Retired Gen. James Cartwright of the Marines, who held the title of second-ranking officer for the U.S. military, is at the center of the storm of a federal investigation into the leaking of classified information about cyberattacks on Iran’s nuclear program.
Gen. Cartwright, 63, was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2007 and 2011.
The information that he’s suspected of leaking was included in a book by New York Times correspondent David Sanger, “Confront and Conceal,” and an accompanying newspaper article, ABC reported. The information deals with the Stuxnet computer virus, an undercover joint U.S.-Israeli cyberattack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, ABC said.
Stuxnet was part of a top-secret cyberattack program called “Olympic Games.” Lawmakers angered by the information leak demanded the Department of Justice investigate.
An unnamed source familiar with the government’s investigation into the information leak identified Gen. Cartwright to NBC.
“He is the target of the investigation,” the source said.
Gen. Cartwright now works as the Harold Brown Chair in Defense Policy Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and as a defense consultant for ABC.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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