New York Magazine

In the July 13th edition of Chuck Klosterman's Ethicist advice column for the New York Times, an anonymous reader wrote about his wife's romantic relationship with "a government executive" who is currently managing  "a project whose progress is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership." The letter writer describes his wife's boyfriend as gracious, generous, and "absolutely the right person" for the aforementioned high-level job. He adds that publicly exposing the situation would "create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort," leaving him with these options: "Should I acknowledge this affair and finally force closure? Should I suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project I feel must succeed? Should I be 'true to my heart' and walk away from the entire miserable situation and put the episode behind me?"

Considering yesterday's news of CIA director David Patraeus's surprise resignation over an extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell, many people have another, less ethically-minded question for Chuck: Did that note come from Paula's husband, radiologist Scott Broadwell? 

Days after the reelection of Barack Obama, CIA director David Petraeus has submitted his resignation, citing an extramarital affair. "Yesterday afternoon, I went to the White House and asked the President to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position as D/CIA," Petraeus wrote, according to the letter obtained by CNN. "After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair. Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the President graciously accepted my resignation."