American Notes THE WHITE HOUSE

George Bush supports random drug testing in the workplace, including the workplace where he's the boss. The Administration plans to conduct random urinalysis among more than 80% of the 1,850 employees in the Executive Office of the President, which includes the White House staff, the Office of Management and Budget, the National Security Council and other agencies.

Thirty EOP workers have reluctantly filed a class-action suit seeking to stop the tests, contending that the Government has no right to test them without reason to suspect them of drug use. Though there is little evidence of widespread drug abuse among Executive Office workers, their image was not helped by the disclosure last week that two White House guards were fired and one resigned last May after an investigation into allegations of cocaine use among members of the Secret Service's uniformed division. Two NSC clerks were also relieved of their duties. The testing is necessary, says White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, because the Administration must offer "leadership in providing random drug testing as a means of ensuring a clean workplace."