While the indictment does not identify the journalist or the intelligence operation, its details make clear that prosecutors believe Mr. Sterling was talking to James Risen, a reporter for The New York Times. Mr. Risen wrote about a C.I.A. attempt to disrupt Iranian nuclear research in his 2006 book, “State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration.”

That material did not appear in The Times. The indictment says that the journalist worked on an article about the program in 2003, but the newspaper decided not to publish it after government officials told editors that such a disclosure would jeopardize national security. But Mr. Risen devoted a chapter of his book to the program, which he portrayed as a flawed operation that may have helped the Iranians gain nuclear technology. He was twice subpoenaed to divulge his source;