Mr. Hale has, in the mean time, found new employment. He apparently tried to find work in the Tucson area but failed. While his family still lives here, Mr. Hale travels around the country as a secur ity consultant. He is director of the security ??? Miami conglom ?? dustries.

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Supervisor Still There

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Reliable sources in the Gov ernment maintain that the F.B.I. had no knowledge of anything Mr. Hale might have been doing outside of his job. They point out that Mr. Hale's supervisor, Kermit Johnson, the senior resident F.B.I. agent in Tucson, remains in his job. If Mr. Johnson had known that Mr. Hale was doing anything illegal, they argue, his super visors would have punished him for not reporting it. If his su pervisors also knew of any wrongdoing, the sources main tain, they would have punished lyir. Johnson for letting Mr. Hale bungle and bring embar rassment to the bureau.

One Government official said that if any agent had done something improper, the bureau might easily not have known about it. “If they have a man who doesn't follow the instruc tion and he doesn't fill out the forms that are supposed to show what he is doing honestly, they wouldn't find out until something breaks.”

The official pointed out that the F.B.I. “doesn't follow its own men around” and argued, “You've got to start from the premise that the bureau is not infallible. They're suffering from this image that they're perfect. Don't think that be cause they're an investigating agency, a really clever guy can't get away with something.”

F.B.I. Reportedly Angry Government sources report that the F.B.I. was “mad as hell” at Mr. Hale and virtually forced his resignation. “He re signed,” one official said, “be cause he knew the F.B.I. was about to take action.” According to that official, the F.B.I. was going to ask for Mr. Hale's resignation not because of the bombings—on which it was unable to find decisive evi dence, of guilt or innocence— but because the agent had vio lated bureau regulations. He had borrowed $750 to $1,000 from a private person (and had repaid it); he had accepted an expensive watch as a gift and borrowed a color television from the same person and he had accepted the use of air conditioned cars free from a Tucson car rental company, the official said. Government sources say that tne F.B.I. did not recommend mr. Hale for his new job. They maintain that Giffen Industries never asked the bureau about his background. In an inter view, Mr. D'Antonio, his lawyer, said that he had secured the job for Mr. Hale by getting in touch with an officer he knew in the company.

Mr. Dingeldine, the county lawyer, said in an interview that he had not prosecuted Mr. Hale because of an Arizona statute that requires more evi dence for conviction than the testimony of accomplices. “We had Dunbar and Stevens,” he said, “but we could not find other witnesses to corroborate them.”

Mr. Smitherman does not have that problem because Fed eral law provides more latitude and he has apparently found other witnesses. His problem, according to reliable sources, is the strength of the corrobora tion—one of the witnesses has made three statements, each of them slightly different — and the general quality of evidence that includes the testimony of two self‐confessed bombers.