Most counterintelligence officials, for example, believe that Yurchenko was a real defector, but the matter is not resolved.

For more than 20 years the Justice Department kept a wall between counterintelligence officials, whose wiretaps were authorized by a special court, and criminal prosecutors.

The counterintelligence officials disagreed, and their concern was shared by members of Congress.

During the visit, he was reportedly videotaped by French counterintelligence officials while passing a briefcase to a Soviet agent.

Lavish Spending Former and current counterintelligence officials said today that the case represented a disaster for American intelligence.

Federal law-enforcement officials said that some counterintelligence officials at the bureau had opposed deep reductions in staff.

But when he sought even more classified information, senior counterintelligence officials resisted.

It was unclear whether counterintelligence officials had located the suspect's interlocutors in the Russian military, who investigators said passed him information.

At the same time, United States counterintelligence officials are still dealing with other unfinished business from the cold war.

Still, counterintelligence officials said, they strongly suspect that China stole the important information data in the mid-80's.