Dispute Over FBI Files Angered CIA Nominee

CIA director nominee Anthony Lake secretly agreed last Friday to cave in to Republican demands for release of his raw FBI files. But he almost immediately began to consider withdrawing his nomination after the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee declared that the files were not complete, officials involved with the nomination said Tuesday.

Officials said Lake became angry at the claim by committee Chairman Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) and became convinced that the dogged committee chairman would postpone any nomination vote indefinitely.

In explaining his decision Monday, Lake had said he lost patience with the lengthy nominating process. He did not disclose that he and the White House had agreed to release the raw FBI files, which had been one of several outstanding disputes between Lake’s Republican opponents and his supporters.

The Clinton administration moved swiftly Tuesday to choose a new nominee, possibly as early as today. White House officials identified the leading candidate as George J. Tenet, the acting CIA director with long ties to the Senate and experience in the Clinton White House.

Lake’s scuttled nomination led to a barrage of accusations on Capitol Hill on Tuesday and put Shelby on the defensive.

Early in the day, Shelby said he had been surprised by the withdrawal because he expected the committee would vote on the nomination Thursday. But challenged by Democratic senators and others, he backed away from that position and conceded that the process would have gone longer.

While Lake’s decision came as a shock on Monday evening, it was one that began developing last Friday.

Trying to salvage the long-stalled nomination, Lake reluctantly agreed to turn over his raw FBI files to Shelby and committee Vice-Chairman Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.). Lake thought he had finally satisfied Shelby, his leading adversary in the contentious confirmation hearings.

Access to Lake’s raw FBI files had become the central issue holding up his confirmation. Several Republicans were threatening to vote against him in the committee, and to urge other Republicans to do so on the Senate floor, if they were not allowed to review Lake’s complete file.

But when Lake acquiesced on Friday, Shelby remained unsatisfied and asked the White House for additional information.

White House officials say the new demands angered Lake, leaving him convinced that Shelby and Senate Republicans were determined to keep his nomination in limbo, unwilling to bring it to a vote any time soon.

Throughout an agonizing weekend, Lake considered withdrawing. In addition to Shelby’s new demands on his FBI files, Lake also knew over the weekend that the Wall Street Journal was about to publish a story about Roger Tamraz, an international oil financier who had had contacts with Lake’s National Security Council staff.

Tamraz is wanted by the Lebanese government for questioning in an investigation of alleged mishandling of bank funds, the Journal reported.

A White House official said Lake decided that this story would not be any worse for him than others linking the council’s staff to Democratic campaign fund-raising. Indeed, Lake’s NSC staff had acted to prevent Tamraz from attending White House events. But Lake also knew that the story would give the Senate committee one more reason to delay the vote on his nomination.

Lake’s status grew more complicated Monday when Kerrey, in a telephone call from Nebraska, told him that the Tamraz story was “potentially disqualifying.” Kerrey said he was troubled that Lake had not known about his staff’s contact with Tamraz, believing it reflected poorly on the nominee’s management skills.

Kerrey’s warning essentially closed the door behind Lake, apparently convincing the president and White House officials not to try to talk Lake out of his decision to withdraw.

With Clinton firing his volley of complaint toward Congress, and administration officials recounting the course that led to Lake’s withdrawal, congressional leaders defended the Senate’s treatment of the nomination.

“I never was out to get Mr. Lake,” Shelby said during a morning television interview. “It was not personal with me.”

Later, Shelby and Kerrey appeared together at a news conference intended to suggest the committee had returned to its traditional bipartisan approach. But deep differences welled up during their joint appearance.

Kerrey said repeatedly that the intelligence committee, made up of 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats, had treated Lake badly. “I do not believe the process Tony Lake went through was fair,” Kerrey said.

Shelby responded sharply: “Whether you have a fair hearing is in the eyes of the beholder.” Shelby also denied that he delayed a committee vote on the nomination so the investigation could be extended.

“I thought we were going to vote this Thursday evening,” Shelby said.

Not so, said Kerrey. Disputes over the FBI files, subpoenas of National Security Council staff members and other issues would have pushed a vote past Thursday, he said.

Indeed, moderate Republican Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana said Shelby was working to extend the committee’s probe into the indefinite future.

Lugar, who said he would have voted to approve Lake’s nomination, said he received two phone calls Monday evening--one from Clinton seeking an assessment of Lake’s chances and another from Shelby asking for support to extend the investigation and request subpoenas of additional witnesses.

Tenet, the leading contender to replace Lake, is a former staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee and served as director of intelligence policy at the National Security Council under Lake.

Tenet’s tenure on the Senate staff, as an aide to both Republicans and Democrats, suggested he would have little trouble winning confirmation, and he has won praise for providing stability within the Central Intelligence Agency during the upheaval over Lake.

Kerrey said in an interview he would be shocked if the choice was someone other than Tenet.

Times staff writers Elizabeth Shogren and Sam Fulwood III contributed to this story.

* A BITTER PROCESS: The bitterness in the Lake fight reflects a larger trend. A16

* NEED FOR STABILITY: Agency is reeling from spy cases and sagging morale. A16

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Help Wanted

‘The cycle of political destruction must end.’

--President Clinton, reacting to Lake decision

****

The struggle over the Lake nominations reflects a trend that has made the process of appointing public officials more difficult. Here are other key slots in the executive and judicial branches remaining vacant and awaiting action either by the president or Congress.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner: Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala heads a committee searching for replacements to recommend to Clinton.

Surgeon General: Administration sources say David Satcher, head of the Centers for Disease Control, will be the likely nominee.

Federal Aviation Administrator: Carl Vogt, a lawyer and former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, is the choice of two former FAA chiefs, but the administration has yet to make a final pick.

National Park Service Director: Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt reportedly is pushing Robert G. Stanton, currently field director of the National Park Service field areas. But there are many other candidates.

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner: No names have yet surfaced as possible replacements for Margaret Milner Richardson.

Judges: The federal courts are riddled with openings; of the 849 judgeships, more than 10% are vacant. Even if the Senate confirmed all of the White House’s pending nominees, there would be still be 70 openings.

Note: Senate continues confirmation hearings of Labor Secretary-designate Alexis M. Herman

****

CIA HOT SEAT

Directors of the CIA in the 1990s:

William H. Webster

Richard J. Kerr*

Robert O. Studeman*

R. James Woolsey

John M. Deutch

George J. Tenet*

* acting directors

Source: the CIA

Researched by D’JAMILA SALEM-FITZGERALD and CARY SCHNEIDER / Los Angeles Times