Hayden flatly defended as legal the secret domestic eavesdropping program he ran until last year as director of the National Security Agency, and that argument was directly challenged only by a handful of Democratic senators. But Hayden notably declined to endorse a Bush administration stance that has severely limited the number of senators who could be briefed on the program.

The questioning of Hayden during more than seven hours of public testimony included moments of tension. But, for the most part, Democrats as well as Republicans praised Hayden's experience and said he was a good choice to lead an agency that has been buffeted by recriminations over intelligence failures and the stormy service of its current director, Porter J. Goss, who will leave the agency next week.

None of the 15 senators on the committee indicated that they planned to vote against Hayden's nomination. By day's end, Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, the Republican chairman of the committee, said he hoped to hold votes in the committee and the full Senate next week that could install Hayden at the CIA by Memorial Day.

Only 6 percent of 289 suspected immigrant smugglers were prosecuted by the federal government for that offense in the year ending in September 2004, according to the report. Some were instead prosecuted for another crime. Other cases were declined by federal prosecutors, or the suspect was released by the Border Patrol.

The report raises doubts about the value of tightening security along the Mexican border. President Bush wants to hire 6,000 more Border Patrol agents and dispatch up to 6,000 National Guardsmen. He did not mention overburdened courts in his Oval Office address Monday on immigration.

The report was provided to the AP by the office of Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who has accused the chief federal prosecutor in San Diego of being lax on smuggling cases. Issa's office said it was an internal Border Patrol report written last August. It was unclear who wrote it.

The lack of prosecutions is "demoralizing the agents and making a joke out of our system of justice," said T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents agents. "It is certainly a weak link in our immigration-enforcement chain."

The 41-page report says federal prosecutors in San Diego typically prosecute smugglers who commit "dangerous/violent activity" or guide at least 12 illegal immigrants across the border. But other smugglers know they are only going to get "slapped on the wrist," according to the report.

The report cites a 19-year-old U.S. citizen caught three times in a two-week period in 2004 trying to sneak people from Tijuana, Mexico, to San Diego in his car trunk, two at a time.

"This is an example of a kid who knows the system," the report says. "What is true is that he will probably never be prosecuted if he only smuggles only one or two bodies at a time."

The report also cites a Mexican citizen who was caught in Arizona and California driving with illegal immigrants and was released each time to Mexico. He was prosecuted the fourth time and sentenced to five years in prison, after two illegal immigrants in his van died in a crash.

U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego said about half her 110 attorneys work on border cases in an area where the Border Patrol made nearly 140,000 arrests last year. She said she gives highest priority to the most serious cases, including suspects with long histories of violent crime or offenders who endanger others' lives.

"We figure out how many cases our office can handle, start from the worst and work our way down," she said.

Lam said many suspected migrant smugglers are prosecuted instead for re-entering the country after being deported, a crime that can be proved with documents. Smuggling cases are more difficult to prosecute because they require witnesses to testify.

The Border Patrol, which would neither confirm nor deny the document's authenticity, said prosecutors in San Diego recently agreed to prosecute a Top 20 list of smugglers if they are caught.

The Justice Department in Washington declined to comment. However, at a congressional hearing last month, Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., told Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that Lam's record on migrant smuggling was "a pathetic failure." Gonzales replied that he was urging U.S. attorneys to more actively enforce laws but noted that immigration cases were "a tremendous strain and burden" along the border.

Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego, said prosecutors along the border struggle with limited resources and a huge caseload of immigration cases.

"This is not an indictment of the U.S. attorney's office, because you have to deal with the realities of the caseload, but it is an indictment of how badly Congress and presidents have handled the immigration system," he said.

The report says immigrants in the area paid an average of $1,398 to be guided across the border in 2004.

"Smugglers are making lots of money breaking the immigration laws, and there is not much incentive for them to stop these illegal activities," it says. "The smugglers know that even if they are caught, it will be difficult to punish them."

Being a reflection of the greater underlying unified field, this figure will embody the unconsciousness of the time. Because of the unconsciousness in the field, the person playing the archetypal role of savior will reflect this unconsciousness and become inflated, blown up out of human proportion by the power of the archetype. He will then, of necessity, be compelled to act out his hubris in a way that is destructive for all who are under his dominion.

Inflated by the power of the underlying archetype, Bush is suffering from delusions of grandeur, and has become megalomaniacal. He is unconsciously identified with the archetype of the Messiah. Bush told an Amish group in 2004 that "God speaks through me." Bush imagines that God actually speaks to him as well; in 2003 he told Palestinian ministers that God told him to invade Iraq. Jung commented, "One should listen to the inner voice attentively, intelligently and critically, (Probate spiritus!) [test the spirits], because the voice one hears is the influxus divinus consisting, as the Acts of John aptly state, of "right" and "left" streams, i.e., of opposites. They have to be clearly separated so that their positive and negative aspects become visible." John 4:1 says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God."

Just because one hears an inner voice doesn't necessarily mean it is the voice of God. Listened to uncritically, we could just as easily be seduced by the Devil. Bush has become inflated with an archetype of the collective unconscious, which is an expression of madness. He has become identified with one side, the light, of an inherently two-sided polarity, and projects out the other, dark side, which he then tries to destroy. By shadow projecting in this manner, Bush has become possessed by the very evil he is projecting outside of himself.

This is to fall under the spell of the Devil, who is rightly called "the deceiver." A clearer case of madness is hard to imagine. Jung describes such a situation by saying it is an "...overwhelming manifestation of the "blond beast" [of prey, a figure popularized by Nietzsche], which seizes the unsuspecting soul with nameless shudderings. The seizure transforms him into a hero or godlike being, a superhuman entity. He rightly feels himself "six thousand feet beyond good and evil."

Because of his inflation, Bush literally feels himself above human morality, as he is under the self-generating delusion that he is the supreme moral arbiter, not realizing in the slightest that he has fallen into his unconscious, whose dark side he is acting out. Because of his pathological condition, he is the last person who should be the judge of morality, the very last person on earth choosing justices for the Supreme Court. Jung continued by saying, "The psychological observer knows this state of 'identification with the shadow,' a phenomenon which occurs with great regularity at such moments of collision with the unconscious." Paradoxically, by dissociating and projecting out our shadow, we become unconsciously identified with it, possessed by it, and unconsciously act it out.

Speaking about becoming taken over by a complex of the collective unconscious, Jung elaborates by saying, "As a rule there is a marked unconsciousness of any complexes, and this naturally guarantees them all the more freedom of action. In such cases their powers of assimilation become especially pronounced, since unconsciousness helps the complex to assimilate even the ego, the result being a momentary and unconscious alteration of personality known as identification with the complex.

In the Middle Ages it went by another name: it was called possession."

Because of his complete unconsciousness, Bush has unwittingly allowed himself to become an instrument for evil, the dark half of the Self, to give shape and form to itself. Speaking about what the devil symbolizes psychologically, Jung said, "The devil is a variant of the "shadow" archetype, i.e., of the dangerous aspect of the unrecognized dark half of the personality."

Bush has become unconsciously taken over by the shadow side of the savior archetype, which is to become possessed by the very thing from which people need to be saved. Becoming inflated and identifying with an archetype of the collective unconscious is to step outside ordinary human boundaries, a state in which genuine humility is impossible. Jung said, "The potentialities of the archetype, for good and evil alike, transcend our human capacities many times, and a man can appropriate its power only by identifying with the daemon, by letting himself be possessed by it, thus forfeiting his own humanity."

Any mental health professional would recognize that Bush's inflation is an expression of his unconscious identification with (as compared to conscious realization of) God, which is an unequivocal form of madness. Lacking self-reflection, Bush is blissfully unaware of the perverse nature of his situation, which itself is an expression of the extent of depravity he has fallen into.

Speaking of a person who has fallen into such a pathological state, Jung said "...they avoid self-criticism to an amazing degree, preach to others, and know nothing of themselves. They are happy to possess no self-knowledge, because then nothing disturbs the rosy glow of illusions." By being inflated, Bush is unconsciously accessing and unleashing the power inherent in the archetype - this is why he has such an enchanting power over his followers.

By identifying with the archetype, the archetype acts as an amplifier, enhancing beyond measure Bush's hypnotic power over his followers. Because Bush is so taken over by the unconscious, he has a compelling and entrancing effect on others' unconscious. Only one who is seized by an archetype has a gripping effect on others. To quote Jung, "It is a psychological fact that an archetype can seize hold of the ego and even compel it to act as it - the archetype - wills. A man can then take on archetypal dimensions and exercise corresponding effects."

By being so seized by an archetype of the collective unconscious, Bush becomes an agent that has a very powerful effect on the field around him. He becomes a portal through which an underlying psychic epidemic which non-locally pervades the field that I am calling "malignant egophrenia" (see my book The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective Psychosis, available on my website www.awakeninthedream.com) feeds, replicates, and actualizes itself in full-bodied form, in and over time.

When we become unconsciously gripped by an archetype, we become pawns in the hand of a deeper power. Succumbing to the compulsive adrenaline rush of the "will to power" inherent in the shadow, Bush is, as Jung said in describing Hitler, "...like a man living in his own biography." Bush has become arrogant and full of himself, a legend in his own mind, someone who feels he is not bound by law, and believes himself entitled to get away with murder.

Speaking about being unconsciously taken over by an archetype, Jung commented, "Here we see the characteristic effect of the archetype: it seizes hold of the psyche with a kind of primeval force and compels it to transgress the bounds of humanity." When we are gripped by an archetype and forced to unconsciously act out its effects destructively, we are acting out the dark side of this greater power.

Etymologically, the word "transgress" is related to the word "evil." The world literally shape-shifts around someone who is inflated and blown up with an archetype, as this inner state of possession is able to synchronistically express itself through the medium of the outside world.

To quote Jung, "...archetypes are not found exclusively in the psychic sphere, but can occur just as much in circumstances that are not psychic (equivalence of an outward physical process with a psychic one)." [Emphasis in original] When we become inflated by an archetype, there is a synchronistic correlation between the inner experience of being identified with the archetype and outer events. The inner state of being possessed by the archetype expresses itself by arranging external events so as to give shape and form to itself.

A person inflated by an archetype, such as Bush, literally becomes the channel through which transpersonal, mythic forces become materialized into our third-dimension, which just reinforces his inflation in a diabolical fee dback loop. By identifying with the archetype, Bush becomes seized by the archetype's irresistible field of force and unwittingly becomes the agent who does the archetype's bidding. By being so taken over by an impersonal force, Bush has become a "magnet" which torques the field around him so as to insatiably feed his own pathology, while simultaneously wreaking havoc on the field.

Taken over by the archetype's magnetic power, Bush achieves a certain magnetism, which polarizes the field around it. Like a magnet, archetypes are bi-polar, having a negative and a positive aspect. On the one hand, the power of the archetype coming through Bush attracts people to support him in his delusion who are suggestible to the overwhelming unconscious power inherent in the archetype. In a co-dependent relationship, Bush's followers feed his identification with the archetype, which simultaneously nourishes their own bewitchment, in a perverse, self-perpetuating feedback loop which develops an autonomous life of its own.

At the same time, Bush's identification with the archetype repels other people, who react against the one-sidedness and perversity of his inflation. By being so unconsciously identified with the archetype, Bush will literally attract to himself, like a lightning rod attracts lightning, other people's negative, shadow projections. These people will strongly condemn Bush, and see him as being evil. And yet, people who react against Bush in this way are unwittingly feeding the polarization in the field, perpetuating the very diabolical energy they are reacting against. If we concretize Bush as being evil, we are projecting our own shadow onto him and are then guilty of the very evil of which we are accusing Bush.

Interestingly, another inner meaning of the word Devil is "the accuser." If we are accusing Bush of being evil, we are guilty of the very evil of which we are accusing Bush. Bush is merely an ignorant human being who, due to his unrestrained greed, desire, and lust for power is unwittingly allowing himself to be used as an instrument of evil.

Evil itself is a power, or principality that transcends the merely human dimension, as it is archetypal in nature and thereby is a content belonging to the collective unconscious. Bush is simply a deluded human being who is dangerous because of his position of power, which allows him to act out his pathological process on the world stage. We do not want to make the mistake of attributing evil - an archetypal content of the collective unconscious - to Bush as a person.

Becoming possessed by an archetype of the collective unconscious is an expression of not only forfeiting our humanity, but of abdicating our personal responsibility as well. A true Faustian pact with the Devil, we discover too late that what we have lost in the bargain is our soul. As in any such bargain, we are ultimately responsible and accountable for our choices. Identifying with the archetype of the savior is a compensation for a deep inferiority, fear, and weakness. We become absorbed into the archetype due to our inability and unwillingness to deal with the darker part of ourselves that needs saving.

Though describing Hitler, Jung just as easily could have been describing Bush when he said that he had a "...conceit that bordered on madness, a very mediocre intelligence combined with the hysteric's cunning and the power fantasies of an adolescent." Bush is acting out the adolescent fantasies of a war of good versus evil with our living sons and daughters as his toy soldiers.

Being inflated, Bush doesn't relate to other human beings as being autonomous or independent, but as pawns to serve his own narcissistic blindness and masturbatory fantasies.

Jung pointed out that "Inflation magnifies the blind spot of the eye.... A clear symptom of this is our growing disinclination to take note of the reactions of the environment and pay heed to them." When we are inflated, we don't accept any reflection or feedback from the outer universe that contradicts our puffed up image of ourselves. Instead of being open, receptive, and learning from the outer world, we continually interpret everything to support our delusory self-image. When we become inflated, we become closed to any information or in-forming influence from the outside world, which is a form of psychic blindness.

Instead of being in genuine relationship to the world, a person who is inflated relates to the world through their own narcissistically self-serving, grandiose self-image. Speaking about madness, Jung said that it "...consists essentially in the fact that the unconscious in large measure ousts and supplants the function of the conscious mind. The unconscious usurps the reality function and substitutes its own reality."

Jung continued that this resulted in "...senseless, unshakable judgments upheld in the face of reality [for example, Bush saying, 'the war in Iraq is going well,' despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary]." Being caught up in inflation is like being sucked up by a cyclone, as there is literally no getting through to the person who is inflated, who has been taken over and lifted off the ground by a more powerful energy.

Bush and his supporters feed into and off of and support each others' unconscious madness so as to conjure up an impenetrable field around them that resists consciousness at all costs. It is only when their world - which in this case is our world, too - self-destructs that the universe forces them out of their psychosis.

Just as the unconscious always compensates a one-sidedness, inflation inevitably results in all of the air (life, breath, spirit) being taken out of the person who is inflated. Inflation is ultimately self-destructive and always results in catastrophe. Talking about inflation, Jung said that it "...can be damped down only by the most terrible catastrophe to civilization, another deluge let loose by the gods upon inhospitable humanity."

The fact that our government, led by an inflated madman, is insanely and endlessly investing in and feeding the industry of creating weapons of mass destruction is an extremely dangerous situation for all of us. To quote Jung, "Let man but accumulate sufficient engines of destruction and the devil within him will soon be unable to resist putting them to their fated use.It is well known that fire-arms go off of themselves if only enough of them are together."

Bush has let the spirit out of the bottle which will undoubtedly destroy him. Being possessed by the unconscious is a very dangerous situation, particularly when the person so taken over is in a position of power where he can act out as well as activate a virulent madness on the world stage. Bush's madness affects all those under his sphere of influence, which in this case is the entire planet. Jung commented,

"It is abundantly clear that such an abaissement du niveau mental [lowering of the mental level], i.e., the overpowering of the ego by unconscious contents and the consequent identification with a preconscious [as compared to conscious] wholeness, possesses a prodigious psychic virulence, or power of contagion, and is capable of the most disastrous results." When such a "lowering of the mental level" happens collectively, a psychic epidemic becomes activated in the field.

The (collective) unconscious goes from being in the background and comes actively to the foreground, where it makes itself known by (destructively) giving shape and form to world events. It is merely a question of mitigating the damage of this virulent psychic epidemic for the rest of us. Seen as a dreaming process, we are all complicit in dreaming up Bush to pick up the archetypal role of savior. Our doing this is clearly a reflection of the part of ourselves which is disempowered and is not in touch with the savior within ourselves.

To be in touch with the savior within ourselves is to be in touch with the wholeness of our true nature, which is to be truly saved and redeemed. To the extent that any of us get in touch with the part of ourselves that is a genuine redeemer and leader, we literally are dis-investing energy from the archetypal role of leader being dreamed up outside of ourselves in a pathological way.

When we consciously and collectively access the part of ourselves that is a leader by our very nature, we become truly empowered. Being in touch with our God-given power engenders a situation in which the savior archetype is consciously distributed throughout the field, rather than being localized and concentrated in a single figure, which is a set -up for abuse.

The only way to change the collective nightmare we are sharing is through inner transformation in the individual, which collectively gets mobilized on the world stage so that we can effect genuine change. As each of us wakes up, we discover that we can reciprocally empower each other so that we can consciously activate the archetypal figure of the savior in the collective unconscious itself. Mediating, humanizing and incarnating this archetypal figure consciously throughout the field, we connect in lucidity, stepping into being agents of light who collectively dis-spell the darkness in the field.

"We'll be turning our backs during the honorary degree ceremony," said Sasha Westerman, a graduating student at the college who plans to distribute 1,000 protest armbands along with placards reading: "not in our name."

"No one asked me if I wanted (Rice) to speak and no one asked me if I wanted (the country) to go to Iraq," she said.

Support for Rice was also strong. Some students said a recent rally organized to protest Rice's visit drew only a few hundred of the school's 9,000 students.

Boston College said it had no plan to change its commencement schedule. "There is much about her life that is admirable and worthy of emulation and we expect that she will be respectfully received," said spokesman Jack Dunn.

At nearby Harvard University, the assistant professor of Christian history, Patrick Provost-Smith, said the Roman Catholic Church issued a statement specifically citing pre-emptive strikes as acts that are not part of the Catholic catechism.

"Of course, Catholics can and do differ from such statements," Provost-Smith said. "But it was indicative at the time of what concerns that the church did in fact have."

Hollenbach said 223 of 1,000 faculty had signed his petition, which he began circulating on May 2. Two student online protest petitions had 961 and 1,643 signatures respectively.

Mighty Isis: Darpa wants to start planning for a blimp, three times the size of Goodyear's, that would keep watch over an entire city.

Hovering 70,000 feet above ground, the ISIS (PDF) airship (short for Integrated Sensor Is Structure) would use a giant, flexible radar antenna to give, in the words of Darpa program manager Larry Correy, a "dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy."

"We will apply this technology to track people emerging from buildings of interest and follow them as they move to new locations," said Darpa's Paul Benda. "Imagine the impact it will have if ISIS tracks the movement of individuals for months. Hidden webs of connections between people and facilities will be revealed."

Such a system is meant to keep tabs on urban combat zones -- abroad, of course. But there's no reason ISIS couldn't float over New York or Chicago or Kalamazoo.

For now, hold off on buying that one-way trip to a secluded Caribbean island. ISIS is futuristic, even by Darpa standards. At the moment, the agency is only studying the feasibility of the airship. Darpa won't even begin soliciting research proposals until 2005.

A key problem to tackle: how to store energy for the blimp. Correy figures that to stay aloft, ISIS will need batteries that weigh one-tenth what today's cells weigh. Building the airship's enormous radar antenna -- as large as the ship itself -- is going to be a huge challenge, as well. The lightest space antennas weigh 20 kilograms per square meter. For ISIS to work, that will have to drop at least sevenfold.



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Flights of fancy: One of the big ironies of the DarpaTech conference is the disconnect between the program managers' lofty visions for the future and the often mundane experiments they show off. Robotics is probably the most striking example.

In the cavernous conference hall at the Marriott Anaheim, Darpa's Ted Bially sketched out a vision of tomorrow's fighting force. Fleets of drones do most of the fighting, he said, and a couple of humans would be left to make a few big-picture decisions. Across the corridor, at the agency's Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems' display, was a prediction by Sen. John Warner (R-Virginia) in big, bright letters. By 2010, he foretold, one-third of America's deep-strike aircraft would fly without a pilot.

Inside the booth, as if to confirm the senator's statements, a trio of flat-panel screens showed snazzy animations of U.S. drones blowing up Scud missile launchers to a techno soundtrack.

But a few feet away, the reality was a whole lot more humdrum -- and a whole lot cuter.

Kids from Carnegie Mellon University sat on the floor, redirecting their soccer-playing, robotic dogs. Drones still have a tough time seeing the world around them, and a game of soccer helps researchers figure out new ways to see the ball.

Employees from iRobot -- the company that makes the drone vacuum cleaner -- were right next to the students. They were directing a gaggle of toaster-sized bots through a makeshift maze. Mechanical creatures aren't particularly good at cooperating with one another yet. This "Swarm" project is the beginning of an attempt to get the robots to work together.

Looking over at the audiovisual extravaganza going on in the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems booth, an iRobot employee subtly shook his head. The people mesmerized by the slick presentation don't understand how hard it is for robots to do the most basic of things, he explained.

He murmured, "It's so far off."

Animated equipment: In recent years, Darpa has launched a series of programs to divorce soldiers from their most basic needs. One project looks at ways to keep GIs going for days on empty stomachs. Another examines methods to get soldiers to fight without sleep.

Now, Darpa wants to give inanimate objects some of the characteristics of living things. Bones grow, change shape, make blood and heal themselves when broken. Why, asked Darpa's John Main, couldn't ship hulls or airplane fuselages do the same thing?

"All of these characteristics are unobtainable if you limit yourself to the world of conventional materials," Main said. "Yet they are all clearly possible, because nature has supplied us with examples to study and potential paths to follow."

There have been some baby steps in this direction, Main said. Research has been conducted on artificial muscles and miniature drone wings that both keep the unmanned plane aloft and supply it with electrical power.

But to really make materials that grow or heal themselves, he said, these structures might need to be given circulatory systems, like the ones plants or birds or people have.

Main did not mention, however, whether these materials would be allowed, every once in a while, to take a nap or have a bite to eat.

The State Department took the action on the $13 million contract after questions were raised recently about the computers by Rep. Frank Wolf (news, bio, voting record), a Virginia Republican who oversees the agency's funds.

"I was deeply troubled to learn that the new computers were purchased from a China-based company, and that at least 900 of these computers were planned to be used as part of the classified network deployed in the United States and around the world in embassies and consulates," Wolf said.

But Lenovo said the U.S. government's concerns were unwarranted.

"We know these computers present no security risk because they do not have back doors and they do not have surveillance software tools installed on them," said Jeff Carlisle, Lenovo's vice president of government relations.

Wolf is a frequent critic of China's human rights policies and he said Chinese firms with links to the Communist government in Beijing should not win U.S. government contracts.

Since the September 11 attacks, there has been growing skepticism in Congress of some foreign companies' involvement in American commerce.

OBJECTIONS TO PURCHASE

The computer deal also raised questions from the congressionally created U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

Michael Wessel, a Democratic commissioner on the panel that monitors China trade and national security implications, said: "The U.S. is a principal intelligence target for China."

He added that a "significant portion" of Lenovo is owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, an arm of the Chinese government.

In March, Wessel said the U.S. government should be worried about the computer purchase, especially if there were codes embedded into the computers that could be remotely activated.

Carlisle countered that Lenovo "has always operated as a market-oriented independent company" and that the Chinese Academy of Sciences has only a "minority interest." He said the academy does not direct Lenovo's day-to-day operations and does not have a member on its board of directors.

The State Department said the Lenovo computers were purchased under standard U.S. government purchasing rules. The computers were procured through CDW Corp., a government contractor based in Vernon Hills, Illinois.

Lenovo bought IBM's personal computer division last May. The computers bought by the State Department were assembled in the United States and Mexico with integrated circuits made in Taiwan, according to the company.

Details of the State Department contract surfaced shortly after Congress pressured a state-owned Arab company, Dubai Ports World, into walking away from plans to manage several U.S. port terminals.

Last year, China's state-controlled CNOOC Ltd. dropped its bid to acquire U.S. oil and gas company Unocal Corp. after a strong backlash from the U.S. Congress.

Talks in recent days to avert an indictment had stalled between prosecutors in Los Angeles and lawyers representing Milberg Weiss, lawyers involved in the negotiations said. The firm had been unwilling to sign a deferred prosecution agreement in which it have waived attorney-client privileges, put in new monitoring systems and made a substantial payment.

Two of the firm's prominent partners are named in the indictment: David J. Bershad and Steven G. Schulman. The two men, who sat on the firm's executive committee, decided to take leaves of absences late last week in the hopes it would stave off an indictment of the entire firm.

While the indictment caps off a six-year investigation by the Justice Department into the firm's activities, prosecutors have been stymied in their efforts to bring charges against the two primary targets of the investigation, Melvyn I. Weiss and his former partner William S. Lerach.

Before a bitter split in 2004, when Mr. Lerach began his own firm, the two dominated the securities class-action arena through their firm Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach. Mr. Weiss ran the East Coast operations of the firm, "Milberg East," and Mr. Lerach headed up the San Diego operations, known as "Milberg West."

Both men were told in February that they would not be indicted at this time, although people involved in the talks believe they still remain targets of prosecutors.

The indictment against the firm and Mr. Bershad and Mr. Schulman was included in a revised indictment that was originally handed up last summer against a retired California lawyer and former Milberg client, Seymour M. Lazar.

Beginning in 1981 and continuing through about 2004, Mr. Lazar or members of his family served as plaintiffs in approximately 70 lawsuits for Milberg Weiss and received about $2.4 million in "secret and illegal kickback payments," according to the new indictment.

While Mr. Lazar has long stated his intentions to fight the charges, another Milberg Weiss client, Howard J. Vogel, signed a plea deal with prosecutors last month, agreeing to provide information against the firm.

A retired mortgage broker, Mr. Vogel admitted that he or members of his family served as plaintiffs in approximately 40 lawsuits from 1991 and as recently as 2005, receiving approximately $2.5 million in "secret and illegal kickback payments," according to the new indictment.

A third figure named in the indictment, a Beverly Hills ophthalmologist named Dr. Steven G. Cooperman, or members of his family acted as plaintiffs in nearly 70 lawsuits, receiving approximately $6.5 million in payments, the new indictment said.

Testimony by Mr. Cooperman prompted the original investigation six years ago. He is a highly controversial figure, however, as he offered to provide evidence to prosecutors in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence on his conviction of art fraud charges.

Under New York law, it is illegal for a lawyer to promise or give anything of value to induce a person to bring a lawsuit or to reward a person for having done so, according to the indictment.

Furthermore, the kickbacks created a conflict because the paid plaintiffs had a "greater interest in maximizing the amount of attorneys' fees awarded to Milberg Weiss than in maximizing the net recovery" to others in the class, the indictment said.