Justice Under the Gun

ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR FINDS HIMSELF presiding over a Department of Justice beset from every quarter. Dragged early in the week into a probe of its own FBI director for ethics violations, Barr's Justice Department must now endure the attentions of an "independent counsel," drafted by Barr to investigate the roiling dispute between his department and the CIA over whether the government obstructed the investigation of an illegal scheme to funnel $4 billion to the Iraqi regime before the invasion of Kuwait.

The FBI's William Sessions is under scrutiny for violating relatively minor ethical rules, like questionable business travel with his wife. But Sarah Munford, Sessions' personal assistant, was put on leave and escorted out of the J. Edgar Hoover Building on Thursday because of the more serious charge that she had exceeded her authority. Munford denied it, contending she was "an unfortunate pawn" in a power struggle. Sessions' lawyer says Justice was engaging in a campaign of leaks against his client. Alice Sessions complained to the San Antonio (Texas) Light that her husband "was waking up out of a stupor, realizing he's been had."

On Friday, after weeks of pressure over his handling of the Iraqgate affair, Barr named Frederick Lacey, 72, a formidable ex-prosecutor and federal judge from New Jersey, to serve as an in-house "independent" investigator. Still, congressional Democrats are demanding a court-appointed special prosecutor with full autonomy. Lacey insists that he would resign if Barr or the White House blocked him. (See related story on page 39.)