Reporter Must Testify in CIA Leak Case

A federal judge has ruled that a New York Times reporter must testify before a grand jury as part of an investigation into the disclosure of an undercover CIA operative’s name.

In a decision made public Thursday, U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan rejected Judith Miller’s claim that as a reporter she should not be compelled to testify on confidential sources. Miller’s attorney said the decision would be appealed.

Federal prosecutors are trying to find out who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Valerie Plame, whose name was published by syndicated columnist Robert Novak on July 14, 2003.

Novak’s column was published after Plame’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, wrote a newspaper column that criticized President Bush’s claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq sought uranium in Niger. The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to investigate that claim, which he concluded was unfounded. Wilson says his wife was identified as retribution for his article.