Disguised spy may testify in terror case

The CIA wants an agent to testify in disguise and use a fake name at an upcoming terror trial to protect his identity and secret agency locations in Afghanistan, according to court documents filed Thursday.

The agent's get-up would involve "a wig, eyeglasses or minor facial hair" but would not block others in the courtroom for the trial of Jose Padilla from assessing the agent's "demeanor and credibility," federal prosecutors said in their filing.

If U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke grants the request, sketch artists would be barred from drawing pictures of the agent and he would enter and leave the courthouse through a private entrance.

The agent is an instructor in the U.S. but could be assigned to field duty overseas, according to a statement filed by Suzanne M. Fleischauer, information review officer for the CIA's clandestine service.

"For CIA officers to effectively and clandestinely collect intelligence and conduct operations around the world, they cannot openly admit that they work for the CIA," Fleischauer said. "The safety of this covert CIA officer is of paramount concern because of the high-threat areas of the world in which he has worked."

The agent would testify about how the CIA acquired an application form _ which prosecutors say has Padilla's fingerprints on it _ for an al-Qaida training camp. The document was found along with dozens of others in a blue binder in Afghanistan shortly after the 2001 U.S. invasion aimed at driving out al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Padilla's lawyers did not immediately respond to e-mail messages seeking comment Thursday.

Judges must weigh the right of defendants to confront their accusers with security or other reasons for witnesses to use a disguise, and courts have ruled both ways on such issues in the past.

Padilla, a 36-year-old U.S. citizen, and two co-defendants face trial April 16 on charges of being part of a North American cell supporting Islamic terror groups around the world. All three have pleaded not guilty and face life prison sentences if convicted.

Padilla was added to the Miami case after spending 3 1/2 years in military custody as an enemy combatant. He was initially accused of plotting to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the U.S. when he was arrested in Chicago in 2002, but that charge is not part of the Miami indictment.