Untitled.

The Securities and Exchange Commission needs to be scraped off the floor. Its failure in the Bernard Madoff case, excoriated Monday in Congressional hearings, is the ultimate morale buster, but it followed years of deterioration. Rebuilding the S.E.C. will require political backing and greater industry expertise. The agency's blunders were probably caused by a series of small errors and miscommunications, the downfall of many investigations. But good detective work demands good instincts. Sophisticated investors smelled something rotten in Mr. Madoff's business and told the S.E.C. Yet no one there could sniff it out. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]