Fox News national security analyst KT McFarland discussed the news Friday that Ret. Gen. James Cartwright, the former Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is the target of a criminal leak investigation about a 2010 cyberattack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
The cyberattack involved the Stuxnet computer viris and was used to disrupt 1,000 Iranian centrifuges, CBS reports:
The New York Times, and subsequently other newspapers, published extensive details about the attack and the Obama administration acted swiftly, launching a leak investigation to determine who provided the secret information.
As the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the second-highest ranking military officer in the U.S., Cartwright was privy to issues at the center of national security.
McFarland said the FBI's high interest in Cartwright was a serious matter given the high esteem he was held in by President Obama, and she also analyzed the implications of Iran changing its nuclear development tactics once news of Stuxnet's successful attack was leaked:
MCFARLAND: If the FBI says you're a target of an investigation, that means they have reason to believe that you know a lot about a crime that might have been committed and they are going to charge you for it. Now that's bad enough for anybody, but a former four star general, number two man, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To have him be charged is even more serious, because he takes oaths of office to not do that. His integrity is on the line. The second thing, Bill, that's fascinating about this story is that General Cartwright was referred to as President Obama's general. He was President Obama's favorite guy, the guy Obama trusted the most on military matters. If this is a charge, you've got to wonder, are there two things going on here? One, the leaks that came out about not just the Stuxnet virus sabotaging Iran's nuclear program, but also the Seal Team Six raid and killing of Osama Bin Laden.
BILL HEMMER: Republicans would argue a lot of that came out, it was on the front page of the New York Times because it was a political year and you're coming up on an election and it makes the White House look good. Stuxnet, though, was a success. It set the Iranians back, and when they heard about it they changed their tactics, right?
MCFARLAND: Completely. The Stuxnet virus story, Bill, is like a summer blockbuster. You can't believe how it happened. First of all, General Cartwright and several tech wizards in the military went to President Bush and said we're going to try to figure out some kind of cyber attack on Iran's nuclear program. President Bush said, 'Yeah, please do, because our only option now are sanctions or bombing Iran. We don't want to go there.' And so they did. When President Obama came into office, President Bush said, 'Obama, keep this cyber attack program on Iran.' Obama did, and in fact he increased it. Our guys were able to plant something in the computers Iran was using, something that was a signal that would send back to our guys how in fact the Iranian nuclear program worked. Our guys said we are going to change the spin cycle of the centrifuges. In other words, how they make and enrich uranium. It's like the spin cycle on your washing machine. If your load is unbalanced it makes a buzz sound, and you run and you fix it. The Iranians didn't know there was a buzz sound. They didn't know anything was going wrong. They didn't check anything, because their computer showed everything was fine.