Smithsonian official quits as expenses questioned

WASHINGTON — The Smithsonian Institution announced Monday that its top official, Secretary Lawrence Small, has resigned amid criticism about his spending.

Small, the first businessman to run the 160-year-old museum and research complex, resigned over the weekend after more than seven years as secretary.

An internal audit in January found that Small had made $90,000 in unauthorized expenses, including private jet travel and expensive gifts. The audit also found that Small charged the Smithsonian more than $1.1 million for agreeing to use his home in Washington for official functions. The housing expenses included $273,000 for housekeeping, $2,535 to clean a chandelier and $12,000 for service on his swimming pool.

FBI warrant information faulted

FBI agents repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases, prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that powerful anti-terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials.

A internal FBI review in early 2006 of some of the more than 2,000 surveillance warrants the bureau obtains each year confirmed that dozens of inaccuracies had been provided to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. The errors ranged from innocuous lapses, such as the wrong description of family relationships, to more serious problems, such as citing information from informants who were no longer active.

The department's acknowledgment of the inaccuracies comes nearly two weeks after a blistering inspector general's report revealed widespread violations of the use of "national security" letters, which allow FBI agents to collect phone, e-mail and Internet records from telecommunications companies without review by a judge.

Top GOP senator won't halt Iraq bill

Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Monday he won't block Senate passage of an Iraq war spending bill, even if the GOP fails to kill its troop withdrawal deadline, because he knows President Bush will veto it.

McConnell promised to oppose the provision, which calls for combat troops to be brought home within a year, but said he wouldn't stand in the way of the bill's final passage because the sooner it is sent to the president, the sooner Bush can veto it.

Unable to override the veto, Democrats would then be forced to redraft the bill without a "surrender deadline," McConnell predicted.

The Senate's $122 billion bill would finance the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but require that Bush begin pulling out some troops right away with the goal of ending combat missions by March 31, 2008. The House passed a similar measure last week.

Webb aide took gun to Senate

An aide to Sen. Jim Webb was arrested Monday when he entered a Senate office building with a loaded pistol belonging to the senator.

Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the aide was charged with carrying a pistol without a license and possessing an unregistered firearm and unregistered ammunition.

The office of Webb, D-Va., identified the aide as Phillip Thompson and said he was "a former Marine, a long-term friend and trusted employee of the senator." A congressional official briefed on the incident said Webb gave the gun to Thompson when the assistant drove him to an airport earlier in the day. Thompson, upon entering the Senate building, forgot he was carrying the weapon.

Seattle Times news services