AFTER THE RIOTS : Leaders of Riot Response Probe Have Top Credentials : Webster: Former federal judge headed both the FBI and CIA. He was known for rooting out misconduct and improper practices.

Judge William H. Webster brings to the task of investigating the Los Angeles Police Department’s riot response unmatched experience in requiring two strong-minded agencies--the FBI and CIA--to conform to the rule of law without destroying their morale or confidence.

As the only man to head both organizations, he demonstrated skill in rooting out misconduct and improper practices inside the bureaucracies during the stormy periods in which he led them.

Webster, 68, named special adviser to the Los Angeles Police Commission on Monday, exudes a charming manner and has honed a highly competitive tennis game--qualities that make him a popular Washington insider. But he also is a man known to have strong ideas about how government agencies should operate.

He implements those concepts, in part, by expecting full and logical explanations from subordinates and showing undisguised dissatisfaction when they fall short.

Testifying as FBI director early in the Reagan Administration before a crime panel, Webster was given incomplete statistics by an assistant director on an area questioners sought to examine. A clearly embarrassed Webster left the hearing room with the errant official in tow and chewed him out unmercifully.

Within months, the man was moved to a less visible position and retired from the bureau not long after.

Despite an impressive list of credentials as a public servant--as U.S. attorney in St. Louis and a judge in federal district and appellate courts, Webster actually was second choice for FBI director and, subsequently, for director of central intelligence.

In both instances, officials involved in the selections said, the choice of Webster turned out to be ideal for the challenges that developed.

Webster took over the job of FBI director in 1978 after then-Atty. Gen. Griffin B. Bell’s first choice became ill and withdrew. Bell recalls that he persuaded Webster to leave his lifetime appointment as a federal appeals court judge by appealing to his sense of duty and patriotism.

Under Webster’s predecessor, Clarence M. Kelley, a veteran police executive, the bureau had recovered partially from the excesses, in the form of personal vendettas and other questionable practices, of the long directorship of J. Edgar Hoover.

But two months after Webster took command, several former high-ranking FBI officials were indicted on charges that they employed illegal tactics in trying to track down members of the radical Weather Underground. Scores of other agents were disciplined. (Two of the ex-officials eventually were convicted, but pardoned by Reagan in one of his first major criminal justice actions.)

Presiding over the legally battered bureau, Webster never dropped the title of “judge,” which followed him from the bench, and it seemed to help him in his repeated reminders--both privately to FBI agents and officials and in public statements--that the FBI too was governed by the rule of law.

It was under Webster that the bureau conducted its controversial Abscam investigation in which undercover agents posed as Arab business representatives in a sting that eventually convicted seven members of Congress for illegal payoffs and conspiracy.

The investigation broke new ground for the FBI in fighting public corruption and withstood repeated attempts to overturn the convictions.

Then-President Reagan turned to him for the intelligence post after CIA Director William J. Casey died and Reagan’s first choice, Robert Gates, asked that his name be withdrawn over unresolved Senate doubts of his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1987, Webster, who most observers expected would end his 10-year term at the FBI and take a high-paying Washington law firm job, moved from the relatively tranquil FBI to the CIA, which clearly was headed for trouble over Iran-Contra and the alleged involvement of some of its officials in the scandal.

In taking the job, Webster departed from Casey’s practice of using the intelligence his agency gathered to make policy proposals, choosing instead to simply report information to the President.

He handled the Iran-Contra problem by persuading a longtime aide to join him at the CIA as general counsel and to conduct an internal inquiry, one which Webster used in meting out discipline to officials he thought had gone too far.

The inquiry was low-key, and two of those involved are now awaiting trial on charges subsequently brought by Independent Counsel Lawrence E. Walsh.

Webster’s easy demeanor and quick smile mask a keen competitiveness that surfaces most clearly on the tennis court. In a recent game with a longtime opponent who is about five years younger, Webster lost decisively.

Almost embarrassed, the opponent said: “Guess I’ve gained a step on you, Judge.”

Webster, his expression showing total amazement, immediately responded with a question: “You mean permanently?”

Profile: William H. Webster Born: March 6, 1924, in St. Louis

Education: Attended Amherst College on a scholarship, interrupted for midshipman training at Columbia University and World War II service in U.S Naval Reserve. Left service as a Lt. (j.g.), 1946. BA degree, Amherst College, 1947; law degree, Washington University Law School, 1949.

Career highlights: Joined a St. Louis law firm but recalled to active Navy duty in 1950 during the Korean War. Returned to St. Louis law firm in 1952 and became partner four years later. Became active in politics as a Republican and served in 1958 as president of the Missouri Assn. of Republicans. Named U.S. attorney in St. Louis by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960 and resigned in early 1961 after John F. Kennedy’s election. After 10 years in private practice in St. Louis, President Richard M. Nixon named him a U.S. District Court judge in St. Louis in 1971, and in 1973 elevated him to the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Became FBI director in February, 1978, and CIA director in 1987. Left the CIA in 1991 and joined the Washington office of the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.

Personal: Webster’s wife of 34 years, Drusilla, died of cancer in 1984, and he married Linda Jo Clugston in 1990. He has two daughters and a son and several grandchildren.