Media Outlets Subpoenaed by Anthrax 'Person of Interest'

By: Joe Strupp Several top news organizations have received subpoenas in recent days from the lawyer representing former U.S. Army researcher Steven Hatfill, who is suing the federal government under the Privacy Act for trying to link him to the 2001 anthrax attacks and leaking information about him. There are rumors circulating in several Washington bureaus of as many as a dozen subpoenas.

E&P has confirmed that the following organizations have received subpoenas: The Associated Press, National Public Radio, The Washington Post, ABC News, and CBS' "60 Minutes."

Tom Connally, Hatfill's attorney in his lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and other government officials, had the subpoena served on A.P. officials in New York Thursday, according to David Tomlin, the A.P's assistant general counsel. He said the lone subpoena sought to depose a reporter about coverage of the investigation.

"It did not ask us to send a specific reporter, but it listed four articles and wanted to ask about those and other things," said Tomlin, adding that three of the articles mentioned were by AP reporter Curt Anderson.

NPR deputy general counsel Denise Leary confirmed receiving a similar subpoena Wednesday, also not naming a specific reporter. "The subpoena was very broad and accompanied by a command to provide a depostion in January," she told E&P Friday afternoon. "We will move to quash it and cancel the deposition."

Eric Grant, a Washington Post spokesman, said late Friday afternoon that the newspaper had received its subpoena today. "Legal is taking a look at it," he said.

"We understand that others received them as well," added AP's Tomlin, but could not confirm. "Maybe a dozen others." E&P subsequently learnded of the ABC and CBS had also received subpoenas.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, called the Hatfill effort a witch hunt. "If reporters cannot keep confidential sources, the public doesn't get information," she told the AP. "Period."

Officials at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times declined knowledge of any such subpoenas, despite the rumors. "I've heard that scuttlebutt," said Doyle McManus, Washington bureau chief for the Los Angeles Times. "But I have not seen a subpoena and as far as I know we haven't gotten one."

Los Angeles Times newsroom counsel Karlene Goller said no subpoena had been received as of Friday afternoon. Philip Taubman, Washington bureau chief for the New York Times, also said he knew of no such subpoenas.

Hatfill, who gained attention after being identified by federal investigators as a "person of interest" in the anthrax case, eventually lost his job as a government contractor despite never being charged. Several weeks ago, a libel lawsuit Hatfill had filed against The New York Times and columnist Nicholas Kristof was dismissed by a federal judge.

"It is too early to say what we will do, but it is likely we will challenge the subpoena," AP's Tomlin said. "We are continuing to examine it."

Calls to Connally's Washington, D.C., office were not immediately returned Friday.

The Hatfill subpoenas come at a time when numerous reporters have been targeted for sourcing information in a number of cases, including the investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA Agent Valerie Plame, the Wen Ho Lee civil lawsuit against the U.S. Justice Department, and the BALCO steroid case, in which five reporters for two California newspapers are being asked to reveal sources who provided testimony from a secret grand jury.

Tomlin said the ongoing number of such cases makes each subpoena easier. "A plaintiff's attorney who is seeking information about confidential sources cited in news stories has to feel more optimistic today than he or she did six months ago," he said.