New FBI appointee

President Clinton tapped "street-smart" federal judge Louis Freeh on Tuesday to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its fight against persistent violent crime, new challenges in counter-terrorism, and the agency's own morale problems.

The ceremony provided a contrast to the previous day, when a grim-faced Clinton appeared to say he was firing William Sessions as FBI head because of questions about his conduct and leadership.

Freeh, a federal district judge from Manhattan, was appointed to the bench by President Bush in 1991 after five years as an FBI agent and a decade as a federal prosecutor. Mr. Clinton said that Freeh, working with Attorney General Janet Reno and drug policy director Lee Brown, would give the administration "a street-smart front line against crime."