RENO ORDERS IG TO WITHHOLD REPORT ON CIA-CRACK PROBE

Attorney General Janet Reno yesterday ordered the Justice Department
inspector general to continue to withhold his 400-page report on the
CIA-crack cocaine controversy. The report had been set for release more
than a month ago.

Citing "law enforcement concerns" that are not related to the report's
conclusions, Reno said the report should continue to be withheld until
those concerns have ended. Under the law cited by Reno, among the
information the attorney general can order withheld includes undercover
operations and the identity of confidential sources such as protected
witnesses.

Sources within the law enforcement community said last month that the
concern was for ongoing drug enforcement operations and witnesses who some
officials believed could be jeopardized by information in the report.

Inspector General Michael Bromwich said yesterday he disagreed with Reno's
decision but that he would abide by it. "I hope that we will be able to
release the report in its entirety in the not-too-distant future," he said.

Bromwich also said the CIA played no role in the delay and that nothing in
the report is classified.

The report is the outgrowth of a year-long investigation by Bromwich's
staff into articles published in August 1996 by the San Jose Mercury News
that alleged that the CIA helped introduce crack cocaine into South Central
Los Angeles through Nicaraguan drug dealers who sent their profits to help
finance contra rebels seeking to overthrow the Sandinista government in
that country.

The series of articles created a major uproar within the Los Angeles
community, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus demanded they be
investigated by the government. A subsequent inquiry by other newspapers,
including The Washington Post, raised questions about some of the basic
charges carried in the articles.

Last month, CIA Inspector General Frederick P. Hitz released a summary of
his findings from his inquiry, which concluded there was no evidence to
support the allegation of CIA involvement in the California crack cocaine
trade.

Meanwhile, the San Jose Mercury News investigated its own report after
then-CIA Director John M. Deutch questioned its conclusions, and Jerry
Ceppos, executive editor, said last May the series "oversimplified" a
supposed link between the CIA and cocaine trafficking and omitted important
facts that contradicted that conclusion.

The complete CIA inspector general report, whose release was delayed in
December by the Justice Department, is now expected to be made public late
next week, according to sources.

Although Reno did not say yesterday when the law enforcement concerns she
mentioned would be abated, other sources indicated the report would be
released this year.

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