Intelligence Operations

WASHINGTON --In a sharply worded letter to President Bush in May, an important congressional ally charged that the administration might have violated the law by failing to inform Congress of some secret intelligence programs and risked losing Republican support on national security matters. The letter from Rep. Peter Hoekstra, a Michigan Republican, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, did not specify the intelligence activities that he believed had been hidden from Congress.

HONG KONG - Retreating in the face of public opposition for the third time in less than five weeks, the government here said yesterday that it would dredge part of the harbor in front of the downtown business district but would postpone plans to fill in a large expanse of water to build a highway. A judge ruled Monday that the government could not only dredge the silt but begin dumping sand and gravel into the water to fill in up to 57 acres of the harbor. Two newspaper polls yesterday morning showed that two-thirds of the public opposed any landfill, with most of the rest undecided.

Trying to figure out what the Central Intelligence Agency is up to is a lot like watching shadows on the wall. The shadow may be larger than the reality, or it may be conjured out of nothing. The CIA's relatively new director promises a series of changes in the agency's structure and "culture," in response both to the end of the Cold War and the discovery of a traitor in its midst. What does it all mean?Some things are fairly obvious. The agency seriously botched the Aldrich Ames case, ignoring for years warning signals he might be spying on the U.S. rather than for it. It needs to justify its whopping cost at a time of fiscal stringency and declining global tension.

WASHINGTON -- The CIA has asked Congress for $19 million next year to continue covert operations to destabilize Iraq and to curb what the administration calls Iran's expansionist ambitions, administration officials say.The operations -- with about $15 million to be spent against Iraq and about $4 million against Iran -- are designed to support the Clinton administration's stated policy goal of "dual containment."The policy is aimed at weakening but not specifically overthrowing Iraq's president, Saddam Hussein; keeping together an anti-Iraq coalition at the United Nations; and strangling Iran's economy as it tries to rebuild its military muscle.

PALOS PARK, Ill. -- Declaring that President Clinton had "surrendered" in the war against drugs, Bob Dole vowed yesterday to devote the nation's military capability to halting the influx of drugs and said he would prepare the National Guard to "move in" to combat them."

For once, the lead-off question at a U.S. Senate hearing got to the heart of the issue. The subject was catching traitors in the CIA, another governmental exercise in locking the barn door after the horse gets away. Sen. John Warner, ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, observed there have been 10 attempts since the CIA was created in 1947 to get the intelligence agency and its bureaucratic rival, the FBI, to cooperate in catching double agents. Why should Congress believe the two agencies can get together now?

MIAMI-- After months of delays and legal melodrama, jury selection began yesterday in the trial of deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega -- an unprecedented proceeding expected to explore the methods and morality of U.S. intelligence operations abroad.The drug-trafficking trial represents the first time a foreign leader has been seized by invading U.S. forces and tried as a criminal in civilian court.General Noriega is facing 10 separate charges of conspiracy, racketeering and international drug-trafficking based on allegations that he turned his country into a haven for Colombian cocaine dealers to smuggle their drugs into the United States.

Boeing Co. said yesterday that it would acquire Conquest Inc., an intelligence-gathering company in Annapolis Junction, as it works to better integrate the diverse functions of its business. Boeing did not disclose financial details of the deal, but said it expects the transaction to be completed by the end of this quarter. Under the agreement, Conquest will become a part of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. Conquest will be renamed Boeing Advanced Information Systems -Maryland Operations.

WASHINGTON - Tens of thousands of workers at the National Security Agency and other spy agencies do not have the same personnel protections as other federal employees, according to a government study released today, leading one lawmaker to press for changes at what she termed "the last plantation."The General Accounting Office, Congress' watchdog arm, found that most workers at Fort Meade-based NSA, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency are unable to appeal adverse actions such as reduction in pay, suspension or removal.

WASHINGTON -- Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi picked Texas congressman and former border patrol agent Silvestre Reyes yesterday to be the next chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, ending what had become a distracting fight among Democrats over who should get the key post. Reyes will occupy a key position for Democrats seeking to use their newfound majority status to challenge the Bush administration on a range of national security issues, including conduct of the war in Iraq and the capture and interrogation of terrorism suspects abroad.