Iran Stuxnet leak probe: US Gen James Cartwright 'target'

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**Dreadclaw69**

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23094353

A retired high-ranking US general is under investigation for allegedly leaking classified information about a covert cyber attack on Iran's nuclear programme, US media report.

Retired Marine General James "Hoss" Cartwright has been informed by the Justice Department that he is a target in their inquiry, NBC News reports.

Gen Cartwright was vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007-2011.

The Stuxnet virus temporarily disabled Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.

The New York Times gave a detailed account last year about the virus, and how it temporarily took out nearly 1,000 centrifuges that Iran was using to purify uranium.

The newspaper said the attack was part of a wider cyber operation called Olympic Games, that was started under President George W Bush and accelerated under President Barack Obama.

The revelations prompted the US attorney to order an investigation into the leaks.

NBC News quoted legal sources as saying that 63-year-old Gen Cartwright had a received a letter from the Justice Department informing him that he is a target in their investigation.

A target is a suspect in a criminal case who has not yet been formally charged but is expected to be, the Washington Post reports.

Gen Cartwright was part of President Obama's "inner circle" of security advisers before he retired in 2011.

Both his lawyer and justice department officials have refused to comment on the reports.

**Seaward**

Gonna burn, sir. Gonna burn. Stuxnet was a big one.

**Hordini**

This seems like it could be a pretty big deal.

**Easy E**

It seems like people sure are getting hysterical over leakers lately.

**Seaward**

Easy E wrote:
It seems like people sure are getting hysterical over leakers lately.

Well, it's illegal to reveal classified information to the media.

**Gentleman_Jellyfish**

Seaward wrote:
Easy E wrote:
It seems like people sure are getting hysterical over leakers lately.

Well, it's illegal to reveal classified information to the media.

And so begins another debate on if leaking information to the public of a government's wrongdoings is really bad or not.

**Seaward**

Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:
And so begins another debate on if leaking information to the public of a government's wrongdoings is really bad or not.

You think shutting down Iran's centrifuges is a wrongdoing?

**chaos0xomega**

Say it ain't so, Sir! Waiting for the details on this one.

**Ouze**

Who did he allegedly leak this information to?

**Dreadclaw69**

Ouze wrote:
Who did he allegedly leak this information to?

Reading the article it looks like the New York Times.

**Kovnik Obama**

Seaward wrote:
Gentleman_Jellyfish wrote:
And so begins another debate on if leaking information to the public of a government's wrongdoings is really bad or not.

You think shutting down Iran's centrifuges is a wrongdoing?

Stuxnet infected 15 000s of your ally's systems. Maybe that is what the leak is related to?

**Ouze**

Dreadclaw69 wrote:
Ouze wrote:
Who did he allegedly leak this information to?

Reading the article it looks like the New York Times.

Bleh, that's awful.

**Seaward**

Kovnik Obama wrote:
Stuxnet infected 15 000s of your ally's systems. Maybe that is what the leak is related to?

Could you cite your source on that? I find it hard to believe there are even 15,000 Siemens SCADAs configured the way the worm looked for them to be configured in the world.

**whembly**

Seaward wrote:
Kovnik Obama wrote:
Stuxnet infected 15 000s of your ally's systems. Maybe that is what the leak is related to?

Could you cite your source on that? I find it hard to believe there are even 15,000 Siemens SCADAs configured the way the worm looked for them to be configured in the world.

Actually, that would've made sense.

That is, incorporate the code on all of the devices.

But, in Iran, that's a closed network. infect know Iranian media devices (thumbdrives) with the key to activate the code.

Quite ingenious if you ask me....

**Kovnik Obama**

Seaward wrote:
Kovnik Obama wrote:
Stuxnet infected 15 000s of your ally's systems. Maybe that is what the leak is related to?

Could you cite your source on that? I find it hard to believe there are even 15,000 Siemens SCADAs configured the way the worm looked for them to be configured in the world.

English wiki says :

Wiki wrote:A study of the spread of Stuxnet by Symantec showed that the main affected countries in the early days of the infection were Iran, Indonesia and India:[33]

Country Infected computers
Iran 58.85%
Indonesia 18.22%
India 8.31%
Azerbaijan 2.57%
United States 1.56%
Pakistan 1.28%
Others 9.2%

French wiki says :

Wiki wrote:Le ver a affecté 45 000 systèmes informatiques, dont 30 000 situés en Iran, y compris des PC appartenant à des employés de la centrale nucléaire de Bouchehr. Les 15 000 autres systèmes informatiques sont des ordinateurs et des centrales situés en Allemagne, en France, en Inde et en Indonésie[5], utilisateurs de technologies Siemens.

which translates into ''The worm infected 45 000 informatic systems, 30 000 of which were located in Iran, including the computers owned by the employess of the Bouchehr nuclear plants. The 15 000 other informatic systems were computers and nuclear plants located in Germany, France, India and Indonesia, all users of Siemens technology''.

Perhaps, there were worries about the possible consequences of releasing such a virus on allied countries, and these worries were not properly addressed in Gen Cartwright's opinion? Just speculating, and hoping that he didn't do it for the money...

**Easy E**

Seaward wrote:
Easy E wrote:
It seems like people sure are getting hysterical over leakers lately.

Well, it's illegal to reveal classified information to the media.

Sure, its just that we never seem to have enforced it as much as we have lately.

Plus, in general; we classify more stuff than we really need to. Granted, that is probably not the case with this situation.

**Kovnik Obama**

Easy E wrote:
Seaward wrote:
Easy E wrote:
It seems like people sure are getting hysterical over leakers lately.

Well, it's illegal to reveal classified information to the media.

Sure, its just that we never seem to have enforced it as much as we have lately.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg would like a word...

**JWhex**

An ex joint chief is not going to be hung out to dry like some low level soldier, never happen.

**Jihadin**

They put him back on active duty long enough to get a conviction under UCMJ. He get busted one rank and retires back as a three star. Well at the last rank he perform under honorably.

**Seaward**

Yeah, that might be the way it goes. I dunno. This dude was a buddy of Obama's, so he's unlikely to have the book thrown at him. On the other hand, if he doesn't have the book thrown at him while Obama's raging about Snowden...well, that's not going to be good. On the other hand, the administration has started to dial back the Snowden rhetoric considerably now that it's clear he's staying in Russia for a while, so who knows.

**JWhex**

Jihadin wrote:
They put him back on active duty long enough to get a conviction under UCMJ. He get busted one rank and retires back as a three star. Well at the last rank he perform under honorably.

They probably do not have to put him on duty to bust him under UCMJ if he was active when the alleged crime took place.

**Jihadin**

They have to bring back on active duty to nail him with UCMJ if he committed the crime while on active duty. He cannot be prosecuted under federal law since the "leak" occurred while on active duty