Senate Panel Fails to Resolve CIA Measure

The Senate will not consider a bill that limits public disclosure of covert United States intelligence agents until a special "lame duck" session after the November elections, because the Judiciary Committee has failed to reach a compromise on the measure.

The House of Representatives may vote on its version of the bill today.

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the legislation two weeks ago, but tacked on an amendment exempting journalists and academic researchers from the ban on publishing agents' names. Republican members of the Judiciary staff member said yesterday.

Declining to comment specifically on the House and Senate bills, Samuel P. Huntington, Thomson Professor of Government and director of the Center for International Affairs, said last week that he did not "see any reason why journalists and academics should receive any advantage over other people."

Even if the Senate does finally approve a bill, it will probably clash sharply with the House version, Congressional staffers said yesterday. The House version does not exempt journalists or researchers from prosecution.