Truthout

James Risen (Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times)The New York Times reporter James Risen is in a waiting game with the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court, and the fate of a journalist's right to protect sources lies in the balance. Will his case be the watershed for journalists to have the right to protect their sources, or will he have to go to jail in the face of the courts ruling against him? What will be the final say for reporters and their sources: court rulings or a federal shield law that would purposely protect reporters from having to reveal their sources?

I spoke to Mr. Risen about the choices he has to make and what solutions he believes could give reporters and their sources the protection needed to continue to be a watchdog over our government.

In 2006, he published a book, State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration, to expose some of the CIA abuses that he discovered during his reporting. Chapter 9 of that book told a story about an ill-fated attempt by the CIA in 2000 to have a former Soviet nuclear scientist hand altered bomb making blueprints to the unsuspecting Iranian government.