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)
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Source: Voice of America
.