C.1996 N.Y. Times News Service NEW YORK - Federal officials investigatingthe crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 were forced on Thursday nightto deny once again persistent rumors that the jumbo jet was accidentallyshot down by a Navy missile.

The latest version of the so-called friendly fire theory was advanced onThursday by Pierre Salinger, a journalist who was press secretary in theKennedy administration, in a speech to a meeting of airline industry officialsin France.

Salinger said on Thursday night that he first got his information more thana month ago, when he was given a report by someone he described as a Frenchintelligence agent. He said he was told that the report was written by anagent from the U.S. Secret Service. He said that he learned on Thursdaynight that the report he has is the same one that has been circulating onthe Internet in recent weeks. He said that the report was confirmed by aU.S. agent whom he declined to identify.

But a White House spokeswoman, Mary Ellen Glynn, said on Thursday night:``We have ruled out the responsibility of friendly fire. We don't know whatcaused it, but there is no indication that it was `friendly fire.'''

James Kallstrom, the head of the New York office of the FBI, said: ``Wehave totally and thoroughly investigated all aspects of the so-called friendlyfire theory and have not found one scintilla of evidence that would indicateany involvement of U.S. military forces in this tragedy. It is highly, highly,highly unlikely.''

Kallstrom had addressed the friendly fire theory at a news conference inmid-September after reporters pressed him about the issue and about accusationsthat the federal government was covering it up. He denied the accusation,and called it ``an outrageous allegation.''

In the weeks since the TWA jet crashed off the coast of Long Island on July17, considerable speculation has swirled around the issue, particularlyin Europe. In the United States, the theory has thrived on the Internet,where many people have traded rumors.

Salinger said his information indicated that the Navy was testing missilesoff the coast of Long Island on July 17, and had been told planes wouldbe flying higher than 21,000 feet. The Navy was unaware that because anothercommercial plane was flying above it, Flight 800 was flying at 13,700 feet,Salinger said.

Federal officials said the closest Navy ship to the crash site was 180 milesaway.

On Long Island Thursday, investigators continued their painstaking inquiryinto the crash, poring over the first big haul of wreckage from the downedairliner since September. But forensic scientists from the FBI on Thursdayfound no signs of blast damage on several long-missing pieces of metal fromthe center fuel tank of the jumbo jet, where the explosion occurred.


Read this analysis of the missile theory from The New American, Oct. 14,1996. What Happened to TWA Flight800?