Ret. Gen. James Cartwright is alleged to have told the media about a cyberweapon. Report: Ex-general probed on leaks

The Pentagon’s former No. 2 uniformed leader is under investigation for allegedly giving the press details about the Stuxnet cyberweapon, NBC News reported Thursday evening.

Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright, a former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is said to have been told he is the target of the leak probe, NBC reported, citing “legal sources.”


Cartwright is said to have told The New York Times about the development and deployment of the advanced cyberweapon, which set back Iran’s nuclear program. The Times’s reporting confirmed the widespread suspicions that Stuxnet had been developed by the U.S. and Israel.

A spokesman for the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which Cartwright joined upon his retirement, declined to comment. Attorney Greg Craig, the former White House counsel NBC said was representing Cartwright, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Defense Department referred questions to the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, and a spokeswoman for the office said she had no comment.

Thursday’s report, if accurate, would represent the latest example of the Obama administration’s aggressive effort to prosecute leaks — in fact, the Stuxnet revelations in The Times brought some of the original criticism from Republicans that the White House was endangering national security by making too much information public.

It would also be another round in the arena for Cartwright, who has drawn respect in the defense community for his willingness to part ways with orthodoxy — but also evidently made enemies in Washington.

Cartwright — dubbed “Obama’s favorite general” by Bob Woodward — has advocated for drastic cuts in the U.S. nuclear arsenal and, according to The Times’s reporting, was an early advocate of using cyber warfare to try to set back Iran’s nuclear program. In 2011, however, several Pentagon reporters were told that the Department of Defense inspector general had investigated — but ultimately cleared — Cartwright for an alleged extramarital affair with a female subordinate.

The leak appeared at a time when Cartwright was believed to potentially be in the running to succeed Adm. Mike Mullen as chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and may have played a role in the White House’s decision not to nominate him.