NY Times writer faces grand jury

NEW York Times reporter Judith Miller testified before a grand jury yesterday, ending her silence in the investigation into whether White House officials leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Ms Miller, free after 85 days in jail, spent more than three hours inside the federal courthouse in Washington, most behind closed doors with a grand jury.

She arrived early in the morning at the courthouse under an agreement reached Thursday with Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to disclose her July 2003 conversations with US Vice-President DickCheney’s chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby.