Another U.S. mercenary who once helped the contras, Jack Terrell, said he attended meetings with Owen, other mercenaries and contra officials in Houston and Miami in late 1984 in which combat strategy, gunrunning and the assassination of anti- Sandinista leader Pastora were discussed. Terrell said Owen claimed links to North and the NSC.

Terrell's claims have not been independently corroborated. The Justice Department said it has found "no substantive evidence" that they are true.

Whatever Owen's activities, he eventually became so valuable to the contras that when the State Department's NHAO rejected his job application last October, the contra leadership -- Adolfo Calero, Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo -- wrote a letter requesting his appointment.

The NHAO then hired him as a consultant through a contract with a nonprofit group that Owen had founded, Institute for Democracy, Education and Assistance (IDEA), according to NHAO director Robert Duemling.

Duemling told the House Foreign Relations Committee's Western Hemisphere subcommittee March 5 that Owen's tasks included helping the contras with administrative chores and health care services. John Flynn, a retired Air Force officer who lives in Texas and is one of three IDEA directors, said IDEA had been founded on Jan 9, 1985, to help the contras. Flynn said he met Owen in Costa Rica through John Hull, a U.S.-born farmer who owns a ranch in northern Costa Rica and who is frequently linked with contra activities.

Classified NHAO documents show that, as of Nov. 6, IDEA had received $50,675. Records on later payments to IDEA have not been made public.

A contra rebel official said that after he joined the NHAO, Owen stopped being a secret NSC conduit and has been involved with the rebel movement's Miskito Indian faction.

Herald special correspondent Karen Lowe contributed to this report.