Military suspends privileges of women at center of Petraeus scandal

close

Video

How deep does the Petraeus scandal go?

Political decision to delay investigation?

The military has suspended the security clearances of Paula Broadwell and Jill Kelley, the women in the heart of the David Petraeus sex scandal.

Broadwell, a West Point graduate, is a former Army intelligence officer and held a high security clearance. Because her clearance was issued through the Army, it was the service's move to suspend it.

Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Steven Warren says the decision to indefinitely suspend Kelley's pass to MacDill Air Force Base was made in the last couple of days.

Warren said it was decided the pass suspension would be in the best interest of the Air Force base community. Kelley can still enter the base but now must report to the visitor center and sign in like everyone who doesn't have a pass.

Kelley's complaints about threatening emails triggered the FBI investigation that turned up CIA Director David Petraeus' affair with Paula Broadwell and led to his resignation. The military is separately probing communications between Kelley and Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

A person close to Kelley says the first anonymous email in the case was sent to Allen and came from someone who used the handle "kelleypatrol." Allen forwarded it to Kelley.

That email, which investigators traced to Broadwell, warned Allen to stay away from Kelley. In the e-mail, Broadwell said she knew Kelley and Allen had a meeting scheduled.

Kelley received as many as five anonymous emails in June, and one noted an upcoming meeting with Petraeus.

It is unclear whether or not Broadwell, a reserve lieutenant colonel, was mobilized during the time of her affair was Petraeus.  If Broadwell was working for the Army at the time of the affair, she could be subject to prosecution under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice.

Fox News' Justin Fishel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.