
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 27, 1994                   TAG: 9404270102
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

FBI TO GET BIGGER ROLE IN SPY INVESTIGATIONS

Spurred by problems investigating Aldrich Ames, Clinton administration officials have tentatively agreed to give the FBI more control over investigations of spying in this country, senior officials said Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers said President Clinton had ordered the National Security Council to review counterintelligence measures after Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, and his wife were arrested as Russian spies two months ago.

``The plan is in development, per the president's request in the wake of the Aldrich Ames arrest,'' she said, declining to provide details of the plan.

FBI Director Louis Freeh said Monday that the CIA and FBI are ``on the brink'' of instituting methods to share espionage information.

The administration hopes to unveil its plan during a May 3 hearing by the Senate Intelligence Committee. The panel's chairman, Sen. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, and ranking Republican, John Warner of Virginia, are sponsoring legislation aimed at the same problem.

Freeh said that as a result of the agreement with the CIA there is no need for legislation. CIA Director James Woolsey has told the Senate panel he opposes the legislation as turning over too much counterintelligence authority to the FBI, according to a congressional official, who declined to be identified by name.

by CNB