Reporter divulges leak source

New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified Friday before a federal grand jury after having spent more than 12 weeks in jail for refusing to divulge her source in a political dirty-tricks case involving the 2003 outing of an undercover CIA agent.

Appearing gaunt and saying she was tired, Miller emerged from a Washington courthouse to tell reporters she had agreed to testify only after receiving personal assurances from her source and striking a deal with the prosecutor to limit the scope of his questions.

"I served 85 days in jail because of my belief in the importance of upholding the confidential relationship journalists have with their sources," Miller said. "Believe me, I did not want to be in jail. But I would have stayed even longer if I had not received these two things: the personal waiver and narrow testimony."

Miller's sentence was the third-longest among those incarcerated for refusing to identify anonymous sources, according to a list from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. The longest — 168 days in 2001 — was served by freelance writer Vanessa Leggett, who balked at participating in a 1997 murder investigation involving a Houston socialite.

Under questioning from reporters Friday, Miller wouldn't name her source in the case of agent Valerie Plame, whose identity was disclosed after her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly criticized White House claims that then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was trying to make an atomic bomb. The Times said on its Web site Thursday night that her source was Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

Miller said she recently received a letter and telephone call from her source releasing her from the confidentiality pledge she had given him when they spoke in July 2003.

Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, questioned Friday why Miller had refused to accept a written waiver Libby gave to the prosecutor more than a year ago. Miller responded by saying such "blanket waivers" may not be freely given by sources.

Miller, 57, never wrote a story about the Plame case and is the only reporter incarcerated so far. Matthew Cooper of Time magazine narrowly escaped joining Miller when his source, White House chief of staff Karl Rove, gave permission to be identified to the grand jury.

Miller was to return to work Monday, Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis said.

Miller told reporters that she was looking forward to a meal cooked by her husband, book editor Jason Epstein, 77, hugging their dog and spending time at their second home on Long Island. "I'm very tired . . . and I want to go home to Sag Harbor," she said.

Some journalism groups said Miller's predicament illustrates the need for Congress to adopt a proposed federal shield law aimed at protecting reporters from being forced to divulge confidential sources.

"It's not important whether you testified, but the grounds upon which you testified," said Tom Rosenstiel of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "Judy Miller actually sacrificed and stood on principle. It wasn't a waste of time for her to go to jail."