- WASHINGTON (AP) - The FBI
has asked several members of the House and Senate intelligence committees
to submit to lie- detector tests as part of the investigation into who
leaked information related to the Sept. 11 attacks, a law enforcement official
said late Thursday.
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- "Lie-detector tests are a standard element of FBI
investigations and they are meant to eliminate people from suspicion,"
the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They are always
voluntary."
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- The Washington Post reported in Friday editions that
nearly all 37 members of the intelligence committees have been questioned
and many have been asked to take lie-detector tests. Several lawmakers
have refused to take the test, the newspaper said.
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- The FBI's investigation is broad in scope ó several
dozen congressional staff members also have been questioned and even some
CIA agents have been interviewed.
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- Investigators are trying to determine who leaked information
to CNN about communications in Arabic that made vague references to an
impending attack on the United States. The communications were intercepted
by the National Security Agency on Sept. 10.
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- An intelligence source later told The Associated Press
they contained the phrases, "Tomorrow is zero hour," and "The
match is about to begin."
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- The intercepts weren't translated until Sept. 12.
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- Their relevance is uncertain. Intelligence officials
say it's not clear if the conversations referred to the hijackings. Even
if they did, they offered few clues about the nature of the attacks.
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- But White House spokesman Ari Fleischer has called the
disclosure of the language "alarmingly specific."
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- "The selective, inappropriate leaking of snippets
of information risks undermining national security, and it risks undermining
the promises made to protect this sensitive information," he said.
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- The leak investigation was sought by Sen. Bob Graham,
D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Rep. Porter
J. Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
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- Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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- http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2002-08-02-congress-leaks_x.htm
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