He was the second highest officer of the US military, now he faces a secret indictment for treason: The Justice Department in Washington has launched investigations against General James Cartwright.
First Bradley Manning, then Edward Snowden, now James Cartwright? The U.S. Justice Department accused another former employee of the intelligence and security apparatus, betraying state secrets.
The retired four-star General Cartwright is said to have passed sensitive information via the so-called Stuxnet attack in 2010 against the Iranian nuclear program to the “New York Times”. The judiciary has launched an investigation against Cartwright. The accused has been set according to information from NBC and “Washington Post” about the inquiries that have been, but would not comment on the allegations.
The 63-year-old was from 2007 to 2011 U.S. deputy chief of staff and thus the second-highest officer of his country. Until his retirement he was a key advisor to President Obama in national security issues. He now works for the think tank “Center for Strategic and International Studies.” Since his retirement he has Obama’s security policy several times sharply criticized – among other things, he turned against the drone war against al-Qaeda.
US Leak Scandal:Stuxnet put thousands of centrifuges in Iran lame
According to a report in the “New York Times” from last year to Cartwright had under then-President George W. Bush, the idea for the cyber-operation with the code name “Olympic Games” and then they have also conducted. As part of this operation, at least a thousand centrifuges had been temporarily crippled Iran’s uranium enrichment then in an attack by the Stuxnet virus 2010. The virus is one of the most sophisticated cyber attack in history. The U.S. military NSA should have developed Stuxnet with Israeli intelligence.
The judicial authorities had launched an investigation in June 2012 to find out who is behind the Stuxnet revelations.
The NSA is also at the center of the revelations of IT specialists Snowden. The 30-year-old has settled from the U.S. and then made monitoring and Ausspähprogramme the American and British intelligence services to the public. The U.S. wants to make the process Edward Snowden. Currently, the ex-intelligence officer has allegedly still in the transit area of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport. He should have filed an application for political asylum in Ecuador. The affair loaded the diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Ecuador.
Legal sources told NBC News that the FBI investigating the leak zeroed on Cartwright, once the second-highest ranking officer in the Pentagon, as the source that provided the newspaper with the sensitive information. Agents identified the former general without resorting to a secret subpoena of the phone records of New York Times reporters, the report says.
Cartwright, 63, received a target letter informing him that he’s under the investigation, but so far the DoJ hasn’t made a final decision on whether to charge him, according to the sources.
Cartwright and his lawyer did not comment to NBC.
If indicted, Cartwright would join Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and six others charged under the 1917 Espionage Act by the Obama administration. The current US government has invoked the law more than all previous administrations combined.
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