But today, Mr. Pearlstine, who chose to cooperate with the investigation, had fond words for Mr. Fitzgerald, telling a J-school audience, according to Editor and Publisher: "When I consider all the things that happened when Alberto Gonzales was attorney general -- I really considered him an outpost of sanity."

Mr. Pearlstine added that he had sent Mr. Fitzgerald a copy of his book, Off the Record: The Press, the Government, and the War over Anonymous Sources, published this year, with an inscription that read: "I couldn't have written this without you."