Jill Kelley

Who is Jill Kelley?

Gilberte "Jill" Khawam Kelley is a Lebanese-American socialite and privacy advocate. She was named by the New York Times "An Apostle for Privacy". Kelley, a Florida socialite with connections to military circles, had issued a complaint to the FBI in May 2012 over a series of anonymous stalking e-mails. The threatening emails were traced to Paula Broadwell, the biographer of General David Petraeus. Kelley became a focus of media coverage when an FBI investigation related to e-mails she had received led to the public becoming aware that General David Petraeus was having an affair and a further investigation of e-mail communications General John R. Allen sent to Kelley. In January 2013, the Department of Defense Inspector General cleared Allen of all allegations involving Kelley, stating that the claims against Allen were "unsubstantiated". On June 3rd, 2013, Kelley filed a privacy lawsuit against the federal government alleging that investigators violated her privacy rights by unlawfully searching her personal emails and disclosing false descriptions of the nature of her emails to the media. In addition, she stated "false and untrue headlines, created a media sideshow" at her expense, including being wrongly implicated in an extramarital affair between David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell. In November 2013, Kelley described herself as the "human face" of the damage that can be caused by government probing into communications of law abiding citizens. As a result of this incident, Kelley has become an advocate for internet privacy and security.