Subcommittee Plans Hearings Over U.S. Envoy

A House Foreign Affairs panel will hold hearings on a decision by Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III not to seek a special prosecutor to investigate charges that Faith Whittlesey, U.S. ambassador to Switzerland, improperly used government funds, two members said Wednesday.

Reps. Daniel A. Mica (D-Fla.) and Olympia J. Snowe (R-Me.), the chairman and ranking Republican on the international operations subcommittee, wrote to Meese expressing their dismay with his decision and informing him of the pending inquiry.

They criticized Meese for not excusing himself from the case, since Meese and his staff benefited from the questionable expenditures made by Whittlesey.

“We feel that the subcommittee now has no choice but to conduct formal hearings into the matter,” the letter said.

A high-ranking subcommittee source also said there was a “very strong relationship” between Whittlesey and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the National Security Council aide fired by President Reagan for his part in the Iran arms-contra aid scandal.

“They’re real tight,” the source said, but declined to elaborate.

A Justice Department spokesman declined comment on the letter, which Mica said was mailed Wednesday. Meese announced Friday that he had found insufficient evidence to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Whittlesey.