5 Reporters Ordered to Testify About Government Sources

By Adam Liptak
The New York Times

Tuesday 14 August 2007

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Five reporters must testify about their law enforcement sources in a former Army scientist's lawsuit against the Justice Department, a federal judge in Washington ruled yesterday.

The suit, filed by Steven J. Hatfill, a bioterrorism expert, contends that the government violated the federal Privacy Act by providing journalists with information about him in the F.B.I.'s investigation of the deadly anthrax mailings in 2001.

The reporters - Michael Isikoff and Daniel Klaidman of Newsweek; Allan Lengel of The Washington Post; Toni Locy, formerly of USA Today; and James Stewart, formerly of CBS News - have acknowledged receiving information from the Justice Department and the F.B.I. about Dr. Hatfill, the judge, Reggie B. Walton, wrote in his decision yesterday. But they have refused to name their sources.

Judge Walton, of the Federal District Court in Washington, said Dr. Hatfill was entitled to the sources' names because "the information sought is clearly central to his Privacy Act claims."

"Denying civil litigants access to the identity of government officials who have allegedly leaked information to reporters would effectively leave Privacy Act violations immune from judicial condemnation," Judge Walton wrote, "while leaving potential leakers virtually undeterred from engaging in such misbehavior."

The reporters are not defendants in the suit but are likely to face contempt sanctions if they fail to comply with Judge Walton's order. Lawyers for Mr. Lengel and Ms. Locy and a spokeswoman for Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Klaidman declined to comment yesterday. A lawyer for Mr. Stewart did not respond to a request for comment.

In April, Judge Walton referred the parties to mediation in an effort to settle the case. A separate lawsuit by Dr. Hatfill against The New York Times, claiming that columns by Nicholas D. Kristof had defamed him, was dismissed by a federal judge in Virginia in January. Dr. Hatfill has appealed.

Last year, the government and five news organizations, including The Times, paid Wen Ho Lee, an atomic scientist once suspected of espionage, $1,645,000 to settle what Judge Walton, in his decision yesterday, called a "strikingly similar" case.

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