Senate Confirms Reno as First Female Attorney General : Cabinet: She immediately prepares to tackle an array of problems from the trade center bombing to status of the FBI director.

Janet Reno was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as the nation’s first woman attorney general, and immediately began preparing to step up to a full plate of problems--from identifying and prosecuting the World Trade Center bombers to recommending what to do about beleaguered FBI Director William S. Sessions.

Reno, speaking to reporters outside the White House where she was congratulated by President Clinton, described her confirmation as “an extraordinary experience” and said she hoped to “do the women of America proud.”

Clinton said he was elated by the Senate’s unusually speedy action. “That may be the only vote I carry 98-0 this year.”

Reno’s confirmation ends Clinton’s lengthy and embarrassing search to fill the post, in which one nominee and a leading contender were forced to withdraw over questions about employing undocumented immigrants in household service.

As she prepares to be sworn in today, Reno, the Dade County, Fla., state attorney for 15 years, faces challenges ranging from a National Security Council review now under way of U.S. international drug control strategy to proposed sharp budget cuts for federal law enforcement units.

She also may have to make decisions on the standoff between federal law enforcement personnel and the religious cult in Waco, Tex. The FBI hostage rescue team is on the scene at Waco, and FBI special agents in charge of three field offices are playing key roles.

But near the top of her agenda, Reno said, is the future of Sessions. A Justice Department internal watchdog unit has determined that Sessions has repeatedly abused his office.

Sessions was found to have used an FBI jet for personal purposes, to have engaged in a “sham” arrangement to avoid paying taxes on home-to-office use of his FBI limousine and to have refused to cooperate in an investigation of whether his home mortgage represented a “sweetheart” deal.

“This will be one of my first priorities in terms of looking at all the reports and making the best judgment I can based on all the information available,” she said outside the White House.

Reno comes to office with a reputation for integrity and a personal code so strict that she insists on paying sticker price for cars to avoid any suggestion she was receiving a special deal because of her position.

During two days of Senate hearings, Reno stressed the need for assuring that career and violent criminals are caught and punished, including reaching agreement on a way of cutting off prolonged Death Row appeals, which have stretched to 17 years in an extreme case. She also emphasized, however, that steps should be taken to assure those accused of capital crimes have competent lawyers.

Reno also underscored the need to curb domestic violence and child abuse as a way of eliminating conditions that she contends breed crime. Those are crimes over which state and local authorities have jurisdiction, although the Justice Department does have limited grant programs for state and local criminal justice units. Reno made clear, however, that she would not hesitate to use the “bully pulpit” of her new post to plead for such actions.

Reno declined to be pinned down at her confirmation hearing on whether she favored shifting a portion of the department’s budget from drug enforcement to drug treatment and prevention. She will have an early opportunity to address the question in office as part of the National Security Council review of international drug programs.

Critics of enforcement efforts to eliminate drugs where they are grown and processed--primarily Bolivia, Colombia and Peru--contend the money has not achieved targeted goals and that it would be better spent on treatment, prevention and enforcement inside the United States.

Reno said Thursday that her “first agenda item is to build a Department of Justice, to bring on the best possible people, to create a team that reflects America (and) that represents the best in their various areas. . . . “ But it is not clear how much of a voice she will have in filling key posts, including deputy and associate attorneys general and solicitor general. Names for those posts began circulating in Washington before Clinton turned to Reno, after his first nominee, Zoe Baird, withdrew.

And Administration sources indicated this week that the names still stand as likely appointments.

Profile: Janet Reno

Age: 54

Education: Cornell University, A.B., 1960; Harvard University, LL.B., 1963.

Career: Private law practice, Miami; state legislative aide; Dade County, Fla., assistant state attorney; 15 years as Dade County state attorney.

Family: Single

Quote: “I want to remember the countless citizens who have touched my life, who believe so deeply in and yearn so for justice. If you confirm me, I would consider it such an honor and privilege to serve the people of this nation as their lawyer.”

--March 9, 1993, before Senate Judiciary Committee