Panel Clears CIA in S&L; Failures: The House Intelligence Committee said it could find no evidence that the Central Intelligence Agency was involved in any savings and loan association failures. The committee was responding to allegations first made in the Houston Post that individuals linked to the CIA used those connections to fraudulently obtain loans from thrifts that eventually became insolvent. There were also allegations that the CIA used funds from thrifts to run covert operations and intervened to prevent the prosecution of individuals for fraud against financial institutions.