WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Janet Reno has put aside her objections and will furnish sensitive intelligence to a Senate committee probing allegations of illegal transfers of missile technology to China by aerospace firm Loral, the head of the panel said today.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Shelby said Reno's assurances "to furnish all the information she can" left him optimistic that the Senate investigation would move forward.
"I thought we made significant progress today with [FBI director Louis Freeh] and Attorney General Reno," the Alabama Republican told reporters after the committee held a two-hour private meeting with Reno and Freeh that appeared to defuse a tense standoff. "I believe she's going to be forthcoming. She indicated that today."
The committee is investigating why President Clinton ignored Justice Department warnings when he approved a waiver in February to allow Loral Space and Communications to launch a satellite atop a Chinese rocket.
CIA Director George Tenet on Thursday refused to discuss with the committee a secret intelligence analysis on technology transfers by Loral, citing objections from Reno. Later on Thursday, Reno withdrew her objections and cleared the report for release to the committee.
"I think the attorney general made the right decision to allow director Tenet to provide the committee with all information it needs," said Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, the panel's senior Democrat.
Shelby said the sensitive Pentagon report on Loral and technology transfers had not yet been handed over to the committee, but that he was confident all relevant materials would be forthcoming.
Earlier today, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) expressed concern about the partisan nature of the intelligence committee hearings.
"There was a very, very tough and I thought disrespectful confrontation with Intelligence Committee personnel, [the CIA], the director of Central Intelligence himself, in the committee," Daschle said of Thursday's encounter.
At issue is how much information the Justice Department would allow the committee to review while it conducts a concurrent criminal investigation of Loral.
Shelby said Reno was in the process of "re-evaluating" what information she would distribute to the committee. "I'm optimistic for good cooperation," Shelby said.
Shelby said Reno and Freeh shared some substantive information today. "We have some, but we're not there yet," Shelby said.
At the time Clinton granted the waiver for Loral, the Justice Department was investigating what the company may have revealed to China during the review of a 1996 crash of a rocket carrying a US satellite.
Loral faces allegations it gave Beijing information that helped improve Chinese military missiles.
Possible links between the Clinton waiver approval and the fact that Loral CEO Bernard Schwartz was a top donor to the Democratic Party were also under question. The Clinton administration and Schwartz have denied any wrongdoing.
The committee was expected to recall Reno, Freeh, and Tenet for further closed door testimony in the next two weeks, Shelby said.
