News In Brief

House panel says 'stings' by FBI need court controls

FBI undercover operations should be subject to judicial control, because growing use of this investigative technique poses ''a very real threat'' to constitutional rights, a House subcommittee said Tuesday.

''The record provides ample evidence that anyone may become a target of such an investigation,'' the Democrat-controlled Judiciary subcommittee on civil and constitutional rights said in a 100-page report.

The panel's Republicans took sharp issue with the report, calling it ''a slanted and biased document that is aimed at closing down an effective and almost indispensable tool in combating organized crime, drug operations, fencing operations, and political corruption.''