MORE INDICTMENTS COMING IN PENTAGON INVESTIGATION
JUST GETTING STARTED, PROSECUTORS IN CORRUPTION PROBE SAY

Prosecutors say the investigation of Pentagon corruption, which yielded its first indictments more than six months after becoming public, is just getting started.

None of the indictments issued in U.S. District Court Friday involves high-ranking present or former military officials, but U.S. Attorney Henry Hudson said the continuing inquiry promises to be a protracted affair.One defense contractor, a Navy employee and five other men were indicted on charges that included conspiracy and bribery, while another corporation pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government.

"I think over the next few months, perhaps the next year, you'll see a great deal of additional activity," Hudson said Friday, adding that the initial round of indictments represented a "small percentage" of the case.

"It's a significant investigation and my assessment of its dimensions hasn't changed in the last six or seven months," he said. Prosecutors have subpoenaed more than 1 million documents and spent "many, many hours" before the grand jury, he said.

The big-rigging investigation hinges on allegations that private consultants, hired by defense contracting firms, paid bribes to government employees for inside information that gave them an advantage in securing multimillion-dollar contracts.

Hudson, who had once promised indictments in late fall, said he is satisfied with the pace of the complex case.

"I think if you'll compare this to others of its type . . . this investigation is almost unprecedently quick," he said.

Six months ago, President Reagan, declaring he was "very upset" about the reports of corruption in the Pentagon's $150 billion-a-year purchasing system, told law enforcement agents to move "as rapidly as possible" to get the facts on the case, said his spokesman, Marlin Fitzwater.

And President-elect George Bush said the allegations, if correct, showed people "stealing from our national defense and undermining our national security."

Although the investigation had been under way since September 1986, it was not made public until mid-June when the FBI issued search warrants at 38 locations and 12 states. Investigators used court-ordered wiretaps to gather much of their information.

At least 20 defense contractors are under investigation, as well as six Pentagon officials and a number of consultants, among them Melvyn Paisley, former assistant secretary of the Navy for research, engineering and systems.