A US federal judge on Wednesday jailed New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to divulge her source leaking the identity of a CIA agent nearly two years ago.

Miller will be held until the grand jury investigating the leak ends its work in October. "There is still a realistic possibility that confinement might cause her to testify," US District Judge Thomas Hogan said.

Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, who like Miller had refused to testify, told Hogan that he would now cooperate because his source allowed him to reveal the identity just hours before the sentencing trial.

The investigation has been going on for nearly two years over the disclosure of the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Her name was first published in a July 14, 2003 column by Robert Novak, who cited two unidentified senior Bush administration officials as his sources.

Subsequently, Cooper wrote a story over Plame, and Miller gathered material but never wrote an article. It is unclear whether Novak has testified or been subpoenaed.

Hogan found Cooper and Miller in contempt of court last week for refusing to divulge their sources. Time magazine handed over Cooper's notebooks in the investigation Friday.

Source: Xinhua