General Petreaus and his alleged mistress, Paula Broadwell. (Photo: Paulabroadwell.com)

At least one chapter in the Shakespeare-worthy downfall of former general and CIA director David Petraeus is ending with a whimper. Mr. Petraeus's biographer and one-time paramour Paula Broadwell will not be charged with cyberstalking--the very accusation that led to her affair with Mr. Petraeus becoming public knowledge.

Ms. Broadwell's lawyer gave an official letter indicating as much to the media. In the letter, United States Attorney Robert E. O'Neill wrote that "no federal charges will be brought in the Middle District of Florida relating to alleged acts of cyber-stalking."

Mr. Petraeus's and Ms. Broadwell's true relationship came to light after Ms. Broadwell began sending anonymous emails to Florida socialite Jill Kelley, using the ominous screen name, "kelleypatrol." Alarmed, Ms. Kelley told F.B.I. special agent Frederick W. Humphries II about the harassment and Agent Humphries urged the F.B.I. to investigate. After that, as Wired reports, it was probably just a matter of time:

Whatever its origins, the FBI cyberstalking inquiry lit a flame that eventually torched Petraeus. Investigators soon discovered that Broadwell was behind "kelleypatrol"; that Petraeus and Broadwell passed each other information using drafts saved in an email account both had access to; that Broadwell’s hard drives or email accounts contained sensitive information; and, of course, that Broadwell and Petraeus conducted an affair.

This drama, tailor-made for a Lifetime/Military Channel crossover, isn't completely over. The CIA is still trying to determine whether Mr. Petraeus took advantage of the perks for his position while in a relationship with Ms. Broadwell, and the Defense Department is still poring over the voluminous email correspondence between Jill Kelley and Marine General John Allen, who replaced Mr. Petraeus as commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Paula Broadwell may be the only one who could claim to see a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel as she likely plots a new memoir about  her own "education."

Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus together on a plane. (PaulaBroadwell.com)

In spite of her training in military intelligence and West Point education, David Petraeus's biographer and mistress Paula Broadwell apparently never learned about tracing data embedded in emails. That's what ultimately brought the F.B.I. to Ms. Broadwell's door and led to the ugly unveiling last Friday of her affair with the former general and CIA director.

Wired reports the tawdry tale began its downhill slide into public scandal with email harassment:

The affair began to unravel after the Florida woman, Jill Kelley, contacted an FBI friend after receiving threatening and harassing e-mails from an anonymous person who accused her of flirting with a man who was not identified in the e-mails. Kelley is a volunteer social planner for events at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, which is home to the military’s Central Command. Petraeus was commander of CENTCOM from 2008 to 2010, when he left to take his position as head of the CIA.

There were as many as ten threatening emails. They warned Ms. Kelley away from Mr. Petraeus, though the writer never actually mentioned the former four-star general's name. Data in the email headers--likely IP addresses as well as other traffic data--eventually revealed the anonymous sender's location in North Carolina, where Ms. Broadwell lives with her husband, Scott.

Focusing on Ms. Broadwell, Wired reports investigators began watching her online correspondence, which is how they uncovered her affair with Mr. Petraeus.

It's no wonder, as the Washington Post reported Monday, that Mr. Petraeus viewed email as a fundamental form of communication and used it to stay in regular contact with staff, as well as the media. After taking the position at the CIA, the Post reports Mr. Petraeus even "proudly announced that he was the first CIA director to install an open Internet connection in his office."

Considering he was the top dog at the premiere intelligence agency in the world, maybe Mr. Petraeus could have learned a lesson from Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who in September proudly admitted to CNN that she doesn't have any kind of online presence. "Some would call me a Luddite but you know," Secretary Napolitano told CNN, "But that's my own personal choice and I'm very unique in that regard, I suspect."