WASHINGTON INSIGHT

NOT READY FOR CRIME TIME: An extraordinary alliance of Congressional Black Caucus members and National Rifle Assn. followers is snarling Democratic leaders’ hopes for swift passage of the $33-billion crime bill. House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) has scrapped plans for a vote today and is scrambling to get a Democratic majority of 218 to clear a procedural hurdle. . . . Pro-NRA Democrats who oppose an assault-weapons ban and caucus members upset over the absence of a “racial justice� provision may combine with 178 GOP lawmakers to block consideration of the legislation this week. At best, the bill may get through the House tomorrow. At worst, it may have to go back to conference for revisions that would produce a Democratic majority.

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MCPIQUED: The Pentagon has shot down an eleventh-hour attempt by the Air Force’s chief of staff, Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, to bring the military’s prestigious space programs under his wing. The maverick, 58-year-old former fighter pilot proposed the idea without telling his colleagues on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. . . . This week, the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps disclosed a rare joint memo they had written to Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, protesting McPeak’s attempted end-run and requesting that the issue “be worked as a joint action� by all four services. The chairman’s response: Not to worry--the plan will be subject to JCS approval. One irony: The power grab comes as Congress is drafting language to transfer the troubled MilStar communications satellite program to the Navy because lawmakers believe that the Air Force is mismanaging it.

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NOW YOU SEE IT: The Clinton Administration is struggling to play both sides of the street in managing public opinion concerning the new U.S. military operation in Rwanda. Although the White House clearly wants President Clinton to get credit for responding to the crisis, the Pentagon has been trying to minimize the U.S. role--and the risk to American troops. . . . Pentagon officials have been larding every briefing with the admonition that the U.S. involvement is “solely a humanitarian relief operation� and “will not include peacekeeping�--i.e., providing security for the effort. And Defense Secretary William J. Perry returned from Rwanda last weekend with the announcement that the United States had scaled back its estimate of U.S. troops that would be needed to 3,000 or fewer, down from more than 4,000 only a few days before. Perry also said that, contrary to expectations only a week ago, U.S. soldiers probably would not staff the shelters that Washington hopes to set up for Rwandan refugees returning home from Zaire.

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LITTLE GREEN MEN: Like most third-party efforts, Ross Perot’s presidential campaign attracted more than its share of people who are, perhaps, a little offbeat. Consider this from the latest Times Poll: Asked if they had ever had “an encounter or experience . . . (with) a being from another planet,� only 4% of George Bush and Clinton voters said they had, but 8% of Perot voters said so.

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WHITEWATER WEIRDNESS: Amid the seriousness of the Whitewater hearings were these developments: Comedian Jackie Mason put in an appearance at the hearings on Monday, apparently in search of material for his comedy routine. . . . Perhaps this was the kind of fodder he was looking for: Each time Democratic Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun of Illinois took the microphone to speak, conservative GOP Sen. Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina was observed making this quiet statement from his side of the political aisle: He popped the hearing aids out of both ears.