SECRET SERVICE ENDS HELMS PROBE

The Secret Service today said it dropped a review of Helms' comment since -- surprise -- it did not constitute a threat. "We always knew the senator was never a threat or a target of an investigation, but we had to follow up," said Secret Service spokesman Jaime Cagigas. Jim Rosen, the Raleigh News & Observer reporter whose Monday interview with Helms started the fracas, says the senator made the remark "with a bit of a laugh, which perhaps should have been better conveyed in the article."Post your opinion on theWashingtonbulletin board.