AP: Judge: Times Must Reveal Anthrax Sources (Hatfill lawsuit)

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
The Associated Press
Monday, October 23, 2006; 4:46 PM

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A federal judge ordered The New York Times to disclose
a columnist's confidential sources as part of a libel lawsuit filed over the
newspaper's coverage of the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Former Army scientist Steven Hatfill, once identified by authorities as a
"person of interest" in the anthrax mailings that killed five people in late
2001, is suing the Times for libel for a series of articles written by
columnist Nicholas Kristof.

The order issued Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Liam O'Grady requires the
newspaper to disclose the identities of three of Kristof's sources, including
two FBI sources who allegedly provided some of the most incriminating
information in Kristof's columns. The order was made public Monday.

Hatfill's lawyers said they need to question the sources to see if Kristof's
reporting was accurate. The FBI sources told the Times that Hatfill was one
of a limited number of people with the access and technical expertise to
manufacture the anthrax and that he failed several lie-detector tests.

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