The Stench Grows

Operation Ill Wind, the grand jury investigation of bribery and corruption in the Pentagon’s procurement program, is starting to show every sign of developing into a gale-force scandal for the Reagan Administration. Indictments in the expanding purchasing inquiry may still be months away as federal prosecutors chase scores of leads developed from undercover work by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the issuance of hundreds of subpoenas. But the allegations that have surfaced so far suggest that what may soon be exposed is a network of wrongdoing against which earlier cases of Defense Department corruption could seem almost minor.

At the heart of the investigation is the suspicion that some major defense contractors bribed sources in the Pentagon to get hold of classified information about their competitors’ proposals and activities. Access to this information could work to skew design, bidding and contracting procedures, unfairly eliminating some firms from consideration while greatly improving the prospects and the profits of those that had illegal access to the data. In the end, of course, the effective elimination of competition only serves to raise the prices paid by taxpayers for military equipment.

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), says that he told Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III more than three years ago that classified information was flowing to contractors from the office of then-Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr., but that Meese wasn’t interested. Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), says that he gave a similar warning to then-Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, but that Weinberger didn’t act. Lehman’s name is figuring increasingly in this investigation. That of his former deputy and close associate, Melvin Paisley, is heard even more. The two once boasted about streamlining Navy procurement practices. It appears that what they may have eliminated along with supposed bureaucratic barriers were safeguards against corruption. As the extent of that corruption continues to be explored, the already considerable stench of scandal is likely to get worse.