Obama Administration Gave Petraeus's Wife a $187,605-Per-Year Job

By Penny Starr
November 14, 2012

Holly Petraeus, wife of former CIA Director David Petraeus. (AP)

(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration named Holly Petraeus--wife of retired Gen. David Patraeus, who resigned last week as CIA director after revealing he had had an extramarital affair--to a $187,605-per-yer job in the newly formed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

The CFPB, created by the Dodd-Frank law, was placed by that law under the umbrella of the Federal Reserve. The funding of the CFBP, which comes from the Federal Reserve, is not subject to congressional oversight.

Mrs. Petraeus became a member of the CFPB Implementation Team on Jan. 12, 2011. She is now the assistant director for the Office of Servicemember Affairs. Her position pays an annual salary of $187,605, according to the communications office of the bureau.

The communications office also confirmed to CNSNews.com that Mrs. Petraeus’ post at the bureau did not require Senate confirmation.

On Jan. 6, 2011, Elizabeth Warren, then assistant to the president and special advisor to the secretary of the treasury for the CFPB (and now senator-elect from Massachusetts), posted a blog about Mrs. Petraeus’ new job on the White House website.

President Barack Obama and Gen. David Petraeus. (AP)



“In her role at the new agency, Holly will continue her work to strengthen consumer financial protection for service members,” Warren wrote. “The Office of Servicemember Affairs will work in partnership with the Department of Defense to help ensure that: military families receive the financial education they need to make the best financial decisions for them; complaints and questions from military families are monitored and responded to; and federal and state agencies coordinate their activities to improve consumer protection measures for military families.”

On Nov. 3, 2011, Mrs. Petraeus testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. In her introductory remarks she detailed her qualifications for addressing financial issues faced be member of the military.

“In my role as a military family member, I have seen the problems that can arise for our service members who may experience ‘too much month and not enough money,’” Mrs. Petraeus said in her prepared testimony. “I have also seen first-hand the devastating impact financial scams and predatory lending can have on service members and their families. Unfortunately there are still too many young troops learning about wise spending through hard experience and years of paying off expensive debt.”

Mrs. Petraeus served from 2004 to 2010 as director of the Better Business Bureau’s Military Line, a program to provide consumer education and advocacy for service members.

“While with the BBB, I made on-site visits to military units all over the country: learning about the consumer issues that impacted them, giving presentations on consumer scams, and working to establish local BBB-military relationships,” Mrs. Petraeus said. “I guided development of six teen and adult financial workshops taught to more than 20,000 individuals in military communities around the United States.”

Mr. Petraeus has not spoken publically since her husband resigned as CIA director, while admitting he had committed adultery.