CIA OFFICIAL FAULTS AGENCY ON LINKS TO DRUG DEALERS.(MAIN)

Byline: Knight-Ridder

WASHINGTON -- A top CIA official acknowledged Monday that the intelligence agency hasn't always cut ties to known Central American drug dealers as quickly or consistently as it should have.

But he defended the agency's blanket denial of allegations made in a 1996 San Jose Mercury News report that alleged the Central Intelligence Agency was connected to two Nicaraguan drug dealers in the 1980s and the explosion of crack cocaine in America.

``There are instances where (the) CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity or take action to resolve the allegations,'' said Frederick Hitz, inspector general of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Hitz said he would present additional findings on what the CIA knew about Nicaraguan Contra revolutionaries who were the subject of drug-trafficking allegations in a 600-page classified report to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence next month.

Hitz was testifying before the committee Monday.

The Mercury News has acknowledged shortcomings in the ``Dark Alliance'' series, saying it failed to report conflicting evidence on some key assertions of the stories.

Hitz told the panel his probe into the CIA's ties with the contras found no evidence of a conspiracy to bring drugs into the United States.

But one congresswoman who asked to speak before the committee called the report worthless.

``In my informed opinion, the CIA inspector general report and the investigation lacks credibility and its conclusions should be dismissed,'' said Rep. Maxine Waters, a Democrat whose district includes areas of central Los Angeles devastated by crack cocaine.