Cartwright was accused of providing classified information that was published in the book Confront and Conceal by David Sanger.

[6] Cartwright was born on September 22, 1949, in Rockford, Illinois, and attended West High School before going on to the University of Iowa.

[7] His callsign comes from the fictional character Eric "Hoss" Cartwright, the middle brother on the classic 1960s TV show Bonanza, who was played by actor Dan Blocker.

[10] On June 8, 2007, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recommended Cartwright to be the next Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to replace retiring Admiral Edmund Giambastiani.

President George W. Bush formally announced the nomination, with that of Admiral Michael Mullen to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on June 28, 2007.

Due to the retirement of Admiral Giambastiani on July 27, 2007, Cartwright assumed the position immediately upon confirmation.

[14] On March 18, 2009, Secretary of Defense Gates announced that Cartwright had been nominated for a second term as Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, however, reviewed the evidence and found it insufficient to warrant corrective action for even the lesser offenses.

[19] [20] Cartwright received the following decorations, awards, and badges: In June 2013, it was reported that Cartwright had received a target letter from the U.S. Justice Department, informing him that he was under investigation for leaking classified information about Stuxnet, a computer virus used in a U.S.-Israel cyberattack against centrifuges in Iranian nuclear facilities (see Operation Olympic Games).

[22] In March 2015, the Washington Post reported that the sensitive leak investigation, led by Rod Rosenstein, had "stalled amid concerns that a prosecution in federal court could force the government to confirm" information about the highly classified program.

[23] Outgoing President Barack Obama pardoned Cartwright on January 17, 2017,[24] two weeks prior to his scheduled sentencing hearing.

[25] In addition, Cartwright serves as a member of the board of directors of The Raytheon Company,[26] a senior fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School,[27] and as a defense consultant for ABC News.

[citation needed] Cartwright is also a leading advocate for the phased and verified elimination of all nuclear weapons worldwide[30] ("Global Zero (campaign)").