mile runs and 25-mile bike rides. His post-government life is being managed by Robert B. Barnett, a lawyer who handles book deals for the Washington elite and who counts the last three American presidents as clients. Mr. Barnett said that Mr. Petraeus “has spent a lot of time with his family, and their collective focus is forward.” Tuesday’s speech was arranged long before Mr. Petraeus resigned. The University of Southern California, which describes itself one of the few universities to have maintained an unbroken relationship with the R.O.T.C. since World War II, has been active in helping veterans. A major theme of the speech is the importance of supporting the families of military personnel who have perished in America’s wars, caring for wounded service members and honoring the service of veterans. “There is often a view that, because an individual was a great soldier, he or she will naturally do well in and transition effortlessly to the civilian world,” Mr. Petraeus will say while listing some of the nonprofit veterans groups he is supporting. “In reality, the transition from military service to civilian pursuits often is quite challenging.” Mr. Petraeus’s wife, Holly, who works in Washington at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which handles consumer complaints from military service members and their families, will not be attending the event. Toward the close of the speech, Mr. Petraeus will return again to his own missteps. “I know that I can never fully assuage the pain that I inflicted on those closest to me and on a number of others,” he will say. “I can, however, try to move forward in a manner that is consistent with the values to which I subscribed before slipping my moorings and, as best as possible, to make amends to those I have hurt and let down.” Mr. Petraeus will also say that “life doesn’t stop with such a mistake; it can and must go on.” |