You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
-Lurid Crime Tales-
Retired General Pleads Guilty in Stuxnet case
2016-10-18
[Federal Times] A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has pled guilty to making false statements during an investigation into a leak of classified information about a covert cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright entered the plea at a hearing Monday before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. When Leon asked if Cartwright understood the charge, he said: "I do, sir."

The offense carries a maximum of five years in prison, but Cartwright's attorney told the judge that the government and defense counsel had agreed on a recommended sentence of no more than six months. He is scheduled to be sentenced in January and it will be up to Leon to decide the sentence.

Cartwright told investigators that he was not the source of classified information contained in a book by New York Times journalist David Sanger, according to charging documents unsealed by prosecutors.

Neither the book nor the classified subject is identified in court papers. But Sanger has written about a covert cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities and the use of a computer virus called Stuxnet to temporarily disable centrifuges that the Iranians were using to enrich uranium.

The charging documents also said Cartwright misled prosecutors about classified information shared with another journalist, Daniel Klaidman.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland announced the case on Monday.

Prosecutors said Cartwright was charged via criminal information, a document that is filed with a defendant's consent and that signals that a plea agreement has been reached.

Gregory Craig, an attorney for Cartwright, had no immediate comment, but his office said he would issue a statement later on Monday.

Cartwright, 67, was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2007 until 2011, and was considered a key adviser to Obama. A former fighter pilot, the Marine general was known for his expertise in the more highly technical areas of cyberwarfare and America's nuclear enterprise.
Posted by:Besoeker

#8  General found out he is little people.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2016-10-18 19:39  

#7  I agree with Thereck.
Posted by: KBK   2016-10-18 18:08  

#6  Clearly, his mistake was in admitting it.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2016-10-18 17:10  

#5  He obviously had a special relationship with POTUS. Could the leak have been directed ?

Posted by: Besoeker   2016-10-18 13:28  

#4  Cartwright should have been given twenty years. In the last twenty years at least, Stuxnet was likely the most successful intel coup that involved the USA.
Posted by: Thereck Chutle5003   2016-10-18 13:23  

#3  Fighter pilot, single-seat mentality. Teamwork, who needs it? I have friends in high places. You'll see !

Champ will extend presidential pardon on 12 January (Margin of error +/- 7 days)
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-10-18 08:32  

#2  I wonder if this classified info was on Hillary's private server?
Posted by: JohnQC   2016-10-18 08:25  

#1  Fred Kaplan's analysis from 2013. Fairly easy to see precisely what happened.
Posted by: Besoeker   2016-10-18 08:15  

00:00