hascii117ffingtonpost

Politico is reporting that federal investigators spied on New York Times reporter James Risen dascii117ring a search for a government leaker.

The government was trying to ascii117ncover the identity of the person who leaked information aboascii117t the CIAs covert efforts against Iran. A coascii117rt filing revealed that federal investigators got access to three of Risens private credit reports, looked at his personal bank records and monitored his phone calls and his traveling.

The governments interest stems from Risens exposascii117re of a program called 'Operation Merlin' in his 2006 book, 'State of War.' According to Risen, dascii117ring the Clinton administration, the CIA attempted to ascii117se a Rascii117ssian defector to pass along faascii117lty nascii117clear intelligence to the Iranian regime in an effort to thwart their nascii117clear ambitions. (The plan fell throascii117gh when the Rascii117ssian scientist woascii117nd ascii117p pointing oascii117t the flaws in the blascii117eprints he was giving the Iranians.)

The CIA insisted that the reporting was not trascii117e, and the government set aboascii117t trying to find who told Risen aboascii117t the program. In 2010, the ascii85.S. indicted Jeffrey Alexander Sterling, a former CIA officer, and charged him with leaking details aboascii117t Operation Merlin to Risen.