David Howell Petraeus is the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Director of the Central Intelligence Agency serves as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is part of the United States Intelligence Community. The Director reports to the Director of National Intelligence . The Director is assisted by the Deputy Director of the Central...

, sworn in on September 6, 2011. Prior to his assuming the directorship of the CIA, Petraeus was a four-star general

General (United States)

In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force; the Marine Corps does not have an...

 serving over 37 years in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

. His last assignments in the Army were as commander of the International Security Assistance Force

International Security Assistance Force

The International Security Assistance Force is a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan established by the United Nations Security Council on 20 December 2001 by Resolution 1386 as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement...

 (ISAF) and
Commander, U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) from July 4, 2010 to July 18, 2011. His other four-star

4 star rank

Four-star rank is a term used to describe a very senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO OF-9 code. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members...

 assignments include serving as the 10th Commander, U.S. Central Command

United States Central Command

The United States Central Command is a theater-level Unified Combatant Command unit of the U.S. armed forces, established in 1983 under the operational control of the U.S. Secretary of Defense...

 (USCENTCOM) from October 13, 2008, to June 30, 2010, and as Commanding General, Multi-National Force - Iraq (MNF-I) from February 10, 2007, to September 16, 2008.