LAKE PULLS OUT AS CIA CHOICE.

Byline: Ron Fournier Associated Press 

In a stunning turnaround, Anthony Lake asked President Clinton on Monday to withdraw his nomination as CIA director, saying the confirmation process has ``gone haywire.'' Clinton accepted the request.

Lake and Clinton reached the decision together in a private meeting Monday afternoon in the White House living quarters, a senior White House official said.

``I have believed all my life in public service. I still do,'' Lake, the former White House national security adviser, said in a letter to Clinton. ``But Washington has gone haywire. I hope that sooner, rather than later, people of all political views beyond our city limits will demand that Washington give priority to policy over partisanship, to governing over `gotcha.' ''

Clinton tried to talk Lake out of the withdrawal in what the senior official described as an emotional meeting. Ultimately, Clinton said he ``couldn't insist'' that Lake stay the course in what has become a bruising, partisan confirmation battle, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The development was a surprise because Lake had weathered several GOP attacks to emerge relatively unscathed from last week's confirmation hearings. The questioning was less harsh than expected, and Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee said privately that he probably would be confirmed.

Lake's withdrawal raised immediate questions as to whether a new allegation cropped up at the last minute to submarine his nomination.

Lake's letter expressed concern about the apparent decision by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, to insist that all committee members review Lake's FBI file before voting on whether to recommend his confirmation to the full Senate.

While the senior official insisted that the file contained interviews that were uniformly favorable toward Lake, the nominee said he was concerned about setting a precedent that would open sensitive files to wide review.

In his letter of withdrawal, Lake said: ``I had doubts about the precedent we have already set in allowing (Shelby) and the (committee's) vice chairman, (Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb.), such access. ``To bend principle further would even more discourage future nominees to this or other senior positions from entering public service.''

Lake and Clinton discussed a possible successor choice to head the $30 billion U.S. Intelligence bureaucracy, but senior officials would not discuss the list of potential candidates.

One name likely to be under consideration is acting CIA director George Tenet, a CIA veteran and an official who appears to have cordial relations with lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill.

In his letter, Lake indicated that he believed he had the votes in committee and the full Senate to win confirmation. He said he was withdrawing because it appeared that Shelby and other Republicans on the committee planned to seek further delays, possibly extending beyond an upcoming congressional Easter recess.

Such delays, Lake said, would leave the CIA leaderless and impose a growing personal burden on himself.

``There is no prospect for a near-term vote on the floor and every chance it will be extended as long as your political opponents can do so,'' Lake wrote Clinton. ``I have gone through the past three months and more with patience and, I hope, dignity, but I have lost the former and could lose the latter as this political circus continues indefinitely.''

Clinton expressed anger in his conversation with Lake at what he views as the politicization of the nomination process, the senior White House official said.

One key issue facing Lake was how his national security staff during Clinton's first term, and particularly last year, handled the increasing White House contacts with foreign business interests who were contributing to the Democratic Party.

Documents submitted to the intelligence committee by Lake indicated that the NSC staff had in most instances discouraged any contact by the staff and, in some cases, other White House officials with these business interests.

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PHOTO (COLOR) LAKE