CIA OFFICIAL DEFENDS PAPER'S ALLEGATIONS

A top CIA official acknowledged Monday that the intelligence agency hasn't
always cut ties to known Central American drug dealers as quickly or
consistently as it should have.

But he defended the agency's blanket denial of allegations made in a 1996
San Jose Mercury News report that alleged the Central Intelligence Agency
was connected to two Nicaraguan drug dealers in the 1980s and the explosion
of crack cocaine in America.

Frederick Hitz was testifying before the House Permanent Select Committee
on Intelligence. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, was among members of
the committee who said the panel would launch its own independent
investigation of the Mercury News allegations.