INFORMED SOURCES

ISRAEL'S DANGEROUS EXPORT TO CHINA Washington -- The Clinton Administration is lobbying the Israeli government and an Israeli company to halt the sale to China of an advanced fiber-optics telecommunications system containing U.S.-made microchips. Although the system is for civilian use, intelligence officials fear the sale would give China the potential to build a sophisticated military command-and-control system that would be almost impossible to monitor. The trouble is that liberalized post- cold war U.S. export laws leave officials largely powerless to stop the transaction. Israel has agreed to halt the sale temporarily while the U.S. studies the problem.

THE ROAD TO AIDID RUNS THROUGH GEORGIA, EVENTUALLY Washington -- When Jimmy Carter visited the White House last month, he carried a message from Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aidid of his willingness to cooperate with an investigation into the killings of U.N. peacekeepers. Since Somalia wasn't a front-burner issue then, President Clinton filed the tip away but asked National Security Adviser Anthony Lake to debrief Carter at some . point. That point wasn't reached until after the Oct. 3 attack that killed 18 U.S. soldiers. Lake flew to Plains last Thursday to meet with Carter.

WHITE HOUSE RATS (NO, NOT SUNUNU) Washington -- Haircutgate, the budget battle, Somalia -- and now rats, hundreds of them. White House aides going home after dark have had to bang on their briefcases and bags to scare the beasts away. The 165 traps that have been strategically positioned around the mansion grounds by the White House gardener -- and baited with environmentally sound poison -- have done little to stem the invasion. Mrs. Clinton has taken over health care; is this a job for Socks?