New York Times Reporter Miller to Testify in CIA Leak Probe

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- New York Times reporter Judith Miller was freed from jail after 85 days yesterday and agreed to testify in a CIA leak investigation after her confidential source, Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide, released her from a secrecy agreement, her newspaper said.

Miller, 57, said in a written statement that she will testify today before a grand jury ``because my source has now voluntarily and personally released me from my promise of confidentiality regarding our conversations.''

Her statement didn't reveal the name of her source. The Times reported on its Web site last night that people officially briefed on the case identified him as Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.

Miller's agreement to testify suggests that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is winding up his investigation into whether someone in President George W. Bush's administration revealed the name of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame to reporters in July 2003. The probe also has ensnared Karl Rove, Bush's deputy chief of staff and longtime political adviser. He was named by a Time magazine reporter as a confidential source, though not as one who disclosed Plame's identity.

Fitzgerald said in court papers in June that the probe is mostly complete except for an interview of Miller and Time's Matthew Cooper. Cooper testified in July, and the grand jury's term ends in October.

In addition to the probe into who revealed Plame's name, Fitzgerald is investigating whether administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation.

`Honored Principle'

Miller said that she ``went to jail to preserve the time- honored principle that a journalist must respect a promise not to reveal the identity of a confidential source.''

``It's good to be free,'' she said in her statement.

Miller's lawyers reached agreement with Fitzgerald ``regarding the nature and scope of my testimony, which satisfies my obligation as a reporter to keep faith with my sources,'' she said.

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller said that initially Miller ``had only a generic waiver'' of her vow not to reveal her source, ``and she believed she had ample reason to doubt it had been freely given. In recent days, several important things have changed that convinced Judy that she was released from her obligation.''

The newspaper said on its Web site that Miller's lawyers had ``intense negotiations'' with Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, that were ``sometimes strained.''

Negotiations

Miller and Libby talked by phone this month and Libby released her from the confidentiality promise regarding their 2003 conversation, the paper said. Libby asserted he gave his waiver more than a year ago, the Times said.

Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the newspaper, said in a statement last night that, ``We are very pleased that she has finally received a direct and uncoerced waiver, both by phone and in writing, releasing her from any claim of confidentiality and enabling her to testify.''

White House spokesman Ken Lesaius declined to comment, citing the continuing investigation.

Genesis

The case was sparked by a July 14, 2003, syndicated newspaper column by Robert Novak which revealed Plame's name and CIA association. He cited ``two senior administration officials'' as saying Plame was responsible for sending her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, on a mission to Niger to look into claims Iraq was trying to obtain uranium yellowcake for nuclear weapons.

Plame also was named in a Time.com report written by Cooper and published July 17, 2003.

A week before, Wilson wrote an opinion article published in the New York Times criticizing the administration's decision to go to war with Iraq and saying some of the intelligence used to justify the March 2003 invasion had been ``twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.'' He has accused the Bush administration of leaking his wife's name to intimidate him and other critics.

It is a federal crime to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert agent, and the CIA asked for an investigation. After the Justice Department formally opened a probe, Bush said he ordered his staff to cooperate with investigators and vowed to fire anyone who committed a crime by leaking the agent's name.

According to the Washington Post, Libby in 2004 offered waivers of confidentiality to four reporters: Cooper, of Time, Tim Russert of NBC, and Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of the Post. All four have either testified or given depositions.

After appearing before the grand jury, Cooper wrote in Time that while he learned from Rove that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, the Bush adviser never mentioned her name. Novak has not said whether he has testified or been questioned under oath.

Miller continued to refuse to testify and was jailed. Though she never wrote about Plame, according to the New York Times she met with Libby July 8, 2003, and talked with him by telephone later that week.