Contrary to the beliefs of those who rest their complete faith in it, the federal government can oten muff even the most serious matters entrusted to its care, and an investigation into spying is such a matter.

The National Review article stated that the recent mishandling of computer hard drives at Los Alamos National Laboratory and other lapses "underscore the Clinton administration's continuing failure to safeguard America's nuclear secrets."
Energy Department security has been "a tale of cover-ups, complacency, bungling and outright dishonesty."

It was bad enough when the FBI lost track of thousands of documents that should have been turned over to lawyers for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Now comes the more embarrassing disclosure that over the last 11 years it has lost hundreds of weapons and laptop computers, some to theft, some to retired or fired employees who took equipment with them, some to sloppy inventory controls. If it can't keep track of its guns and computers, Americans can reasonably wonder how it can be counted on to keep track of the crooks and spies the FBI is supposed to catch.