Obama pardons Cartwright, source of Stuxnet virus leak

The four star general is the alleged source of information that was leaked to the press regarding a cyber attack on Iranian nuclear facilities in 2010.

By MICHAEL WILNER
Updated: JANUARY 18, 2017 01:08
James Cartwright (photo credit: REUTERS)
James Cartwright
(photo credit: REUTERS)
WASHINGTON -- US President Barack Obama pardoned 64 people and commuted sentences for an additional 209 on Wednesday, among them retired Marine Corps four star general James Cartwright, the alleged source of leaked information to the press detailing a cyber attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in 2010.
Cartwright pled guilty last year to providing false testimony in 2012 to FBI agents on the matter. Obama cleared him of punishment for that transgression, the White House said.
Cartwright allegedly leaked documents on the Stuxnet virus– a sophisticated computer program that destroyed thousands of Iran's uranium-enriching centrifuges– to David Sanger, a senior New York Times reporter who wrote a book on Obama's secretive wartime tactics.
The covert operation, titled Olympic Games, was considered the first state-on-state cyber attack of its kind. National security and cyber experts believe the operation was conducted jointly by Israel and the United States.