U.S. Link to Israeli Agent Deaths Alleged : Spying: A Senate panel will investigate claims that the operatives, in a Syrian terrorist group, were killed after Syria was given U.S. government data.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Thursday that his panel will investigate allegations that two or three undercover Israeli agents who had infiltrated a terrorist group in Syria were killed shortly after Syria received U.S. government information about terrorist activities there.

The allegations were contained in a New York Times report published Thursday.

“I hope and pray that those allegations in the press are not true,” said the chairman, Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.). “We’ve been working to rebuild our human intelligence strength in the intelligence community, especially in the Middle East. We’ve been deficient in terms of the number of human assets that we have and human sources that we have.”

A number of high-level officials said they know nothing about the provision of such sensitive intelligence information to the Syrians. One official said there would be a security investigation within the government to determine the source of the allegation.

The New York Times story said no link has been proven between the deaths of the agents and the turning over to the Syrian government of any U.S. information about terrorist activities. But, the newspaper said: “American experts believe that terrorists obtained the intelligence information given to Syrian leaders and used it to track down the agents within the terrorists’ ranks.”

Boren, after visiting the White House on another matter, told reporters:

“It would be tragic, indeed, if at this time that we are undertaking an effort to rebuild our human intelligence apparatus that we could have had the identity of some . . . agents compromised and turned over to the Syrian service.”

He said he had no information about the case, but added: “I do think that because of the serious nature of the allegation it’s appropriate for the Intelligence Committee to take a look at that . . . . We intend to get to the bottom of it. We’re going to look into it very, very thoroughly.”

The U.S. government has long suspected that Syria has supported a variety of terrorist operations, including the bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.

Given these suspicions, the senator said, he would be “surprised if we shared information that would really involve the sensitive identity of agents.”

The newspaper report said the disclosures of the agents’ identities followed “a strong protest about Syrian terrorist activities” delivered by Secretary of State James A. Baker III to Syrian President Hafez Assad in September.

Asked for comment, the State Department said in a written statement: “The suggestion that Secretary Baker handed over a demarche that led to the death of any individual is categorically untrue.

“Last year we received a credible and serious threat against a U.S. ambassador in the region. We act on such information. Therefore, any demarche that may have been passed on such a subject would have been done solely to protect the life of any American ambassador and fully coordinated with the government, including our intelligence agencies,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said the appointment of two liberal Democrats--California Rep. Ronald V. Dellums (D-Berkeley) and Rep. David E. Bonior (D-Mich.)--to the House Intelligence Committee could prevent U.S. allies from sharing intelligence with the United States because of fear that it would be leaked.

After he and other congressional Republicans met with Bush, Gingrich sharply criticized the Democratic leadership’s choices for the panel.

“It’s almost as though they went out of their way to find people who don’t believe in having an effective intelligence agency,” he said.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Roman Popadiuk said that the White House has had good relations with the House and Senate intelligence committees and that it hopes “that there will be no stumbling blocks to that kind of cooperation in the future.”

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) said any member of the Intelligence Committee who reveals secret information will be removed. But he suggested that it is the executive branch that is responsible for most leaks to the news media.

“The ship of state leaks from the top,” he said.

Visibly angered by Gingrich’s criticism, Foley said: “What he’s said in public is offensive . . . and does no credit to himself.”