Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter James Risen is leaving The New York Times after nearly two decades, a distinguished run that included standout reporting on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administrations bogus case for invading Iraq, and rampant government surveillance.

Risen, a press-freedom advocate, successfully battled two Washington administrations trying to compel him to reveal a confidential source.

He is the latest high-profile Times journalist to take a voluntary buyout as the paper reorganizes its newsroom. His exit follows the news Thursday that influential book critic Michiko Kakutani also is departing.

Risen confirmed to HuffPost hes leaving the paper, but declined to elaborate.

Times executive editor Dean Baquet called Risen one of the giants of national security and investigative reporting. He said in a statement that the paper would miss him greatly.

Risen worked early in his career at The Journal Gazette, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Miami Herald, and the Detroit Free Press. He spent 14 years at the Los Angeles Times before joining the Times Washington bureau in 1998.

He was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team covering intelligence and global terrorism in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and produced some of the Times most skeptical reporting on the Bush administrations case for invading Iraq, even as more credulous reporting landed on the front page.