NYT reporter gets jail for withholding source in CIA leakcase

Jul 6, 2005, 20:14 GMT

Washington - A New York Times reporter was sentenced to jail Wednesday for refusing to say who in President George W. Bush's government leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer, the Fox News television network reported.

In contrast, Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper, who also faced jail time on contempt of court charges, said earlier Wednesday that he would reveal the name of his source in court because the source had agreed to be unmasked.

At issue is who in the administration blew the cover of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame. Under U.S. law, it is illegal to knowingly unmask an undercover intelligence officer.

New York Times reporter Judith Miller did not get her wish of being sentenced to home confinement and instead will serve her sentence in a Washington-area jail.

Miller, who never wrote a story on the information she received, has cited constitutional free-press guarantees in standing firm.

She will remain there until she decides to reveal the source or until October, when a grand jury investigation into the case will end.

New York Times managing editor Bill Keller told reporters outside the Washington court building that Miller's jailing is "the chilling conclusion to an utterly confounding case", and described her sentence as a "Draconian act".

He criticized Cooper's decision to give up his source, saying "I think it was wrong".

Plame's husband, former U.S. ambassador Joe Wilson, criticized the U.S. case for the war in Iraq and has claimed that the Bush administration retaliated by exposing his wife's identity. The White House has denied authorizing the leak.