Intelligence agencies have decided to declassify a large volume of classified information in order to move forward with the criminal prosecution of two pro-Israel lobbyists accused of trafficking in America’s national secrets.

The decision follows a judge’s rejection last month of the government’s proposal to limit public access to the trial of the two former staffers for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman. Judge Thomas Ellis III concluded that the prosecution’s plan, which involved using codes and playing surveillance tapes on headphones for jurors, infringed on the constitutional rights of the defendants.

The decision sent prosecutors and the intelligence community scrambling to assess the implications of a trial that laid bare more details about surveillance tactics and about the information allegedly disclosed by Messrs. Rosen and Weissman.

“Late in the evening on May 22, 2007, a determination was made allowing greater public disclosure of a significant amount of classified information,” prosecutors said in a court filing yesterday afternoon.

The prosecution said officials at the “highest levels of the affected members of the intelligence community” were involved, but the filing did not name specific agencies or officials.

At a hearing earlier this month, Judge Ellis, who sits in Alexandria, Va., chastised the government for taking too long to resolve the questions about what secrets could be exposed at trial.

“These people have sat around indicted for years. These agencies have got to get with it,” the judge said, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Judge Ellis gave prosecutors until May 21 to come up with a new plan for handling the classified information in court. They did not meet that deadline, but the judge has agreed to accept a response by 5 p.m. today.

A battle is also shaping up over the defense’s plans to call prominent government officials to discuss the ambiguities involved in deciding what information is classified and how it is discussed with foreign government officials and journalists.

“We have to decide whether I get to call Condoleezza Rice, Anthony Zinni, and Stephen Hadley,” an attorney for Mr. Rosen, Abbe Lowell, said.

Despite reports that Mr. Weissman and his former employer, Aipac, resolved a dispute over its payment of his legal bills, Mr. Lowell said no such agreement has been reached between Mr. Rosen and the lobbying group. “We have not been negotiating,” the defense attorney said.

Messrs. Rosen and Weissman have pleaded not guilty, but a Pentagon analyst charged in the case, Lawrence Franklin, is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty and receiving a sentence of more than 12 years in prison. Press organizations have expressed concern that the case could lead to the prosecution of journalists who obtain and publish classified information.

Judge Ellis has scrubbed plans to start the trial next month. Mr. Lowell said he thinks September is now a realistic date for the trial to open.