A special committee of twelve senators today began the impeachment trial of Federal Judge Harry Claiborne. It's the first such proceeding in fifteen years. Claiborne is serving a jail sentence for tax evasion.


President Reagan today continued his campaign for a drug-free America. He ordered mandatory testing for federal workers in sensitive positions. And he also sent Congress a legislative package that would increase federal anti-drug spending by nine hundred million dollars, much of that on increased border patrols. The President said the legislation is the federal government's way of just saying no to drugs. "We're getting tough on drugs; we mean business. To those who are thinking of using drugs, we say 'Stop.' And to those who are pushing drugs, we say 'Beware.'" Mandatory drug testing for some federal workers is the most controversial part of the President's plan. It's been condemned by some employee groups.


One person was killed and more than fifty injured today in Paris when a bomb exploded at the drivers' permit office at police headquarters. It was the fourth blast in seven days in the French capital.


In Paris today, one person was killed and more than fifty were injured when a bomb exploded at police headquarters. This is the fourth attack on a crowded public target in a week. A police officer was killed yesterday while removing a bomb from a restaurant on the Avenue Champs Elysee. Minutes after that incident, Prime Minister Jacques Chirac announced new security measures aimed at curbing terrorist activities in France. Melodie Walker reports from Paris.
A group calling itself "the Committee for Solidarity with Arab and Middle-Eastern Prisoners" has claimed responsibility for the current series of bombings in Paris, in addition to ten other attacks in the French capital over the past year. The Committee has delivered messages to news agencies in Beirut threatening to continue its bombing campaign in Paris until the French government agrees to release three men jailed in France on charges of terrorism. One of the convicted prisoners, George Ibraham Abdullah, is believed to be the leader of the Lebanese Army Faction suspected of killing a US Military Attache in Paris in 1982. The French government has officially declared it will not release the prisoners. In response to the repeated attacks in Paris, Prime Minister Chirac last night announced new anti-terrorist measures: military patrols along the French borders will be increased and, beginning today, all foreigners will require a visa to enter France. Citizens of European Common Market countries and Switzerland will be exempt from the visa requirement. But Americans planning to visit France will need to apply for visas at the nearest French consulate. For an initial period of fifteen days, however, emergency visas will be granted at French airports and other border checkpoints. France has been plagued with terrorism at home and abroad in recent years. In the past two weeks, three French members of the United Nations peace keeping force in Lebanon have been killed by remote-controlled bombs. Today, France called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the role and safety of the force. Seven French hostages in Beirut are also a major concern for the Chirac government. Dominique Moazi, Associate Director of the French Institute for International Relations, says the bombings in Paris, the attacks on the UN troops, and the hostage situation are all indirectly related.
"I think there is a global goal, which is looked after, and that is to punish France for its involvement in Middle-Eastern affairs, either Lebanon or the war between Iran and Iraq. And France is, at the same time, more visible than any other European actors, in Lebanon and in the Gulf."
According to Moazi, the long French tradition of granting political asylum has made France more open and accessible to terrorist activities.
"In the past we have given, unfortunately, the impression, which was maybe a reality, of being less resolute in our treatment of terrorist action than, for example, the Israelis. So that combination of visibility, vulnerability, and lack of resolution has made us the ideal target for terrorists now."
In a statement released today, President Francois Mitterand said, "The fight against terrorism is the business of the entire nation." But despite the government's determination to combat terrorism, the question of how to do it remains unanswered. For National Public Radio, this is Melodie Walker in Paris.


The United States Senate Intelligence Committee today released a report calling for sweeping changes in US security policies and counter-intelligence, its first unclassified assessment of recent spy cases the Committee says the damage done has cost billions of dollars, threatening America's security as never before. NPR's David Malthus has the story.
The report states that damage done from espionage and lax security is worse than anyone in the government has yet acknowledged publicly. It concludes that US military plans and capabilities have been seriously compromised, intelligence operations gravely impaired. US technological advantages have been overcome in some areas because of spying. And diplomatic secrets were exposed to adversaries. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy is Vice-Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"The national security is many times threatened more by this than by the buildup of Soviet arms, of the buildup of Soviet personnel, or breakthrough in weapon development."
The Committee report says foreign intelligence services have penetrated some of the most vital parts of US defense, intelligence, and foreign policy structures. The report cites a string of recent cases, including the Walker-Whitworth spy ring, which gave the Soviets the ability to decode at least a million military communications. Despite some improvements by the Reagan Administration in security and tough talk over the last two years, the report also concludes that the administration has failed to follow through with enough specific steps to tighten security, and that its counter-intelligence programs have lacked the needed resources to be effective. Republican Dave Durenberger of Minnesota, Chairman of the Intelligence Committee, sums up the current situation this way:
"Too many secrets, too much access to secrets, too many spies, too little accountability for securing our national secrets, and too little effort given to combating the very real threat which spies represent to our national security."
Senator Durenberger said the Committee found some progress has been made in toughening up security clearances for personnel, and some additional resources have been devoted to countering technical espionage, but he said much more needs to be done and he described the current security system as one "paralyzed by bureaucratic inertia." The Committee makes ninety-five specific recommendations, including greater emphasis on re-investigations of cleared personnel, a streamlined classification system, more money for counter-intelligence elements of the FBI, CIA and the military services, and tighter controls on foreign diplomats from hostile countries. The report cites FBI assessments on how extensively the Soviets use diplomatic cover to hide spying activity. There are twenty-one hundred diplomats, UN officials, and trade representatives from te Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact countries living in the United States. And according to the FBI, 30% of them are professional intelligence officers. The Committee report also says the Soviet Union is effectively using United Nations organizations worldwide to conduct spying operations. It says approximately eight hundred Soviets work for UN agencies, three hundred of them in New York, and one fourth of those are working for the KGB or the Soviet military intelligence, the GRU. Next week, the Reagan Administration is to deliver to the Congress its classified report on counter-intelligence. I'm David Malthus in Washington.