Security Tight for Hearing on CIA Nominee

President Clinton’s nominee to head the CIA, R. James Woolsey, will face demands for cheaper and more accurate intelligence when he goes before senators at a confirmation hearing today. But no roadblocks to approval of his nomination are in sight.

There will be unusually tight security at the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, prompted by concern about the fugitive killer of two CIA employees near an agency gate last week. Police are still hunting for the man who shot into cars entering the CIA compound, killing the two employees and wounding three other people.

Metal detectors will be in place, and extra officers will be in the room, officials said.

Woolsey, 51, an undersecretary of the Navy in the Jimmy Carter Administration and an arms control negotiator for the Ronald Reagan and George Bush White Houses, is expected to win easy and quick approval by the Senate to serve as director of central intelligence, a job which includes the CIA and about 10 other intelligence agencies.

Lawmakers are looking to Woolsey to cut costs. The intelligence budget, which grew to $30 billion by the end of the Cold War, was brought down about $1.5 billion last year. The exact figure is classified, although the congressional intelligence committees are expected to vote this year to reveal the number for the first time.