28.06 Retired US Gen. Suspected of Leaking State Secrets - Report

MOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti) - Retired Marine Gen. James "Hoss" Cartwright became the target of US Justice Departments criminal investigation into a leak of classified information, NBC News reported on Friday.

NBC reported citing its unnamed sources that Gen. Cartwright, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2007 and 2011, was notified that he was under an investigation for allegedly leaking classified information on covert US cyber attack on Irans nuclear program.

Last year, the New York Times reported that in 2010 a cyber attack, which used a computer virus Stuxnet, was launched against Iran and temporarily disabled 1,000 centrifuges Iranians used to enrich uranium.

Cartwrights case comes in the wake of another high-profile case involving ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden, also accused of disclosing classified information.

Snowden, a former contractor for the US National Security Agency, is wanted by the United States for disclosing a top-secret surveillance program that allegedly targeted millions of Americans. He is reportedly in Moscow.