ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - For years, ex-CIA case officer Jeffrey Sterling was the one under indictment but prosecutors' primary focus of pursuit was journalist Jeffrey Risen.
Prosecutors believed Sterling leaked details to Risen about one of the government's most closely held secrets: a secret CIA mission to derail Iran's nuclear ambitions by giving them deliberately flawed blueprints.
Risen, though, wouldn't divulge his sources. Prosecutors sought court orders forcing Risen to testify, saying their job would be immeasurably more difficult without his testimony.
Ultimately, though, prosecutors won their case without Risen. On Monday, Sterling was convicted in federal court on all nine charges he faced after a two-week trial in which Risen never made an appearance.
Experts said the trial shows the government can pursue leak investigations without relying on recalcitrant reporters.
At issue in the two-week trial: Who told Risen about the mission, one that former national security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified was one of America's best chances to derail Iran's nuclear-weapons ambitions?
The case was delayed for years as prosecutors fought to force Risen to divulge his sources. Risen eventually lost his legal battle to quash a government subpoena. But prosecutors ultimately decided not to call him to testify after the Justice Department, bowing to pressure from free-press advocates, promised it would not ask Risen sensitive questions about his sources.
Lacking Risen's testimony, prosecutors acknowledged a lack of direct evidence against Sterling, 47, of O'Fallon, Missouri, but said the circumstantial evidence against him was overwhelming.
Defense lawyers had said the evidence showed that Capitol Hill staffers who had been briefed on the classified operation were more likely the source of the leak.