The federal prosecutor investigating the disclosue of the identity of a CIA secret agent is expected to signal within days whether he intends to bring indictments in the case.
As a first step, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to notify officials by letter if they have become targets, said lawyers close to the investigation.
Mr Fitzgerald is expected to wrap up his nearly two-year-old investigation into who leaked CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity by the end of the month.
Ms Plame's diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, has accused the Bush administration of leaking her name, damaging her ability to work undercover, to get back at him for criticising President Bush's Iraq policy.
The inquiry has ensnared President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, and vice president Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. The White House had long maintained that the pair had nothing to do with the leak but reporters have since named them as sources.
Mr Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, declined to say whether his client had been contacted by Mr Fitzgerald. Mr Libby's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.
New York Timesreporter Judith Miller testified to the grand jury on Friday about the conversations she had with Mr Libby.
After initially promising to fire anyone found to have leaked information in the case, Mr Bush in July offered a more qualified pledge: "If someone committed a crime they will no longer work in my administration."