Reporter testifies in leak probe

After nearly three months in jail for refusing to reveal her source, New York Times reporter Judith Miller yesterday broke her silence and testified to a federal grand jury investigating who in the Bush administration leaked the identity of a covert CIA operative.

Ms Miller, who was freed on Thursday, said she agreed to testify about the source after receiving what she described as a "personal, voluntary" waiver of confidentiality from the administration official who had discussed the matter with her.

She did not identify that source, but people close to the case said it was Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby. She said the source conveyed the waiver in the form of a letter and a phone call to her in jail.

Ms Miller also said she agreed to testify only after her lawyers secured an agreement with the prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, to narrow the scope of her testimony to her conversations with that single source.

Lawyers close to the case said Ms Miller's testimony appeared to clear the way for Mr Fitzgerald to wrap up his two-year-old inquiry into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and whether anyone broke the law by revealing the information.

Ms Plame's diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, said the administration had leaked her name, damaging her ability to work undercover, to get back at him for criticising President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.

The lawyers said Mr Fitzgerald could move quickly to bring indictments in the case or he could conclude that no crime was committed and end his investigation and possibly issue a report on his findings.

The outcome could shake up the Bush White House, already reeling from criticism over its response to Hurricane Katrina and the indictment of House Republican leader Tom DeLay on a conspiracy charge related to campaign financing.

The leak investigation has ensnarled Mr Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, as well as Mr Libby. The White House had long maintained that they had nothing to do with the leak but reporters have since named them as sources.

Questions were raised about the timing of Miller's decision to testify. Mr Libby's attorney, Joseph Tate, said he had signed a waiver over a year ago, and that he was under the impression that Ms Miller's goal was to protect other sources, not Mr Libby.

But Ms Miller dismissed such "form waivers" hammered out by lawyers.

"I heard directly from my source that I should testify before the grand jury," Ms Miller told reporters after spending more than four hours in the courthouse. "I concluded from this that my source genuinely wanted me to testify."