Nation digest 6a 3/16

Sixth missile defense test termed successful

WASHINGTON -- An interceptor rocket smashed into a dummy warhead 140 miles over the Pacific Friday night in the fourth successful test of its kind, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

The interceptor, launched from a tiny Pacific island near the equator, destroyed the dummy warhead at 9:41 p.m., Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said.

The test was the sixth of a prototype of a ground-based missile defense system. The interceptor successfully destroyed the dummy warhead in three of the previous five tests, including the most recent one in December.

The military launched the target missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 9:11 p.m., Irwin said. The interceptor took off 4,800 miles away from Meck Island in Kwajalein Atoll at 9:32 p.m. and collided with the dummy warhead in space nine minutes later, she said.

Reagan administration papers opened to public

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. -- Nearly 60,000 pages of documents of Ronald Reagan's presidential records, from cabinet meeting minutes to policy memos, were opened to the public Friday.

Among papers, which had been withheld for years, is a Nov. 8, 1985, memo in which the administration expressed concerned about congressional criticism for dragging its feet on anti-terrorism policies.

"I see real trouble brewing here," according to the memo from Ed Fox to Alan M. Kranowitz, a fellow member of the White House office of legislative affairs and assistant to the president on House affairs.

Justices say no thanks to secret backup court

WASHINGTON -- There is no backup Supreme Court to compare with the Bush administration's "shadow government," Justice Anthony Kennedy says.

"We wonder about the necessity for it," Kennedy said this week.

The White House has assigned dozens of officials to live and work in bunkers at an undisclosed site -- a precaution in case of an attack on Washington.

With federal appeals courts in big cities all over the country, and district courts in every state, "the whole judicial branch is already dispersed," Kennedy said.

Agency reassigns workers in visa foul-up

WASHINGTON -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service reassigned four midlevel employees Friday in the wake of the agency issuing visa approval notices for two Sept. 11 hijackers six months after they flew airliners into the World Trade Center.

The immigration commissioner, James Ziglar, said the breakdown that led to the notices being issued "is unacceptable and will not be allowed." No one was fired.

Two Kentucky detectives indicted on 472 charges

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A grand jury indicted two police detectives on hundreds of charges of misconduct, including they tampered with drug evidence and forged judges' signatures on warrants.

The two Jefferson County Metro Narcotics detectives, Mark Watson and Christie Richardson, were arrested Thursday and charged in a 472-count indictment, said Jeff Derouen, a spokesman for the Jefferson County commonwealth's attorney's office.

Both pleaded innocent at their arraignments Friday, and were freed on bond.

FAA to order new inspections of Airbus

WASHINGTON -- The government said Friday it would order inspections of Airbus A300-600 planes that experience side-to-side movements similar to those of doomed American Airlines Flight 587.

The Federal Aviation Administration directive also would affect Airbus A310 planes, which have similar nonmetallic composite tails. In some cases, airplanes would be grounded until the inspections were made.

FAA spokesman Les Dorr said the directive won't take effect until April, but airlines would conduct inspections in the interim.

-- From wire reports