WASHINGTON (AP) – The Justice Department has ruled out forcing New York Times reporter James Risen to divulge his source in the upcoming trial of a former CIA officer accused of leaking classified information, a person familiar with the matter said Friday night.
The decision comes ahead of a court hearing set for next week at which Justice Department prosecutors had been directed to reveal whether they plan to seek Risen’s testimony.
The person briefed on the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the decision had not yet been formally announced, said the Justice Department may still subpoena Risen to testify on other topics but would not compel him to divulge the identify of his source.
Risen’s reporting has been at the center of a years-long standoff with the federal government that has contributed to a debate about the line between national security and press freedoms.
Prosecutors allege that Jeffrey Sterling, who is scheduled for trial next month in federal court in Virginia, was a key source in Risen’s 2006 book “State of War,” which detailed a botched CIA effort during the Clinton administration to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Risen has refused to reveal his sources despite being subpoenaed by the government and did not testify before the federal grand jury that indicted Sterling in 2010.