Washington ? A federal judge has ordered five reporters to reveal their sources for stories that portrayed Wen Ho Lee, a former nuclear weapons scientist, as a chief suspect in a Chinese espionage investigation.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ordered the reporters to answer questions about their sources and to provide Lee’s attorneys with notes and other documents from their reporting.

Lee is suing the Energy Department and Justice Department alleging government officials provided private information about him to reporters.

Lee was indicted in December 1999 on 59 felony counts alleging he mishandled nuclear weapons information. He was held in solitary confinement for nine months, then was released in September 2000.