WASHINGTON Ñ Congress is reviewing defense priorities in the wake of the suicide bombings in New York and Washington.

The question: Should the House and Senate divert money for missile defense to counterterrorism efforts?

Congressional sources said this will be a key issue as the House and Senate complete their examination of the Bush administration's defense budget. The most controversial portion is the White House request for $8.3 billion for missile defense in fiscal 2002.

Last week, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee slashed $1.3 billion from the administration's request. The move was spearheaded by committee chairman Sen. Joseph Biden.

"It's hard to justify in the short-term such a huge increase in missile defense when low-tech was responsible for the biggest single tragedy in U.S. history," a congressional staffer said. "The word here is that counterterrorism will be a priority."

House Armed Services Committee chairman Bob Stump does not want to necessarily cut missile defense. But he wants a lot more resources poured into U.S. intelligence efforts.

This, Stump said, would include money for human intelligence as well as covert operations against terrorists and their sponsors. So far, he said, Congress has shied away from such missions.

"People don't like to vote for human intelligence, or a lot of intelligence generally, because they don't a get a big shiny plane or a big tank out of it," Stump said.

Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham agreed. He pointed to a widespread deficiency in the nation's 13 intelligence agencies.

"There was not a single agency, much less a single individual, who could be looked to for ultimate accountability as to what has happened, analysis and a plan of action for the future," Graham said.

Pentagon officials have acknowledged that that a missile defense system would have been powerless against the suicide jet crashes that downed the World Trade Center and destroyed parts of the Defense Department in Washington. Some officials said that a missile attack on New York would have caused more damage.

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