According to her biography at the University of Denver, Broadwell graduated with honors from the U.S. Military Academy and has had "assignments with the U.S. intelligence community, U.S. Special Operations Command and an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force."

She is a now a doctoral student at King's College in London, where her webpage indicates she is interested in studying military leadership, organizational and management theories and U.S. foreign, defense and intelligence policies.

CNN has not been able to contact Broadwell for comment. Her house in Charlotte did not appear occupied Monday.

Former Petraeus spokesman Steve Boylan said the retired general is devastated by the incident, and focused on his family.

"Furious would be an understatement," to describe Petraeus' wife, he said.

"He's taking this hard," Boylan said. "He is aware of the impact this has had on his family, and he knows what a wonderful family he has. On a personal level, he sees this as a failure, and this is a man who has never failed at anything."