THE FRINGE CONNECTIONS

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Burned by the Richard Jewell debacle, the FBI has been cautious about drawing any public conclusions. Even privately, officials at the bureau point to a lack of similarity between the Atlanta and Spokane pipe bombs. Some experts on terrorism, however, believe there are too many potential links to dismiss the Spokane connection. Says Brian Levin, a former New York City police officer who heads a think tank on hate crimes at Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey: "Some people would say, 'Hey, wait a minute, the Atlanta bomb had a detonator while the Spokane bombs didn't.' But some bombers do show an evolution in their bombmaking techniques." Levin points out that the FBI's informant also said the suspects asked him how to make a detonation device--and how to get fingerprints off the backpack. Says Levin: "We have an intriguing yet inconclusive collection of circumstantial evidence that warrants serious scrutiny."

--Reported by Patrick E. Cole/Los Angeles, Charlotte Faltermayer/New York, James L. Graff/Chicago and Sylvester Monroe/Atlanta