Informed Sources

Reinventing Government the Chinese Way

Beijing -- Communist Party officials in China are launching a purge of corruption in the government and the military that could prove to be bloody. Wei Jianxing, head of the party disciplinary committee, recently told a closed-door meeting of the party's central committee that corruption has reached epidemic proportions. "In the army some division-level officers drive Mercedes-Benz 500s," says Wei. "Does this luxurious life-style correspond with our proletarian ideals when some 100 million farmers still live in poverty?" It was a rhetorical question. Wei already claims to have a list of 200 offenders who'll be removed in the next six months or so. Twenty of them, he says, could be executed.

You Must Remember This

Washington -- Random House better hope that Colin Powell has a good memory. Last week the publishers agreed to pay the outgoing Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff $6 million for his yet-to-be-written memoirs. However, Powell told Time that he's going to have to rely on memory for some of the details because he never took notes at meetings or kept a journal. For the latter part of his career he does have his secretaries' logs for appointments and telephone calls. Although he'll use a ghostwriter, Powell is learning computer word processing to do his share.

Freeh at Last, Freeh at Last

Washington -- FBI agents are almost giddy over the appointment of their new director, Louis Freeh, the former agent who will fill the tiny shoes of William Sessions, the fbi chief who was recently sacked. Some agents posted at headquarters -- considered a bottom-of-the-totem-pole assignment -- are actually seeking delays in their promotions so they can watch Freeh in action. Other agents who were scheduled to retire have decided to stick around awhile, even though such a decision means missing out on a one-time-only $25,000 buyout plan being offered this year.