Retired four-star Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright is the target of a Justice Department investigation into the leak of information regarding a U.S.-Israeli cyberattack on Iran's nuclear program, according to reports from NBC News and The Washington Post.
Cartwright served as deputy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was part of President Obama's inner circle. Citing an Obama administration official, The Washington Post says Cartwright leaked detailed information of the operation to the New York Times, which ended up in a report last year.
"The administration official said that Cartwright is suspected of revealing information about a highly classified effort to use a computer virus later dubbed Stuxnet to sabotage equipment in Iranian nuclear enrichment plants.
Stuxnet was part of a broader cyber campaign called Olympic Games that was disclosed by the New York Times last year as one of the first major efforts by the United States to use computer code as a destructive weapon against a key adversary."
After the Times story broke, Congressional leaders called for an investigation into who leaked the information. Attorney General Eric Holder launched the investigation in June 2012, an investigation that gained momentum in recent months, reports the Post.
The Stuxnet computer virus is allegedly responsible for temporarily disabling as many as 1,000 of Iran's uranium-enriching centrifuges.
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