Starr "foxes" Reno into allowing ex-secret service official’s probe

Starr’s office agreed that the protective techniques and procedures of the secret service, which has responsibility for guarding the President, will not be disclosed, the Justice Department said.

According to the Justice Department and the Treasury Department, which oversees the secret service, the protective functions and the President’s safety would not be jeopardised by limited questioning of any current or former agents.

Starr subpoenaed Fox and a current secret service guard to tell what they know concerning the allegations that Clinton had anaffair with Lewinsky and asked her to lie about it.

Justice Department officials emphasised that Reno’s decision only applied to Fox and that other questions, including whether the current guard may testify, still remain pending.

They said discussion’s with Starr’s office would continue.

Fox, who retired last year after 27 years as a uniformed division officer, has said Lewinsky arrived with paperwork for Clinton on some day in late 1995, and that the President told him to admit her to the Oval Office.

Fox said he spent the next 40 minutes in the hallway while Lewinsky was inside.

Fox appeared on Thursday at the US courthouse where the grand jury meets, but never testified and was told he may have to come back next week. Reno’s decision cleared the way for him to answer questions.

The Treasury Department has opposed the subpoenas, Justice Department officials said.

Some secret service officials have said allowing any testimony would set a dangerous precedent, breaching the confidentiality thathistorically has existed between the President and his protectors.