Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Payments for Stealth Plane Investigated

The federal government is conducting a criminal inquiry into excessive payments on the Navy’s secret A-12 Stealth attack plane, the Defense Department told Congress. The department’s inspector general, Susan Crawford, told the House Armed Services Committee that the investigation is being conducted by the U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Missouri. The plane’s contractors, McDonnell Douglas Corp. and General Dynamics Corp., are based in St. Louis. Five weeks after Defense Secretary Dick Cheney told Congress in April that the program was on track, it was disclosed that the A-12 is 18 months behind schedule and more than $1 billion over the planned cost of $4.7 billion.