ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 3, 1993                   TAG: 9312030109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SPACE CENTER, HOUSTON                                LENGTH: Short


NASA, CONTRACTORS IMPLICATED IN STING

About a half-dozen NASA employees and up to 24 workers from outside the agency were implicated by a federal sting operation, a government official said Thursday.

The FBI's sting, dubbed Operation Lightning Strike, netted evidence that NASA employees and contractors took kickbacks and bribes and sold inside information, according to reports by two Houston television stations and NBC News. The report cited anonymous sources.

Johnson Space Center spokesman Harold S. Stall said officials were told about the investigation Wednesday by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's inspector general.

"We are cooperating fully," Stall said.

Both the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Houston refused to comment.

The government official told The Associated Press that the investigation implicated six or seven NASA employees, 12 to 24 non-NASA employees and a couple of corporations. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.

Discussions were being held with some of the targets to resolve the matter through pleas, the official said.

The investigation was active until news organizations publicized the probe this week, the source said.



 by CNB