A SMALL STEP TOWARD RESTORING CONFIDENCE

It's hard to say when government bureaucracy became the butt of all those jokes about inefficiency and accountability, but it was probably before the ink was dry on the first hand-written copies of the Constitution.

In spite of the belief among many Americans that their nation's government is, at times, inept but, most of the time, an institution worth protecting., there are components of our system that have been held in high esteem throughout the years.

For example, whenever our men and women in uniform are placed in deadly situations in order to protect our freedom and liberty, the nation generally rallies in support, even though there is ample evidence of bureaucratic incompetence even among our military elite.

And there was a time when J. Edgar Hoover's G-men were widely regarded as the unyielding barrier between good citizenship and the nation's top criminals.

"We always get our man" was the FBI's rallying cry, and America believed it.

In more recent years, there have been too many occasions when the FBI and federal prosecutors have acted in ways that left us wondering about the Justice Department.

The handling or lack thereof of serious allegations against the executive branch during the Janet Reno years as attorney general did little to shore up confidence.

Ruby Ridge. Wounded Knee. Waco.

They've all become catchwords that show a high level of distrust accompanied by a fear that the feds will get it wrong, not right, in certain tough situations. As a result, the suspicion has grown that Americans accused of federal violations won't necessarily have the safety net of due process if things get out of hand.

That's why it was good to see a resolution of the recent standoff in Idaho. And that's why it also is good to see that a U.S. prosecutor involved in the Waco affair has been held accountable for withholding crucial information regarding the events that led up to the death of David Koresh and his followers.

Bill Johnson had been indicted for obstruction of justice and making false statements. Among other things, he withheld the information that exploding tear-gas canisters were used during the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound. Last week he was sentenced to probation and community service as part of a plea agreement.

Johnson's conviction is one small part of what it will take to restore confidence in the Justice Department. There are many steps that remain to be taken. Who will be held accountable for the missing files in the Timothy McVeigh investigation? The spies? The unfounded accusations against innocent nuclear scientists?