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| Home Front: Politix |
| U.S. subpoenas author in case of ex-CIA officer |
| 2011-05-25 |
| Federal prosecutors, with the approval of the Attorney General, want to force the author of a book about the CIA to testify at a criminal trial about who leaked information to him about the agency's effort to sabotage Iran's nuclear program at the end of the Clinton administration. The writer, James Risen, a reporter for the New York Times, was served with a subpoena on Monday, ordering him to testify at the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer. Sterling was charged this year as part of a larger crackdown by the Obama administration on officials accused of disclosing restricted information to journalists. In a motion filed on Monday, prosecutors argued the First Amendment did not give Risen the right to avoid testifying about his confidential sources in a criminal proceeding. The Justice Department argued Risen was a witness and should be compelled to provide testimony to a jury "like any other citizen." Prosecutors think Sterling provided classified information to Risen that served as the core for a chapter in his 2006 book, "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration." The chapter describes an effort by the CIA in 2000 to interfere with Iran's nuclear program by sending a former Russian scientist to give it blueprints for a nuclear triggering device with a hidden design flaw. |
| Posted by:ryuge |