LOS ANGELES (AP) - David Petraeus was greeted with applause and a standing ovation as he gave his first public speech after his resignation as head of the CIA following the disclosure of an extramarital affair.

He spoke to an audience with many veterans at the University of Southern California's annual Reserve Officers' Training Corps dinner on Tuesday night.

The affair with the retired four-star general's biographer,

Paula Broadwell, was discovered during an FBI investigation into emails she sent to another woman she viewed as a rival for his attention.

Gen Petraeus is the military leader credited with reshaping US counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan.