Reports from NBC news channel on Thursday has indicated that a high ranking military officer in the US has been placed under investigation for allegedly leaking top secret information about a cyber attack on Iran's nuclear programme.
The covert computer virus called Stuxnet, was used in 2010 to temporarily disable 1,000 centrifuges used for enriching uranium by Iran's nuclear facilities.
According to the report from NBC, Stuxnet is capable of both surveillance and harming computers, and was initally spread using infected removable drives.
Retired General James Cartwright, a former second-highest-ranking officer, was in a New York Times article published last year as one of the men instrumental in the development of Stuxnet.
The article exposed that the Obama administration used it as a key weapon in fighting against the development of Iran's nuclear programme.
"My attitude has been zero tolerance for these kinds of leaks. These are criminal acts when they release information like this", President Barack Obama said, responding to the article.
While there was ongoing speculation about Cartwright's motive behind the leak,
"Sometimes to attack a programme, sometimes to defend it, sometimes we don't ever know", Director of the Federation of American Scientists Steve Aftergood told NBC while trying to explain that there are many reasons why people leak classified information.
Cartwright was the number two person in the joint chiefs of staff from 2007 to 2011. As at the time of this report, neither he nor his lawyer has responded to requests for comment.
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