Another Leak Controversy Brews

Even as the Justice Department appeared to be going forward in the Wilson leak probe, it faced new controversy over the alleged leak of the name of a Detroit man whom government sources described to TIME as a key confidential federal terrorism informant. After going undercover in bars and elsewhere in the Arab community for the feds in Detroit, Marwan Farhat's name was revealed in a Detroit Free Press story last week that cited "officials" as the source of information about Farhat and an internal Justice investigation of a prosecutor. Farhat — whom the Free Press said was an illegal immigrant from an Arab country who began helping the feds after he was charged in a drug case — fled the U.S. this week after saying he'd been shot at in Detroit on Friday morning, according to a source who spoke to Farhat. The Free Press story ran the day after Farhat was shot at, but a knowledgeable source said Farhat's name had become a poorly-kept secret in the city after leaking out a month before. "He's an intelligence asset. He was providing information on terrorism, not just who's the local dope sellers," said an outraged congressional aide. Justice officials in Washington and Detroit refused comment.