Warren's claim to be an FBI agent prompted a hotel manager to send a security video of the incident to the FBI, said two of the sources.
FBI officials said they could not recall such an incident.
One version of the incident had Warren "flashing FBI credentials." According to a longtime senior CIA operations official, the CIA has occasionally used the FBI for cover, as it has many other agencies, particularly the Department of State.
But other veteran intelligence operatives said they had never heard of the CIA using the FBI for cover -- or counterfeiting FBI credentials for an operation.
One of the former senior CIA officials talked about the incident because he was incensed that Warren would be allowed to return to duty in Cairo despite "such a shocking lack of judgment." This official maintained that Warren was given lenient treatment because he is an African American.
But another former CIA division chief described Warren as a highly talented officer whose "future was unlimited."
In 2007 Warren was made CIA station chief in Algiers. Sometime during his North African postings, he converted to Islam, according to news reports.
It was in Cairo that he first met a married woman who would later charge him with drugging and having unwanted sex with her.
Last year she, and another woman in Algiers, independently reported to embassy officials that Warren had invited them to his residence, knocked them out with so-called "date rape" drugs and had sex with them.
Evidence supporting their accusations was gathered by agents from the Diplomatic Security Service and summarized in an affidavit obtained by ABC Television News last month.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on any aspect of the Warren case, except to reiterate that "the agency would take seriously, and follow up on, any allegation of misconduct."
Warren and his attorney could not be located for comment.###
Jeff Steinhttp://blogs.cqpolitics.com/spytalk/about.html can be reached at jstein@cq.com. Go to his daily SpyTalk blog at CQ Politics for more on this and other national security topics.