The Justice Department agreed earlier this year to join in questioning of a Washington Times reporter about alleged leaks of grand jury information in a Chinese espionage case, but balked and asked for a delay recently as the time for the journalist’s grilling drew near, according to court papers unsealed yesterday.

Over the government’s objections, Judge Cormac Carney released a declaration detailing some of the department’s internal deliberations about whether to force the journalist, William Gertz, to identify his sources. The judge has ordered Mr. Gertz to appear in a Santa Ana, Calif., courtroom on Thursday to investigate the possible leaks. After lawyers for Mr. Gertz asked to quash the subpoena, the judge indicated he wants to use the court session to hear directly from the reporter about his use of confidential sources and the newsworthiness of the spy investigation.

In the declaration, a prosecutor assigned to investigate the alleged leaks, Jay Bratt, indicates that the government agreed in April to question Mr. Gertz at the hearing and to take part in any contempt proceedings. However, in recent weeks, senior Justice Department officials backed away from that promise and asked the judge for more time to take the issue to Attorney General Mukasey.

“We were advised that this matter raises a number of issues that require further consideration within DOJ,” Mr. Bratt wrote in his July 11 statement. “These issues include whether, both on legal and policy grounds, the government can support an investigatory proceeding that the Court has initiated and whether grand jury subpoenas are a better alternative manner in which to proceed.”

Mr. Bratt said the circulation of a proposed government brief regarding the upcoming court proceeding triggered calls to refer the matter to Mr. Mukasey for a new decision, even though the Justice Department had previously authorized Mr. Bratt to take part.

“Senior DOJ officials have decided that, in light of the sensitivities of this case, the Attorney General should approve the government’s continued participation in the Court-initiated proceeding. The Attorney General will now also consider whether the government can issue grand jury subpoenas to Mr. Gertz,” Mr. Bratt wrote.

In his declaration, Mr. Bratt says he recommended last fall that Mr. Gertz be subpoenaed before a grand jury and asked about his sources. Mr. Bratt’s filing does not say whether the request, which requires the attorney general’s approval, was rejected or simply not acted upon. Justice Department investigators conducted more than 500 interviews before giving up on finding the source of the alleged leaks, Judge Carney wrote in an order earlier this year.

A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, declined to be interviewed for this article. An attorney for Mr. Gertz did not reply to an interview request yesterday.

The trouble for the Washington Times national security reporter stems from a May 16, 2006, article in which he described plans for new charges against a suspected Chinese spy, Chi Mak, and several of his family members. New charges were eventually filed in the case, largely, but not precisely, as Mr. Gertz described.