A criminal leak investigation into a top military official has stalled out of concern it could force US officials to confirm joint US-Israeli involvement behind the Stuxnet worm that targeted Iran's nuclear program, according to a media report published Wednesday.
Federal prosecutors have been investigating whether retired Marine Gen. James E. "Hoss" Cartwright leaked highly sensitive information to New York Times reporter David Sanger. A 2012 book and article authored by Sanger said Stuxnet was among the crowning achievements of "Olympic Games," a covert program jointly pursued by the US and Israel to curb Iran's attempts to obtain nuclear weapons. As reported in author and Wired reporter Kim Zetter's book Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon, Stuxnet was first seeded to a handful of carefully selected targets before taking hold inside Iran's Natanz enrichment facility. From there, the malware caused computer-controlled centrifuges to spin erratically, an act of sabotage that forced engineers to scrap the damaged materials.
According to an article published Wednesday by The Washington Post, the probe into Cartwright's suspected leak to Sanger is generating tension between national security concerns and the Obama administration's desire to hold high-ranking officials accountable to disclosing classified information.
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