By CHRISTOPHER S. WREN

          A senior official of the Immigration and Naturalization Service
          accused of spying for the Cuban government was caught passing
          on deliberately leaked classified material a week ago, the Federal Bureau
          of Investigation said today.

          Mariano Faget, 54, a supervisory adjudication officer for the I.N.S., was
          arrested in Miami on Thursday by F.B.I. agents after wiretaps and other
          surveillance revealed that he allegedly made unauthorized contacts with
          Cuban intelligence officers in Miami and other American cities.

          Mr. Faget, who had a "secret" security clearance, had been, responsible
          for overseeing requests for political asylum and other naturalization
          decisions, according to the F.B.I. Such authority would have let him
          determine the fate of thousands of Cubans who fled from their
          Communist-ruled country and applied for asylum in the United States.

          At a news conference this morning, Paul E. Mallett, the assistant special
          agent in charge of the F.B.I.'s operation in Miami, said that Mr. Faget
          (pronounced fah-HAY) had unauthorized contacts with Cuban
          intelligence officers and a Cuban-born businessman in New York City
          who himself met several times during the last year with Cuban
          government officials and agents. The F.B.I. did not identify the
          businessman.

          On Feb. 11, Mr. Faget became the target of a sting when two F.B.I.
          officials visited his Miami office and asked for his assistance in filling out
          papers granting asylum to a high-ranking Cuban intelligence officer who
          wanted to defect.

          Mr. Faget was told, Mr. Mallett said, "that the information he was being
          entrusted with was secret and was very sensitive, that it could not be
          disclosed to anyone, and that the intelligence community was working on
          a very short time frame to accomplish thier mission."

          Approximately 12 minutes after their meeting ended, Mr. Mallett said,
          Mr. Faget used his personal cellular phone to call the New York
          businessman and tell him that a person they both knew was working with
          the Americans. After the businessman mentioned two different names,
          Mr. Faget gave the name of the intelligence operative for whom he had
          prepared the documents.

          Slightly before 5 p.m., Mr. Faget allegedly called the businessman in
          New York again, this time from his home telephone, which apparently
          was also tapped.

          "He identified again the full name of the individual for whom he had been
          asked to prepare the political asylum document," Mr. Mallett said. "Faget
          further stated that the individual was in fact a Cuban intelligence
          operative."

          Underscoring the seriousness of the case, Mr. Mallett said that the kind
          of information disclosed by Mr. Faget could harm the United States
          because it exposed the American counter-intelligence effort against Cuba
          and could be used by Havana to cut off access to human sources of
          intelligence.

          "Due to his position, Faget had access to classified and sensitive I.N.S.
          files relating to confidential law enforcement sources and Cuban
          defectors," the F.B.I. said in a statement.

          The I.N.S. said Mr. Faget had been placed on administrative leave and
          that the agency was cooperating with the F.B.I investigation. Thursday
          night and today, F.B.I. agents searched Mr. Faget's white two-story
          house in Miami's Kendall suburb.

          Mr. Faget worked for the I.N.S. for 34 years. He has been described as
          the highest ranking Hispanic official in the immigration agency's South
          Florida district.

          The Miami Herald reported today that Mr. Faget was born in Havana
          and immigrated to the United States with his father in 1960. He became
          an American citizen on Nov. 22, 1963.

          Mr. Faget is being charged with violating the Espionage Act by
          "communicating national defense information to an unauthorized person"
          and with making false statements.

          Mr. Faget was taken to the Federal Detention Center in Miami following
          his arrest.

          The last major investigation into Cuban spying in the United States was in
          1998 when 10 suspected Cuban agents were arrested and indicted in
          Miami. They were charged with trying to infiltrate military bases and
          Cuban exile organizations in the United States.

          In December of 1998, three months after the arrests in Miami, the United
          States expelled three Cuban diplomats at the United Nations, accusing
          them of spying, as well. Officials said the three men were linked to
          espionage case in Miami, but because they held diplomatic immunity they
          were not prosecuted.