State judicial officials agree that closer scrutiny of nominees is necessary in the wake of scandalous charges that Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patrick Couwenberg lied about his background, including falsely claiming he had been a CIA agent and fabricating a combat wound that later made him late for court.

Burt Pines, judicial appointments secretary for Gov. Gray Davis, and State Bar officials said they are considering revisions to the review process, including verifying academic credentials and requiring candidates to sign the official  application under penalty of perjury.

"We are disturbed by these charges, if true, and are currently reviewing ways to avoid this happening again," Pines said.

Neither academic degrees nor military records of judicial candidates are verified by anyone, officials confirmed.

A former Los Angeles deputy district attorney now presiding over the Norwalk family court, Couwenberg also allegedly lied about being a Vietnam veteran and receiving a Purple Heart, according to a six-count disciplinary proceeding announced July 5 by the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Couwenberg, 54, also fabricated his academic degrees and professional experience, the state judicial watchdog agency says. Appointed to the bench by former Gov. Pete Wilson in 1997, he was subsequently elected to a six-year term in 1998.

Two groups - the governor's office and the State Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation - are responsible for checking candidates' credentials.

John Davis, who was Wilson's judicial appointments secretary, said the governor's office did not investigate the backgrounds of those seeking to become judges.  Instead, Wilson's office relied on the Los Angeles County Bar Association and the Bar's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation to review candidates and give assessments of judicial applicants.

"It would take a lot of horsepower to verify everything in those applications," Davis said, noting that the governor's office routinely receives 500-600 applications annually.

To verify professional experience, the State Bar panel sends forms to firms listed in the applicants' official Personal Data Questionnaire, commonly called the PDQ, but doesn't check if the forms are not returned, according to commission spokeswoman Biljianna Sirvanov.

She noted that more than 400 forms are sent out for each candidate.

"We have to have a certain amount of information to evaluate a candidate," Sirvanov said.  "We're going to take a look at the entire verification process.  We have spoken to Burt Pines, and we will look at the procedures and make some changes."

Pines pointed out that some of Couwenberg's most egregious fabrications - that he was a CIA agent and a Purple Heart recipient - were not in the official PDQ submitted to the governor's office and therefore could not have been verified.  The governor's office checks applicants' criminal and driving records and their credit history, he said.

The commission's investigation began about two years ago after a profile of Couwenberg appeared in the Daily Journal.  In an interview for that story, Couwenberg claimed he had seen combat while serving in Vietnam but said he hadn't been wounded, received medals or been in military intelligence, despite stories he had told others to that effect.

Couwenberg's claim of being a covert agent was made under oath during testimony, to the Judicial Performance Commission in January.  In Couwenberg's sworn statement detailing an elaborate spy scenario, the judge "testified falsely that [he] had participated in a covert operation in Southeast Asia" and "made a delivery of funds or documents for the CIA in or about 1984 to a person in Africa."  In trying to get an early military discharge, Couwenberg told the commission, he became involved with a shadowy CIA figure named "Jack Smith," who recruited him in 1967 to help funnel munitions to "Scandinavian mercenaries in North Thailand."

Before Couwenberg's 1997 enrobing ceremony, he told former Judge Charles Firsco that he had been awarded a Purple Heart and had been an Army corporal, according to the charges.  In fact, Couwenberg had been a Navy reservist, the commission said.

Couwenberg was admitted to the State Bar in 1976 after failing the examination five times, according to the commission.

Couwenberg isn't the only judge to have made false claims of combat heroism.  In 1995, Illinois Circuit Judge Michael F. O'Brien was censured for saying he had not one but two Medals of Honor.  After buying the medals, he had his name engraved on the backs.

In the Bay Area, U.S. District Judge James Ware of San Jose was publicly reprimanded in 1998 by his fellow federal judges for lying about his brother having been killed in 1963 by a racist's bullet in Alabama.

Couwenberg, who could face punishment ranging from private admonishment to removal from the bench, is due to file a response to the charges today.

Seth Andersen, director of the American Judicature Society's Hunter Center for Judicial Selection, said, "It highlights the fact that, unfortunately, the honor system doesn't work.  That's why it's important to follow up on the application, whether it's a nominating committee or the governor's office.