After 37 years, General David Petraeus is taking off the Army uniform, and putting on a suit. Petraeus will become the 20th director of the CIA next week.

The soldier-scholar-statesman will be sworn in as the nation’s spy chief on September 6th, less than a week before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

Petraues — who has held six command assignments, including four in war zones — is credited with turning around the Iraq War and helping pivot the still uncertain campaign in Afghanistan.

He was once thought to be a top contender for chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Instead, President Obama asked Petraeus to take over at the CIA when Leon Panetta was named defense secretary. Petraeus is sometimes mentioned as a potential Republican presidential candidate, although he has said repeatedly he has no interest in politics.

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