The Central Intelligence Agency's ability to gather intelligence in the Middle East has been injured by reforms triggered in 1995 by then-Rep. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), members of the House Intelligence Committee said last week. In the wake of disclosures by Torricelli that a Guatemalan colonel linked to the murder of an American was on the CIA payroll, the agency fired one-third of its informants - roughly 1,000 "assets" - and instituted new rules on the recruitment of sources. Some of the assets were fired because of poor production, but others were fired for criminal activity that could have proved ...