State Department's security bill goes up

Officials at the American State Department have asked for three-hundred million dollars to improve security, following a number of embarrassing lapses.

The money would be used to hire nine-hundred security guards in addition to the five-hundred who already patrol the State Department building in Washington.

Earlier this year, the Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, ordered a big security review following the disappearance of a portable computer containing classified government information. Last year a Russian listening device was discovered in a conference room, and in 1998 a man walked out of the building with secret documents.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service