Washington ? The Bush administration ordered the expulsion of 14 Cuban diplomats — seven from the United Nations and seven from Washington — for engaging in “inappropriate and unacceptable activities.”

The expulsion order, announced Tuesday, is by far the largest of six over the years that have involved Cuban diplomats.

A senior administration official said those ordered home from the Cuban mission in Washington were found to have engaged in three types of improper activities: monitoring and surveillance, association with known criminals and the attempted recruitment of spies for Cuba.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the seven Washington-based diplomats have been declared “persona non grata.” The seven in New York were expelled for “activities deemed to be harmful to the United States outside of their official capacity,” he said.

Reeker said the 14 were given 10 days to leave the country.

The action was unusually harsh in that the number of those ordered out of the country exceeds the total number of Cubans involved in similar cases since 1969, according to a preliminary official count.

An administration official said the action should not be considered a response to the arrest of some 75 dissidents who were given long prison sentences after brief trials earlier this spring — a move that drew strong U.S. criticism.

The Cuban Interest Section is in the Swiss Embassy in Washington. The United States on Tuesday ordered the expulsions of 14 Cuban diplomats for engaging in intelligence activities outside their official duties.

A formal response to the Cuban crackdown could come on May 20, regarded by most Cuban-Americans as Cuban Independence Day. The official said a range of options is under consideration.

The highest-ranking Cuban expelled from the U.N. mission was Adrian Francisco Delgado Gonzalez, a counselor listed as No. 3 in the latest U.N. diplomatic directory. Another counselor, Alfredo Jose Perez Rivero, listed as No. 5, was also ordered to leave, U.S. officials said.

The latest U.N. directory lists 37 accredited Cuban diplomats, led by Ambassador Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla.

The identities of the diplomats in Washington were not disclosed. The chief of the Cuban mission in the capital, Dagoberto Rodriguez, will be allowed to remain.

Under mutual agreement, Cuba is allowed to have 26 diplomats and staff members at its Washington office.

The office does not operate as an embassy because diplomatic relations were broken in 1961, two years after Fidel Castro assumed power. After a 16-year hiatus, small diplomatic missions, known as interests sections, were opened in each other’s capital.