Reporter Faces Jail in CIA Leak Inquiry

A reporter for the New York Times was held in contempt Thursday by a federal judge and faces possible jail time for refusing to divulge confidential sources to prosecutors investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer’s identity.

U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan ordered reporter Judith Miller jailed until she agrees to testify about her sources before a grand jury, but said she could remain free while pursuing an appeal. Miller could be jailed up to 18 months.

Miller and her attorney, Floyd Abrams, said the ruling undermined the ability of reporters to do their jobs.

“The ability of journalists to give their word, and to keep their word, that they will not reveal their sources, is at the heart of journalism,” Abrams said.

Hogan, calling the case “a classic confrontation of conflicting interests,” cited Supreme Court rulings that reporters did not have absolute 1st Amendment protection from being compelled to testify before grand juries about confidential sources. Although 31 states have laws shielding reporters’ sources, no such protections exist in the federal system.

The judge said there was ample evidence that U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case, had exhausted other avenues for obtaining key testimony before issuing subpoenas to Miller and several other reporters. There was no evidence prosecutors were engaging in a “fishing expedition,” Hogan said.

“The special counsel has made a limited, deferential approach to the press in this matter,” Hogan said. “Ms. Miller has no right to refuse to answer the questions she now refuses to answer.”

Fitzgerald is investigating whether a crime was committed when someone leaked the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose name was published by syndicated columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003. Novak cited two “senior administration officials” as his sources.

The Novak column appeared after Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, was critical in a newspaper opinion piece of President Bush’s claim that Iraq had sought to obtain uranium in Niger. The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to investigate the claim, which he concluded was unfounded.

Wilson has said he believes his wife’s name was leaked as payback for his outspokenness.