WASHINGTON INSIGHT

HOPE FOR IDLE HANDS: The Bush Administration, worried that Soviet weapons experts facing unemployment will sell their services to the highest Third World bidder, is working on a plan to find alternative jobs for them. Officials are considering creating a Western-financed fund to subsidize research projects for the specialists in such fields as energy, the environment, space and transportation. Some money would be used to support studies at Soviet institutes, but the plan also envisions paying for Soviet weapons scientists to work on peaceful projects at universities in the West, officials said. The Administration is expected to announce the program in the next few weeks, perhaps at the January conference called by Secretary of State James A. Baker III to coordinate aid efforts to the states of the former Soviet Union.