The agent said she believed "that Saunders is paying Stone for this information he is now receiving," noting Saunders' taped remarks that he had been "paying a lot in expenses to get information on specific programs."

For his part, Saunders was paid half of Muldoon's $8,000 monthly consulting fees from Norden, the affidavit said.

The documents were filed in support of a court warrant prior to FBI searches last month at the offices of Saunders and Varian Continental, a Texas contractor. They apparently were unsealed because federal prosecutors forgot to extend a request to keep them secret pending further investigation.

They provided the first close-up glimpse of the nature of a stream of revelations expected in the weeks ahead. Federal law enforcement sources have said they expect similar affidavits, supporting dozens of FBI search warrants, to be released soon.

Carlucci said last week the Pentagon would take action against contractors when he had specific evidence of wrongdoing.

All of the contracts on which payments were frozen Friday involve communications and electronics command and control equipment. Carlucci was asked at a press conference why he had taken action in this case when none had been taken as a result of an earlier court document alleging bribery of unnamed Pentagon officials in connection with weapons made by the McDonnell Douglas Corp.

"This is very much more specific. We have specific evidence," he replied.

Pentagon officials later said two of the nine contracts had not yet been awarded - only competitive proposals had been requested from industry. The officials also said one of the nine contracts - $38 million for electronics display units - had been completed.

They could not explain how payments could be frozen on a contract that had been completed, or the two not yet started, except to say there still might be some development work on the completed contract.

This is a information box that accompanied the story above.

PAYMENTS BLOCKED ON 9 SYSTEMS -VLF - Very Low Frequency;low frequency communication systems and related improvements for ships, aircraft and shore facilities;$6.3 million.

-TESS - Tactical Environmental Support System; a computer-based oceanographic system for ships and shore sites; $58 million.

-ATACC - Advanced Tactical Air Command Central; a series of communications terminals and automated work stations; $118 million.

-UYQ - an aviation electronics display unit for carrier anti-submarine warfare; $38 million.

-DCT - Digital Communications Terminal; a hand-held programmable input-output unit used for composing, editing, transmitting, receiving and displaying messages in conjunction with standard military radios; $150 million.

-Bancroft - a tactical high frequency single channel radio for tanks; $30 million.

-FOCS - Fiber Optics Cables; for digital switches and radio equipment; $51 million.

-MRC-139 - a digital wide-band radio set providing secure line-of-sight voice and data links; $49 million.

-ASWOC - Anti-Submarine Warfare Operating Center; a system of 20 shore-based command and control centers that support and coordinate anti-submarine warfare efforts; $712 million.