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December 9, 1995
Web posted at: 1 a.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The CIA may have fallen for a misinformation campaign by the former Soviet Union during the latter years of the Cold War, causing the United States to overestimate Moscow's military strength, CIA director John Deutch said Friday.
In a report to Congress on the damage caused by CIA spy Aldrich Ames' work for the Soviet Union, Deutch said the overall effect was to sustain "our view of the USSR as a credible military and technological opponent" when the Soviet Union was, in fact, on the verge of collapse.
The misinformation was fed to the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Deutch's report linked Ames' cooperation with Soviet agents to the planting of Soviet, and later Russian, information in CIA reports to U.S. officials.
Last month Deutch disclosed that between 1986 and 1994, when Ames was operating, the agency provided U.S. leaders flawed reports from double agents whose ultimate loyalty was known, or suspected, to be to Moscow.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) --Donald Segretti, who served nearly five months in a federal penitentiary for "dirty tricks" during Richard Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign, is running for Orange County Superior Court judgeship, according to Friday's Los Angeles Times.
Segretti, who has kept a low profile since his 1974 misdemeanor conviction, told the Times that friends encouraged him to run for the seat being vacated by Judge Floyd H. Schenk.
"I had name recognition 25 years ago," the newspaper quoted the 53-year-old attorney as saying. "This is a way I believe I can make a positive contribution. I really do believe that."
State law allows someone convicted of a misdemeanor to run for a judgeship if his record has been clean for at least 10 years.
Segretti was not part of the break-in at the Watergate hotel, but was part of the effort by the Nixon campaign to discredit Democratic presidential candidates. Segretti pleaded guilty and served time in Lompoc Federal Prison.
Segretti is associated with an infamous letter written on former U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie's stationery denigrating blacks and accusing other presidential candidates of sexual misconduct.
Four other candidates are in the running for the judgeship.
LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- Rep. Walter Tucker III, D-California, was convicted Friday of accepting and demanding bribes when he was mayor of a Los Angeles suburb. Tucker said he would probably resign.
The 38-year-old Democrat was charged with bartering his vote on a proposed $250 million waste-to-energy conversion project as mayor of Compton in 1991 and 1992.
After nine days of deliberations, the jury returned with a guilty verdict on seven counts of extortion and two counts of tax evasion. The jury was irreconcilably divided on three other counts of extortion.
Clutching a bible, Tucker told reporters that he believed the jury made the wrong decision. Defense attorney Bob Ramsey Jr. said was unsure whether Tucker would seek a new trial.
Tucker faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced March 18. He said he would resign to avoid an expulsion hearing in Congress.
A nondenominational minister and African-American, Tucker had earlier said that he was targeted by authorities because of his race and Christian beliefs. After the trial, Tucker said it was "a highly organized conspiracy by the government."
His attorneys maintained that he accepted funds only as a consultant.
SILVER SPRING, Maryland. (CNN) -- An FDA advisory panel Friday recommended the sale of an eye implant which scientists agreed helped AIDS patients fight off blindness more than two times better than existing therapy.
The panel voted 6-1 in favor of the sale of Chiron Vision's Vitrasert implant.
But the panel issued a strong warning that AIDS patients cannot simply replace traditional therapy with the implant. They pointed out that the cytomegalovirus (CMV), which spreads inside the eyeball causing blindness, could be fatal to an AIDS patient. The virus can later invade other organs in the body, and an AIDS patient crippled immune system cannot fight it.
Forty percent of AIDS patients are infected with CMV, and treat it with two types of drugs: one taken intravenously, the other taken orally and intravenously.
The implant would allow the drug to seep directly onto the retina. Patients undergo a 45-minute, outpatient eye surgery to insert the capsule behind their retina, and it lasts for about eight months.
The FDA isn't bound by advisory committee decisions, but usually follows them.
COMPTON, California (CNN) -- The Compton Police Department denied late Friday that a "state of emergency" is in effect in that city. Compton Mayor Omar Bradley declared the situation a "state of emergency" on Wednesday, resulting from a rash of gang-related shootings in the city since August.
But Police Chief Houri Taylor said the mayor was reacting to the circumstances, and that the city manager of that Southern California community has asked the mayor to reconsider.
"A state of emergency does not exist in Compton," Taylor said.
Police are working to curb the violence. The department has now instituted a "zero tolerance" policy which is in effect for at least the next few days, to demonstrate the department's "aggressive enforcement posture" toward gang activity.
"We don't violate anyone's rights, but when we find violations of the law occurring, we aggressively enforce the laws," Taylor said. "We essentially are taking away an officer's discretion to just counsel and release people."
The chief added that arrests have been made in at least one of the shooting incidents, and the department has "active leads" as to suspects in the other recent shootings. Eight young people have been killed on wounded in several incidents since August.
NORFOLK, Virginia (CNN) -- The Virginia Lottery faxed out fliers looking for the June 14 winner of its lotto drawing. The winner of that drawing would rake in more than $1.7 million -- except the fliers made that winner much richer.
The prize was mistakenly written as "$1,703,566 million" (or $1.7 trillion), which would bring in $58 billion a year in 20 annual payments. The actual prize will pay $58,000 in 20 annual payments.
"When we got it back from the graphic artists, none of us noticed that it made it a million million," said lottery spokeswoman Paula Otto.
The Lottery corrected the mistake as soon as it was discovered.
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