White House, Senators Said to Agree on Covert Policy

WASHINGTON — The White House and the Senate Intelligence Committee have reached agreement on rules that would allow the Bush Administration to conduct covert intelligence operations without notifying Congress within 48 hours, as currently required, sources said Thursday.

In a related development, sources said, the Administration also has come to terms with the committee on future U.S. participation in any attempt to overthrow Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega.

One source said that Bush and the lawmakers now agree that U.S. officials are free to consult and advise coup plotters as long as assassination is not a stated goal of the operation.

Bush was criticized by many members of Congress for his decision to provide only limited assistance to the organizers of the unsuccessful Oct. 3 coup.

The change in policy on congressional notification also could enhance the Administration’s efforts to oust Noriega, according to one source. “This gives us a little more flexibility” in anti-Noriega operations, he said.

Under the agreement, the CIA or other U.S. operatives would be allowed to conduct covert activities, and the Administration would not be committed to notifying Congress about the operations within 48 hours, the source said.

In most cases, the White House would either provide lawmakers with prior notice or notify them “in a few days,” said the source, speaking on condition that he not be identified.

In some situations, however, notification could be withheld longer, provided that it was done “in a timely fashion,” the source said.

In even more unusual circumstances, the Administration could refrain from giving any notification to Congress if the President asserted that his constitutional prerogatives permitted such a course.

The long-running dispute was fueled by the Iran-Contra operation, under which arms were sold during the Reagan Administration to Iran in hopes of winning the release of Americans held hostage in Lebanon, and the proceeds were forwarded to the Contra forces in Nicaragua. The Reagan Administration did not notify Congress of the activities for about 10 months.

The source said the new agreement was reached Wednesday in meetings between White House National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman David L. Boren (D-Okla.) and Vice Chairman William S. Cohen (R-Me.).

The senators presented details of the agreement to the full committee Thursday. The committee, in turn, dropped from an intelligence funding bill a requirement that the President notify Congress of all covert actions within 48 hours. The bill was reported out of committee and now goes to the full Senate.

The agreement, which was to be outlined in a letter from Bush to the Senate committee, apparently eliminates the possibility of a presidential veto based on Bush’s opposition to a rigid 48-hour reporting requirement.

The Senate bill also would set up a statutory inspector general at the CIA instead of an in-house inspector under the control of the director. The inspector general would be appointed by the President.

A series of executive orders dating to the Ford Administration prohibit U.S. operatives from taking part in assassinations abroad. Pentagon sources said the Justice Department has been directed to clarify U.S. culpability if a foreign leader is killed in a coup attempt in which the United States plays a role, either directly or indirectly.

A Justice Department draft states that the United States is not responsible if a death is unintentional or if Washington does not have advance knowledge that an assassination by local forces is planned, according to an Administration source who has seen the paper.

But the official cautioned that the paper, now circulating among the agencies, deals largely with the specific policy issue that arose from the coup attempt against Noriega.

“A lot of other permutations,” such as the deaths of terrorists or drug dealers during covert operations to free hostages or eradicate narcotics crops, “still have not been addressed by the Justice Department,” the source said.

Times staff writers Robin Wright and William J. Eaton contributed to this report.