Andre Yoskowitz
30 Jun 2013 17:59
The U.S. Department of Justice will probe a retired four-star general of the Marine Corps over the release of confidential information related to the Stuxnet virus.
NBC claims the general, James Cartwright, has been under investigation for allegedly leaking details of the virus to various sources. Cartwright was also a vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
To date, eight people have been prosecuted under the Espionage Act by the Obama administration over the leaks.
Stuxnet was designed to disable Iran's uranium-enriching centrifuges and in 2010 the virus caused over 1000 of the devices to spin at such high rates that they went out of control and became useless temporarily. The centrifuges are crucial to the country's nuclear program, a program which could eventually lead to atomic weapons.
The virus is generally believed to have been created by Israel and the U.S. jointly to avoid having to bomb the facilities.
Cartwright was one of the top military officers involved in the "Olympic Games" cyberwar program started by President GW Bush and continued by President Obama. The origins of the virus were revealed in an award-winning piece in the New York Times.