21.   Nothing changes the subject faster than a juicy espionage case, especially one involving Americans.

22.   Officials said the three men were linked to espionage case in Miami, but because they held diplomatic immunity they were not prosecuted.

23.   Officials acknowledged that one of the computers contains classified information on espionage cases and that three others could hold classified material.

24.   Other espionage cases, the Alger Hiss affair, the Soviet explosion of an atom bomb and the Korean war made the dispute even more bitter.

25.   Reuters later reported that the Swiss federal prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, had called a news conference to provide details of an espionage case.

26.   Robert Messemer, the FBI agent brought in as the lead investigator because of his background in espionage cases and proficiency in Chinese, was more pointed.

27.   So Shapiro, the prosecutor, lacked a crucial component of an espionage case, a witness to testify about the classified nature of the information.

28.   Still, it is heartening to see the CIA and FBI working together to crack an espionage case.

29.   Take the Los Alamos espionage case as an example, Cox said.

30.   The affidavits released Thursday go further, though, by providing details of serious espionage cases in which admitted spies apparently escaped criminal prosecution altogether.