DATE=5/12/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=FBI-STATE/ESPIONAGE (L-UPDATE)
NUMBER=2-262300
BYLINE=NICK SIMEONE
DATELINE=STATE DEPARTMENT
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The U-S State Department says it has no
information to support claims by an official of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (F-B-I) that spies are
roaming the headquarters of the nation's foreign
policy establishment disguised as reporters. The
controversy is the latest episode in what Secretary of
State Madeleine Albright calls serious security
problems at the State Department - where, over the
past few months, a laptop computer with top secret
information has disappeared and a bugging device was
found in a conference room. Correspondent Nick
Simeone has the latest.
TEXT: The issue of whether spies are posing as
reporters in what is supposed to be one of
Washington's most secure buildings is coming up as the
State Department conducts a comprehensive
investigation into these recent security lapses.
On Thursday, a senior F-B-I official told Congress
that the law enforcement agency could tell the State
Department which reporters who cover it are really --
as the official put it -- hostile intelligence
officers. The clear implication was that spies are
currently roaming the State Department's halls posing
as reporters.
Later through, the F-B-I seemed to backtrack, issuing
a statement saying that if it had such information, it
would share it with the State Department, where
spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters nobody has
brought any such evidence to the department's
attention.
/// BOUCHER ACT ///
If there are spies in the State Department press
corps, we would expect to be told. We have not
been told and therefore one would be surprised
at such reports.
/// END ACT ///
/// REST OPT ///
So all of this is leaving a lot of reporters who cover
the State Department worried that even without
evidence of espionage, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright might move to further limit reporters'
freedom to move about the building to speak to sources
and gather news. One of her senior security advisors
is suggesting the State Department become off limits
entirely to reporters, making it more like Central
Intelligence Agency. (SIGNED)
NEB/NJS/JP
12-May-2000 16:30 PM EDT (12-May-2000 2030 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
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