Both Sides Get President-Elect Treatment

The Clinton administration has agreed to perform background checks on candidates for top-level jobs in both the prospective administrations of George W. Bush and Al Gore.

The move is a first-ever attempt by the White House to ready the staff of two presidential candidates simultaneously, CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller reports.

White House spokesman Jake Siewert said the agreement emerged from discussions that White House Chief of Staff John Podesta held with Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, and Gore's transition chief, Roy Neel.

The disputed Nov. 7 presidential election has put the FBI in a difficult position. It normally performs background investigations on the potential appointees of the winning candidate.

But since the winner is not yet clear and time is growing short until the Jan. 20 inauguration, an arrangement has been made to go forward with the checks of both teams.

"We have agreed with both campaigns that it makes sense to try to go forward on a parallel track with background checks," Siewert said.

Meanwhile, the Central Intelligence Agency has representatives in Austin, Texas, preparing to begin giving the Bush campaign regular intelligence briefings early next week, said White House National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley.

Gore already gets national security briefings through his position as vice president.

The FBI investigations are part of the process that the next president uses to determine whether someone is suitable as a Cabinet secretary or as a top-level official in the White House and other departments.

President Clinton said earlier this week that it's not for him to accept or reject Florida's certification of the presidential vote in favor of George W. Bush.

He added that the election outcome remains in doubt until the courts settle all of the legal challenges.

The president's aides cited the 1963 Presidential Transition Act, which prohibits the release of federal transition funds while election results are in dispute.

However, Mr. Clinton says he and his aides want to be as ready as they can when a clear winner emerges.

White House officials said that at the least, during the waiting period to determine who will win the election, the two sides could submit application forms and other paperwork to begin the investigations.

They said lawyers for each side would be contacted with a view to getting applications in toward the end of next week.