How do I get the password from form API to use to log into external site? I have these functions, one is for the Form API and the other, git pull, is called on a cron hook. The password is coming up blank and therefore the git pull is not working.

function cronmonitor_admin_form($form, &amp;$form_state) {


  $form['cronmonitor_account'] = array(
  '#title' =&gt; t('Github Account'),
  '#type' =&gt; 'textfield',
  '#description' =&gt; t('Github ID'),
  '#default_value' =&gt;  variable_get('cronmonitor_account'),
  );

  $form['cronmonitor_pass'] = array(
  '#type' =&gt; 'password', 
  '#title' =&gt; t('Password'), 
  '#maxlength' =&gt; 64, 
  '#size' =&gt; 15,
  );
 ...more form elements....
}

function git_pull(){

  $localRoot        = variable_get ...
  $localRepoName    = variable_get ...
  $localRepo        = "{$localRoot}/{$localRepoName}";
  $username         = variable_get('cronmonitor_account');
  $password         = variable_get('cronmonitor_pass');
  $remoteRepoName   = variable_get ...
  $remoteRepo       = "https://{$username}:{$password}@{$remoteRepoName}";
  if( file_exists($localRepo) ) {
      shell_exec("cd {$localRepo} &amp;&amp; git pull");
  } 
  else {
      shell_exec("git clone {$remoteRepo} {$localRepo} ");
  }
}
I went with the 
Encrypt Form API module.