AMES SCANDAL . . . THE HOUSE SHOE DROPS

About a month after its Senate counterpart delivered ascathing assessment of the CIA's handlingof the Aldrich Ames spy scandal, the House Intelligence Committee weighed in today with a verdict that the agency took a "negligent attitude" in trying to find the mole and stop him from damaging worldwide U.S. intelligence operations. Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.), the committee chairman, called the Ames affair "a case of sloppiness in big capital letters" -- in part because the CIA didn't tell Congress it suspected a double-agent was loose in its ranks. The FBI also came under fire for being "inexplicably passive" during the early stages of the Ames probe -- the biggest spy case in U.S. history. ButCIA Director James Woolsey-- ripped by the Senate panel -- got off easy this time. "This did not happen on Jim Woolsey's watch," said the committee's ranking Republican, Texas Rep. Larry Combest.Post your opinion on theWashingtonbulletin board.