First Gusts from an Ill Wind

Unlike the Iran-contra investigation, another drawn-out federal probe was finally starting to produce results. Operation Ill Wind -- the two-year Justice Department inquiry into whether defense contractors bribed Pentagon officials for contract information -- blew in its first indictments and guilty pleas. Two defense contractors and nine men, including a middle-ranking Pentagon official, were hit with charges that include fraud, conspiracy, racketeering and bribery.

The charges focused on William Parkin and Fred Lackner, both private defense consultants, and Stuart E. Berlin, former head of the Navy's ship- engineering section at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command. Court papers describe a scheme in which California's Teledyne Industries paid Parkin and Lackner to obtain confidential information about Government procurement plans for a system to identify military aircraft. They in turn bribed Berlin to turn over the information. Parkin was also charged with paying Berlin to help New York's Hazeltine Corp. win a contract for a radar test device. Hazeltine and two of its executives pleaded guilty, as did a Teledyne employee. All are expected to testify against the other defendants.

Last week's indictments were a far cry from the scores of prosecutions originally anticipated. But the government indicated that many more cases were on the way. Ill Wind, it appears, is likely to keep on blowing.