Washington in brief

Terrorism suspect can talk to lawyer

WASHINGTON - Reversing course, Pentagon officials have decided to allow a U.S.-born terrorism suspect access to a lawyer, the Defense Department said Tuesday.

The Defense Department will make arrangements over the next few days for a lawyer to visit Yaser Esam Hamdi "subject to appropriate security restrictions," a Pentagon statement said. Hamdi is being held as an "enemy combatant," a designation the Bush administration says denies him rights to a lawyer or a trial.

The Supreme Court is considering whether to hear an appeal from a public defender, Frank Dunham, who challenged Hamdi's detention and wanted to act as his lawyer.

Dunham had asked the Supreme Court to decide if the government has unconstitutionally imprisoned Hamdi without access to attorneys and without charges being filed against him.

Hamdi is being held in the U.S. Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001.

WASHINGTON - Disclosure of what the FBI knows about the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks could enable terrorists to engineer biological weapons to escape detection, the FBI says in documents filed in response to a lawsuit by a scientist labeled a "person of interest" in the case.

Citing the criminal investigation and national security concerns, the Justice Department is trying to persuade a federal judge to delay the lawsuit filed by Dr. Stephen Hatfill, who contends the government invaded his privacy and ruined his reputation by leaking information to the media implicating him in the attacks.

Hatfill has denied any role in the attacks and his lawsuit seeks to clear his name and recover unspecified monetary damages.

"In the hands of those hostile to the U.S., this valuable intelligence could aid state sponsors of terrorism or terrorist organizations in their efforts to genetically engineer or alter their anthrax bioweapons to "spoof' or escape detection," said Richard Lambert, the FBI inspector in charge of what is being called the "Amerithrax" investigation.

WASHINGTON - The federal government has only marginally improved how it shares information on terrorists and threats with key people on the national, state and local levels, technology and national security experts asserted Tuesday.

A study by the Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age said sharing "remains haphazard and still overly dependent on . . . personal relations among known colleagues."

The panel advocates creation of a decentralized information network to spread information about terror threats while safeguarding against violations of civil liberties.

As part of its response to the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration created a Terrorist Threat Integration Center to bring together information gathered by the CIA, FBI and other agencies. Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the department is working on a new system to share information with state and local authorities.

The panel, assembled by the private philanthropic organization Markle Foundation, includes academics, civil libertarians and national security officials from four presidential administrations.

WASHINGTON - President Bush signed legislation Tuesday expanding government incentives that promote adoption.

Bush renewed a law passed in 1997 that sends $4,000 in federal money per child to state governments that exceed their placement performances from the previous year.

His signature also provides new financial incentives for states to place children 9 and older with adoptive families.

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