WITNESS IN CIA TRIAL ADMITS LYING TO CONGRESS

The former CIA official who says spymaster Clair George lied about the Iran-contra affair says he told a number of lies himself as the affair became a public scandal.

Alan Fiers, the chief prosecution witness in Mr. George's criminal trial, also said he did not tell George much of what he knew about Oliver North's secret military supply network for the Nicaraguan contras.

George, a retired Central Intelligence Agency official who directed all overseas spy operations, is being tried on three charges of obstructing Congress and a federal grand jury and six counts of perjury and false statements.

Mr. Fiers, who headed the CIA's Central American Task Force, testified last week that George lied when he told congressional committees he did not know who was behind a supply plane that had been shot down over Nicaragua in October 1986.

Fiers pleaded guilty last year to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress, and he is testifying against his former boss under immunity from prosecution.

Defense lawyer Richard Hibey was scheduled to continue cross-examining Fiers yesterday.

Last week, the attorney questioned Fiers closely about his own testimony to Congress and other Iran-contra investigators, and Fiers said he lied a number of times.