Former FBI and CIA director William Webster, appointed last year to perform a top-to-bottom review of FBI security, said his panel debriefed Hanssen for ''several days'' and that the former counterespionage specialist provided valuable aid.

In a report that could be delivered to Attorney General John Ashcroft as early as this week, the Webster commission is expected to conclude in part that the FBI's antiquated information management system was to blame for the failure to detect Hanssen's espionage activities for 15 years. The same system has been blamed for other FBI foul-ups.

Hanssen, who sold strategic plans, technical documents and agents' identities to the Soviet Union and its successor, the Russian Federation, was caught in February 2001 based on information obtained from the Russians.

Ashcroft selected Webster immediately after it was revealed that Hanssen, a veteran FBI counterintelligence agent, had been spying for Moscow for 15 years.

Hanssen escaped the death penalty in a plea bargain that requires his cooperation with federal prosecutors and intelligence officials who also have been examining the former agent's spying activities.

He is scheduled to be sentenced to life without parole once his cooperation is completed, probably this year.

Two weeks ago, the Justice Department's inspector general, Glenn Fine, was harshly critical of the bureau's internal information management systems in a separate report on the FBI's failure to turn over thousands of documents to attorneys representing Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh .

''I'm afraid a lot of the conclusions could have been anticipated,'' Webster said Monday, referring to his commission's work. ''We have nothing further to look at.''

Webster said he was pleased that FBI Director Robert Mueller already has moved to upgrade the bureau's internal computer system.

The new, $441 million computer system, Mueller has said, will allow bureau officials to audit the electronic activity of its agents and limit access to classified information.

After delivering the report to Ashcroft, Webster is expected to discuss the commission's findings next Tuesday on Capitol Hill.

In addition to Webster, the review committee's members include former attorney general Griffin Bell, former Defense secretary William Cohen, former Whitewater prosecutor Robert Fiske, former House speaker Thomas Foley and former U.S. trade representative Carla Hill.

Yahoo!

-- Anonymous, April 04, 2002