Prosecutors for the US Department of Justice intend to seek some information from New York Times reporter James Risen about his connection to a former CIA officer accused of leaking classified information, though Risen, a Pulitzer Prize winner, will not be asked questions that would reveal his source.
The US attorney general, Eric Holder, authorized federal prosecutors to obtain a subpoena seeking limited testimony from Risen in the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer accused of leaking government secrets, according to a new Justice Department court filing.
At court on Tuesday, Risen’s attorney declined to say whether the journalist would submit to the government’s request that he provide limited testimony. Sterling’s trial is scheduled to begin on 12 January.
During a brief court hearing in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, on Tuesday, federal prosecutors explained what information they intend to extract from Risen during the trial, the Associated Press reported.
Prosecutors will seek information about the agreements Risen made with his confidential source, and whether chapters of his book and the newspaper articles he wrote “accurately reflect information provided to him by his source (or sources), that statements attributed to an unnamed source were, in fact, made by an unnamed source, and that statements attributed to an identified source were, in fact, made by an identified source”, according to the filing.
The subpoena sought by federal prosecutors disallows questions that would force Risen to divulge his source. Prosecutors also agreed not to ask Risen for specifics about when and where he received the leaked information, out of consideration that such details could indirectly expose the source.
Prosecutors allege that Sterling was a key source in Risen’s reporting of a botched intelligence operation that ended up spilling nuclear secrets to Iran, which he writes about in his 2006 book State of War. The Justice Department has long sought to force the journalist to testify and name his confidential source.
And for as many years, Risen has refused to reveal the identity of his source, even facing the threat of imprisonment for his refusal.
Sterling was arrested and charged with violating the Espionage Act for allegedly being the source of Risen’s report about Iran.
Under updated Justice Department guidelines, in certain circumstances prosecutors must seek approval from the attorney general before issuing a subpoena to or regarding the work of members of news media. The updated guidelines were put in place in July 2013 after the Justice Department seized phone records from reporters at the Associated Press and Fox News as part of leak investigations.
