Identity of Fox News Reporter James Rosen Declassified

The government declared today that the identity of the reporter to whom accused leaker Stephen Kim allegedly disclosed classified information is James Rosen of Fox News.  Mr. Rosen’s association with the case was publicly known for years.  But it was still classified.  Now it’s not.

“The United States hereby gives notice to the Court, defense counsel, and the defendant, that the following facts have been declassified,” prosecutors wrote in a pleading filed this morning. “The ‘reporter for a national news organization’ to whom the defendant is alleged to have made an unauthorized disclosure of national defense information, as charged in Count One of the Indictment, is James Rosen of Fox News.”

Mr. Rosen was controversially described in a recently revealed FBI affidavit as having acted in probable violation of the Espionage Act, and as a co-conspirator with the defendant, Mr. Kim.  His identity was known all along.  But as is all too often the case, declassification lags far behind the public record.