Update

By MARK THOMPSON

SPIES WILL BE SPIES

UNSCOM's shroud of respectability was further shredded last week when the Washington Post reported that U.S. spies used the U.N. Special Commission arms-inspection agency as cover for Washington's solo espionage efforts. For three years, U.S. intelligence operatives tapped into Iraqi military communications without the knowledge of UNSCOM, the international team of arms controllers dedicated to hunting down and eliminating weapons that Iraq had pledged to destroy following its defeat in the Gulf War.

Two months ago--after revelations that U.S. spies had helped UNSCOM, with its assent--the U.S. government issued a statement declaring that its help "was specifically tailored to facilitate UNSCOM, the U.N. inspectors' mission, and for no other purpose, and was done at the direct request of the U.N. special commission."

Tellingly, there was no such explicit statement forthcoming from the White House last week. "We have our own national means of gathering information," White House spokesman David Leavy said. "I'm just not going to get into the details of our intelligence operation." U.S. officials acknowledge that nonanswers like that will make it tougher to get the world community to sign up for such multilateral arms-control regimes in the future.

--By Mark Thompson