November 17, 1999
Web posted at: 10:46 p.m. EST (0346 GMT)

In this story: Freeh: 'The relationship is a very good one' Maintaining alliance through difficult time RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- If the FBI takes the lead in the investigation of the EgyptAir Flight 990 crash, Egyptian government officials will be included in the investigation team, U.S. law enforcement sources say.

FBI Director Louis Freeh said Wednesday night his agency works well with Egyptian authorities.

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Freeh made his comments during an exclusive interview with CNN following a speech at Georgetown University.

Freeh: 'The relationship is a very good one'

The FBI director said of his agency's relationship with Egyptian authorities: "It's very excellent. In a number of cases that you probably know ... the relationship is a very good one. We have an office over in Cairo. They work effectively as our counterparts, and there's a lot of interaction in current matters."

Other law enforcement sources said protocol would have the FBI in command of any part of the probe in the United States, and the agency would consult with the Egyptians on investigations in their country, as is normal under such circumstances.

The FBI will likely take over the investigation from the National Transportation Safety Board if it can be determined the October 31 crash was the result of a criminal act. All 217 people aboard the aircraft were killed when the Boeing 767, bound for Cairo from New York, went down.

After the crash, Egyptian authorities willingly ceded responsibility for trying to find out what went wrong to the NTSB.

Asked how the nature of the investigation would change if the FBI takes the lead, Freeh said, "First of all that's a decision which has to be made by the chairman (of NTSB) according to his statutory authority and responsibilities."

Freeh said,"I think what would happen obviously is that the two agencies (the FBI and NTSB) would remain very very closely associated in terms of the responsibilities that they would have to share.

"But the difference would be as a criminal investigation obviously we would be the lead agency, and things would be done differently because it would no longer be an administrative inquiry."

Maintaining alliance through difficult time

The United States, a close partner with Egypt in Middle East peacemaking, is doing its best to avert friction with Cairo over the investigation.

"We're trying to make sure that Egyptian authorities are with us every step of the way," one U.S. official said.

"The job is to focus on the task in hand, get to the bottom of the tragedy and minimize negative fallout," added another.

Egypt has been an important ally of the United States for two decades and is the second biggest recipient of U.S. aid after Israel. Egypt and the United States have a close military relationship, and the EgyptAir plane that crashed was carrying some 33 military officers returning from courses.

Both the Egyptian media and the general public have dismissed the idea that a suicidal pilot could have deliberately crashed the aircraft into the ocean.

Egyptian media are generally agreed the crash was a plot against Egyptian interests. But they differ on who was behind it, variously accusing agents of Israel, the United States or other unspecified governments.

Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, Producer Brad Wright and Reuters contributed to this report.

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