n069  1541  16 Jan 80
 
WEAPON
(Newhouse 012)
By PHILIP W. SMITH
Newhouse News Service
    WASHINGTON - At the top of Pakistan's arms shopping list is an
''extremely accurate'' U.S. anti-tank missile that Army sources say
could easily be carried across the border into Afghanistan for use
against Soviet armored units fighting Moslem rebels there.
    In the wake of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, the Carter
administration will ask Congress for $200 million in military
assistance and another $200 million in economic aid for Pakistan for
the next two years.
    The weapon system in which the Pakistanis are most interested,
according to Pentagon sources, is the American Tow missile.
    The missile, its launcher and the tripod from which it is fired
weigh a total of about 150 pounds and can be broken down so the
entire package can be carried by three men. Small guerrilla units
would have little trouble getting the equipment across the border
U.S. Army officers familiar with the system estimate.
    Developed in the mid-60s by the Army Missile Command at Redstone
Arsenal, Ala., TOWs have been used successfully against Russian-built
armored vehicles in Vietnam and against Soviet-built tanks by the
israeli army.
    The missiles will ''punch a hole in any operational tank in the
world,'' an Army Missile Command spokesman said, and ordinary
soldiers can be taught to fire them ''in less than five minutes.''
    They have a range of about two miles, are ''extremely accurate'' and
are ''specially designed for rugged treatment,'' he added.
    A single Marine firing TOWs knocked out six Soviet-built North
Vietnamese armored personnel carriers in a fire fight that lasted
only a few minutes during the closing days of the Vietnam War.
    Israeli soldiers destroyed dozens of Soviet-supplied Arab tanks with
TOWs during the 1972 war in the Sinai Desert.
    TOW is an acronym for ''tude-launched, optically-tracked,
wire-guided.''
    A soldier lines up a tank in the cross hairs of a telescope site and
fires the missile. He then holds the moving tank in the site as the
missile travels toward it.
    Fine wires trail out from behind the missile back to a computer to
the launcher, which gives the missile signals that guide it to the
target.
    A new missile can be loaded in the launcher as soon as one has been
fired.
    More than 200,000 TOWs have been produced, and the United States has
sold the system to about 20 foreign countries.
    The system is manufactured by Hughes Aircraft Co. in Tucson, Ariz.
    TOWs are among the !150 million in weapons that Pakistan had
attempted to buy from the United States prior to the Soviet invasion
of neighboring Afghanistan. this sale had been held up because of
U.S. intelligence estimates that Pakistan is attempting to build a
nuclear weapon.
    Because of the invasion, however, Carter will ask Congress to allow
the sale to go through and provide an additional $200 million in arms
to Pakistan without charge.
AR END SMITH
    
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n088  1821  16 Jan 80
 
AM-BROWN
China Said Ready to Help Afghans With Small Arms
By RICHARD HALLORAN
c.1980 N.Y. Times News Service
    WASHINGTON - During Secretary of Defense Harold R. Brown's trip to
Peking, Chinese leaders suggested that they were ready to increase a
covert flow of Chinese small arms to Afghan rebels fighting Soviet
troops in Afghanistan, administration officials said Wednesday.
    The officials here said that was one of several modest ways in which
the Chinese indicated they would help to counter the Soviet thrust
into Afghanistan. Those arms would go to Afghans taking refuge in
Pakistan, with which China has a good political and military
relationship.
    The Chinese also seemed ready to intercede with Pakistan, next door
to Afghanistan, to help patch up the splintered relationship between
the United States and Pakistan. ''The degree to which the Pakistanis
trust us may depend on what the Chinese tell them,'' said one
official here.
    Also, the Chinese seemed willing to use their considerable influence
in the Third World to build political pressures on the Soviet Union,
their arch rival in both the Communist world and among the developing
nations.
    But Chinese leaders indicated to Brown, who returned to Washngton
Wednesday, that they had no intention of committing their military
forces to action against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the
officials here said. To do so would be to risk confrontation with the
Soviet Union all along the 5,000-mile border between them.
    Military analysts here pointed to another reason: The Chinese army
is incapable of projecting power more than 30 to 50 miles beyond
Chinese borders because it lacks transport and the logistics support
required for a longer advance.
    On the other hand, Brown let the Chinese know that the United States
would welcome Chinese military help against Vietnam, in whatever form
the Chinese might choose to make it, if Vietnamese armies cross the
Cambodian border into Thailand. Officially, the United States has
discouraged such intervention.
    Just how much the Chinese could accomplish is questionable,
according to military analysts here. The Chinese invaded Vietnam in
1978 in an effort to teach the Vietnamese a lesson. But the Chinese,
fighting with weapons of Korean War vintage, were bloodied by the
more experienced Vietnamese armed with modern Russian weapons.
    Even though the Chinese leaders and the American delegation agreed
on the dangers arising from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan,
officials here indicated that the military benefits to the United
States would be long range and strategic rather than immediate and
tactical.
    Brown remarked during his trip that the United States had moved from
enmity through normalization to friendship with China and that a
partnership, although something less than a military alliance, was
possible.
    For the moment, the immense Chinese army, even though its weapons
are obsolete, has large numbers of Soviet divisions pinned down on
the border, thus restricting their movement elsewhere. The Chinese
nuclear arsenal is what one official called ''genuine'' and that has
been removed as an immediate threat to the United States and its
allies.
    On the flow of Chinese arms to Afghan rebels, officials here
declined to discuss numbers or types other than to note that they
appeared to pass through Chinese advisers in Pakistan. It was
unlikely that the Chinese would try to ship them directly into
Afghanistan, with which China has a tiny common border, because the
mountains there are among the world's most rugged.
    Officials here also vigorously denied Soviet allegations that the
United States had supplied arms to the Afghan rebels or had assisted
them in any way. Those officials pointedly refrained from indicating
what the United States might do in the future.
    Officials said, however, that the United States and China appeared
to be moving toward what one called ''a rational division of labor''
in the Afghanistan crisis that might be applied elsewhere. In this
case, China would provide the small arms to the Afghans while the
United States leads a consortium in providing heavier arms to
Pakistan for its defense.
    American and Pakistani officials have discussed a $400 million
package of economic and military assistance. But the negotiations
have been slowed by an atmosphere of distrust arising from Pakistan's
potential for nuclear weapons and from the recent sacking of the
American Embassy that the Pakistan army failed to prevent.
    
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n502  2247  29 Jan 80
 
BC-FLEE-1stadd-01-30
    GILBERT A. LEWTHWAITE xxx ALL THE TIME.''
    ''It was only a matter of time before the Iranians came to know
about this,'' she said. Unless the Americans were moved, ''the lives
of ouj embassy officials would be very much in jeopardy.''
    Miss MacDonald said the Canadian ambassador in Tehran, Ken Taylor,
advised Ottawa and Washington that this weekend, with the
presidential election ballots still being counted, was the best time
to attempt an escape.
    The six Americans were issued with ordinary Canadian passports,
which do not carry any job description, and left the embassy in
groups over the past two days befors Tay or and o4e laehshree
vanadian diplomatsiclosed the building, Canadian officials said.
    Earlier escape pgans were c9n2fer5d, but were all abandoned as
being too dangerous in the extremely volatige political and social
situation.
    While the Americans remained underiCa,aduan protection, the Ottawa
government steadily reduced its ow  representation.
    Xor example, its trade attache was transferred to Turkey2 its
lim.igration officzr went to Greece.
    All Canadian businessmen were advised to leave the country, and the
50 Canadianpermanent residents in Ira8 ostly margied oo Cranians,d
were warned thatsthe embassy would be evacuated.
    Prime Minister C
((&!D Tuesday he never had anmidoubt about the
correctness of Canada's action in harboring the Americans, adding
that he would have offered to help to anyone in the same position.
    The news of their dramatic escape was broken by a French Canadian
newspaper, La Presse. Its Washington correspondent Jean Pelletier,
son of Canada's ambassador to Paris, wrote the story, which said that
the newspaper had known of the Americans' whereabouts since Dec. 10
but had acceded to a request from both U.S. and Canadian governments
to withhold the information until the six were freed.
    Its reporter was told by one Canadian official last December: ''If
you talk about it now, that would be equivalent to revealing the
addresses of Jewish families trying to escape frmm the Gestapo in
1941. It's a question of life and death.''
     The La Presse story said that in the early days of the U.S. embassy
crisis, Ambassador Taylor considered smuggling the Americans across
the Turkish border by night, or taking them through the airport on
false passports, but decided either approach was too dangerous at the
time.
    Instead, he increased his contacts with the Iranians, presenting
himself as a possible intermediary while actually ''studying'' the
Tehran authorities' procedures for issuing entrance and exit visas.
    Publication of details of the escape Tuesday was still regretted by
officials both in Washington and Ottawa, who expressed concern over
the potential impact on the hostages still held in the embassy.
    Jody Powell, the White House spokesman, said: ''It was obviously our
desire that this story not get out.''
    Hodding Carter III, the official State Department spokesman, warned
that the escape should not provoke any reprisals against the
remaining hostages.
    In Canada, Prime Minister Clark also expressed his concern over the
publicity, saying: ''These are things one can't contgol.''
    But news of the Canadians role as latter day Scarlet Pimpernels,
0u3en immedi$te su-ge of 9va g alpveciation un t6e U(T 
AUtatiAt '4bsle
epa t.ent  a camera crew from CTV, the Ujc0 ic
 epe,beno me0   network, $s
gu en a standing ovat
o
when it
entered the Ur cmm$ouation roo. t4k oq
$on.
    aid one U.S.  i0loatic officer: ''Somne ee, brok
o0 with 'Xh,
Canada9 (the Canadian anthem). Feelings are running prettq hi4h
here.''
    The Canadian embassy report5  an ivmediate flurry of thank-you
calls, with some people promising to buy Canadian beer and take
vacat8o u north of the8boder this year.
    ENDITILEWTHWAITE
    
ny-01 0147st
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a027  0110  30 Jan 80
AM-Iranian Roundup, 1st Ld, a237,210
URGENT
Eds: Iran says Canada will pay for rescuing Americans, new info grafs
1-6
By The Associated Press
    Foreign Minister Sadegh Ghotbzadeh said today Canada must bear the
responsibility for any increased hardship inflicted on the U.S.
hostages and that sooner or later Canada will pay for smuggling six
Americans out of Iran.
    ''Any change in the harshness which may be imposed on the hostages,
it's only the government of Canada which is going to be responsible
for it,'' he told a news conference in Tehran.
    ''Therefore, we will not bother to protest what Canada has done but
we indicate that sooner or later, here or anywhere in the world,
Canada will pay for this violation of the sovereignty of Iran, the
forging of the passports and the actions they have taken.''
    He said the ''flagrant violation'' of international law evidenced in
the issuing of false passports supported the view of Moslem militants
holding the U.S. Embassy hostages that international laws are in
place only to help the large powers suppress small countries.
    Asked whether the treatment of the hostages would become harsher as
a result of the incident, he replied it is possible.
    The six Americans, who escaped capture when the U.S. Embassy was
seized Nov. 4, slipped out of Tehran after 12 weeks in hiding, helped
by the Canadian Embassy and an elaborate ruse of false identities and
forged documents.
    ''That's illegal!, 7th graf pvs.
    
ap-ny-01-30 0416EST
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a030  0135  30 Jan 80
PM-Iranian Rdp, Bjt,610
URGENT
Precedes Tehran-dated digest line
Ghotbzadeh Says Escape May Mean Harsher Treatment for Hostages
By The Associated Press
    The Canadian rescue of six members of the U.S. Embassy staff from
Tehran may result in harsher treatment for the approximately 50
Americans still held hostage, Iranian Foreign Minister Sadegh
Ghotbzadeh said today.
    If it does, he added, Canada will be responsible.
    ''Any change in the harshness which may be imposed on the hostages,
it's only the government of Canada which is going to be responsible
for it,'' Ghotbzadeh told a news conference in Tehran called to
deliver the Iranian reaction to the escape of the six Americans.
    The U.S. and Canadian governments confirmed on Tuesday that six
members of the U.S. Embassy staff escaped when militants seized the
embassy on Nov. 4, took refuge with the Canadian embassy and left the
country during the weekend using Canadian passports. After they were
gone, Canada closed its embassy on Monday and withdrew its last four
officials from the country.
    ''We will not bother to protest what Canada has done,'' said
Ghotbzadeh, ''but we indicate that sooner or later, here or anywhere
in the world, Canada will pay for this violation of the sovereignty of
Iran, the forging of the passports and the actions they have taken.''
    He called the issuance of false passports to the six Americans a
''flagrant violation'' of international law. He said this supported
the view of the militants holding the hostages in the U.S. Embassy
that the only purpose of international law is to help the major powers
suppress small countries.
    The four American men and two women who escaped were reported at a
U.S. military base in West Germany, and the State Department refused
to say when they would be brought to the United States.
    The State Department identified them as Mark Lijek, a consular
officer; his wife Cora, a consular assistant; Roger G. Anders, a
consular officer; Henry L. Schatz, an agricultural attache; Joseph
Stafford, a consular officer, and his wife Kathleen, a consular
assistant.
    The news of their escape dumbfounded the militants holding the
embassy. ''It's illegal! It's illegal!'' one of them told reporters.
    A representative of the militants, reached by telephone today from
Nicosia, Cyprus, refused to say whether there might be any change in
the treatment of the hostages. He said a statement would be issued
later in the day.
    Meanwhile, the leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini backed President-elect Abolhassan Bani Sadr in his feud with
the bosses of Iran's media and urged unity in support of the new
elected leader.
    In a recorded message from his hospital sickbed Tuesday, Khomeini
appealed to Iranians to work with the first president of the Islamic
republic, who was elected last weekend by an overwhelming majority.
    ''You are all brothers. You should all hold each other's hands,'' he
said.
    Bani Sadr's feud with the men controlling the government radio and
television services began in November when as foreign minister he took
a more moderate line toward the United States than the militants
holding the U.S. Embassy and the captive Americans.
    He was forced to resign as foreign minister and accused the official
media of a campaign of ''lies and propaganda'' against him. He was
replaced Ghotbzadeh, who as director of the radio and TV services
orchestrated the coverage of which Bani Sadr complained.
    Khomeini, who is recovering from a heart attack at the age of 79, in
his broadcast message also appeared to try to lessen the dependence
of the revolutionary cause on himself.
    ''I hope that in the future our nation will be alert and without
fear, no matter whether a person comes or goes,'' he said.
    Tehran Radio said the ayatollah's doctors reported today that his
''condition is satisfactory, his heart beat is absolutely regular and
blood pressure stable, he does not feel any pain, and his general
condition is good.''
    
ap-ny-01-30 0442EST
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n072  1603  01 Feb 80
 
BC-GULF 2takes
(EXCLUSIVE - 10 p.m. EST embargo)
U.S. Should Consider Nuclear Weapons in Iran, Secret Report Says.
By RICHARD BURT
c. 1980 N.Y. Times News Service
    WASHINGTON - A secret Defense Department report on the military
situation in the Persian Gulf region has concluded American forces
could not stop a Soviet thrust into northern Iran and that the United
States should thus consider using ''tactical'' nuclear weapons in any
conflict there.
    At the same time, the report also concludes that the United States
could possibly handle Soviet threats to oil tankers in the area and
might also be able to match any effort by Moscow to move forces into
Saudi Arabia.
    The Pentagon report, entitled ''Capabilities in the Persian Gulf,''
was described by officials as the most extensive military study of
the region ever done by the government. Completed after the
revolution in Iran but prior to the Soviet move into Afghanistan late
last year, the report examines the capacity of the United States to
respond to a number of potential contingencies, including a Soviet
attack on Iran; an attempt by Moscow to bomb major oil facilities in
the Persian Gulf and a Soviet submarine campaign against Western oil
tankers in the Indian Ocean.
    The 70-page report was commissioned by Secretary of Defense Harold
Brown almost two years ago, after an interagency study concluded that
the Persian Gulf was the most likely flash-point for a confrontation
between Moscow and Washington. It was prepared by military officers
as well as civilian analysts in the Office of the Secretary of
Defense and is said to have laid the groundwork for the
Administration's current effort to bolster local defenses and the
presence of American forces in the region.
    The disclosure of the report comes amid a growing debate over the
so-called ''Carter Doctrine,'' the president's recent pledge to use
force, if necessary, to protect ''vital interests'' in the Persian
Gulf. In hearings on Capitol Hill last week, Brown and other top
military aides were repeatedly pressed on whether the United States
could actually defend oil supplies in the event of a large-scale
Soviet attack.
    One of the most outspoken skeptics of the ability of American forces
to carry out Carter's new commitment to the Persian Gulf was Sen.
Henry Jackson, D-Wash., who asked Brown ''whether it's wise to lay
down a doctrine when there is serious doubt whether it can be
upheld?''
    While Brown and other officials argued that it was possible to deter
any major Soviet attack, they acknowledged that Moscow enjoys
important military advantages in the area. The report reinforces this
point and stresses that, unlike Western Europe, the Soviet-American
military balance consists not of the forces that Washington and
Moscow keep in the region, but the men and equipment that each could
rapidly move to the area in the event of conflict.
    After stating that Moscow's control of Persian Gulf oil would
''destroy NATO and the American-Japanese alliance without recourse to
war by the Soviets,'' the report lists the large forces available to
the Soviet Union to the north of the region in the North Causasus,
Transcausasus and Turkestan military districts: 23 mechanized
divisions, consisting of about 200,000 troops; 70 tactical fighters,
including 35 advanced Fencer fighter-bombers and 193 longer-range
bombers, including 19 new Backfire aircraft. In addition, the report
says that Moscow possesses 103 naval bombers and about 10 submarines
that it could commit against American aircraft carriers in the Indian
Ocean.
    Calling a ''sudden seizure'' of Iran ''the worst case from the U.S.
point of view,'' the report maintains that a move by Moscow might be
tempted to exploit the current political turmoil in the country ''in
order to seize a historical opportunity to change the worldwide
balance.'' It also says that all 23 of the Soviet divisions just
north of Iran could be mobilized and moved into northwest Iran in
about a month.
    While the report notes that Soviet forces opposite Iran are not as
well-equipped as units in Eastern Europe, it says ''the Iranians will
not soon be able to contribute effectively to their own defense.''
And in the likely contingency that American forces were invited in to
bolster Iranian defenses, the report discloses that it would take
Washington 30 days to get about 20,000 troops and four tactical
fighter squadrons, about 72 aircraft, to the country, leaving Moscow
with more than a five-to-one advantage in forces.
    The only opportunity for stopping a Soviet thrust, the report
continues, would be to impede Soviet forces in the rugged terrain
along the Soviet border and in the mounains to the southeast.
''Unless the mountains can be exploited or substantial assistance can
be obtained from allies,'' it adds, ''the Soviets will surely prevail
easily because of their large advantage over us in ground forces.''
    ''To prevail in an Iranian scenario,'' the report concludes that
''we might have to threaten or make use of tactical nuclear weapons.''
    While gloomy about the chances of stopping Soviet forces in Iran,
the report is more optimistic about Washington's ability to deal with
other threats in the region, particularly any attempt to disrupt oil
shipments on tankers leaving the Persian Gulf.
    MORE
    
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n073  1616  01 Feb 80
 
BC-GULF 1stadd
NYT WASHINGTON: Persian Gulf.
    ''Until recently,'' the report says, ''it was widely believed that
the Soviets could close the sea lanes rather easily through mining
and through attacks by submarines and aircraft. However, our analysis
indicates that Soviet submarines would have severe problems because
of the long distances between the region and their home bases,'' in
the northern Pacific and in the White Sea in the western Soviet Union.
    The report estimates that in 30 days, Soviet submarines and bombers
could sink about 30 percent of the 550 loaded oil tankers in the sea
lanes leading from the Persian Gulf. But it says that after a month
or so, American antisubmarine warfare planes and fighter-interceptors
flown into the region would quickly produce ''results favorable to
the West.''
    In making this assessment, however, the report assumes that the
United States could make full use of local naval bases in such
countries as Oman and Djibouti. It also notes that it ''would be an
ominous development if the Soviets built major regional port
facilities for resupplying submarines'' in the area and also
maintains that ''our ability to deny the Soviets a submarine resupply
sanctuary near the Cape of Good Hope will depend on cooperation from
South Africa.''
    While acknowledging that Moscow, in a surprise move, could use
submarines and aircraft to plant underwater mines in the Strait of
Hormuz, the 25-mile-wide strategic waterway connecting the Persian
Gulf to the Indian Ocean, the report says ''the strait could be
reopened in about two weeks by helicopter sweeping forces.''
    The report suggests that a bigger threat to Western oil supplies
would be posed by attacks on oil facilities in countries around the
Persian Gulf. It says that pipelines and individual oil wells would
not be lucrative targets because ''oil fields are large and
dispersed, access is difficult, and the effects of isolated attacks
would not be great economically.''
    But the report estimates that 65 percent of all Persian Gulf oil
passes through only three shipment facilities, Ras Tanura and Juaymah
in Saudi Arabia and Khark Island off Iran. ''Even limited and
unsophisticated attacks would cause serious disruptions'' to these
facilities, and in the event of war with Moscow, they would be
''prime targets,'' the report says.
    Noting that ''critical'' pumps at the three principal shipments
facilities are located at only eight points, the report says that by
destroying these targets in air raids, Moscow or any other attacker
''could have high confidence of virtually shutting down the
facilities.''
    According to the report, the three facilities are located about 900
miles from Soviet air bases in the southern Soviet Union and could be
stuck by long-range fighters, such as the Su-19 Fencer, and
intermediate bombers, such as the Backfire. ''In some cases, damaged
facilities could be repaired in a matter of weeks,'' it says,
''especially if plans were made in advance to make available
replacement parts and large numbers of specially-trained workmen.''
    But the report adds that ''no such plans exist today and repairs
might take months or years.''
    In examining the capabilities of Washington and Moscow to intervene
in a country not adjacent to the Soviet border, the report discusses
what it calls ''the projection balance;'' the amount and rate at
which the two sides can send military forces into the region by ships
and aircraft.
    The Soviets were said to have ''several distinct advantages: they
are much closer to the Persian Gulf (roughly 1,000 nautical miles vs.
7,000 nautical miles); their initial forces could arrive earlier; and
they have a substantial number of forces at a high level of readiness
    - seven airborne divisions in particular.''
    At the same time, the report also lists important advantages for the
United States: ''Aircraft carriers; more reliable sea lines of
communication; more effective long-range airlift and refueling.''
    As a result, the report concludes that during the first 30 days of a
crisis, for example in Saudi Arabia, ''the United States would
probably be able to project by air and sea more and more powerful
ground forces than would the Soviets, now and into 1985.''
    At the same time, the report says that in the event of a
simultaneous crises in the Persian Gulf and Western Europe, shortages
of C-5 and C-141 transport aircraft would prevent the United States
from moving forces into the latter region for about two weeks.
    The report makes numerous recommendations for improving the American
military posture in the region, strongly endorsing such current
efforts as creating a special ''rapid deployment force'' for use in
the Persian Gulf and gaining greater access to ports and air strips
in the area.
    Addressing the problem of dissuading Moscow from attacking Iran, the
report says ''in principle, a deterrent based on mountain defense
should be feasible - especially if the objective is to guarantee
delays and casualties for the attacker.'' To do this, it calls for
the creation of new, highly-mobile units that would be able to fight
in rugged Iranian terrain.
    To shore up the security of Saudi Arabia and other oil-producing
countries in the lower Perian Gulf, the report supports arrangements
for storing military equipment in the area as well as Egypt and
Israel for use by American forces in the event of war. It also calls
for a new diplomatic effort to improve ties with Iraq, which is
described as ''militarily preeminent'' in the region.
    
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a036  0339  05 Feb 80
PM-TMI Bogus Reporter,410
Court Refuses to Block TMI Report
Eds: Lead prospects uncertain.
By TIM PETTIT
Associated Press Writer
    HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - A weekly newspaper has won a court fight to
print its reporter's account of experiences as a watchman at the Three
Mile Island nuclear power plant, a job he got using false
credentials.
    Judge John Dowling of Dauphin County Court on Monday rejected a plea
from Metropolitan Edison Co., operators of the plant, to block the
story on the grounds that it might endanger the plant's security.
    ''I think the plant owners' rights are far from clear and are
eclipsed by the First Amendment,'' Dowling said. The First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of press, speech and
religion.
    The Guide was to print reporter Robert Kapler's story in today's
edition. The story was not introduced at the court hearing and Guide
Editor Richard Halverson would not comment on the story's contents.
    Halverson did say, however, that he was printing the story because
''TMI is a paradise island for a saboteur - not from without, but from
internal subversion.''
    Three Mile Island was crippled last March in the most serious
commercial nuclear power accident in history. Mechanical failures and
human error resulted in overheating of a reactor core.
    Under questioning during the court hearing, a utility official
explained the security breakdowns that permitted Kapler to use another
man's birth certificate and high school diploma to get the job, which
he held from Jan. 2 to Jan. 19.
    Robert Rice, security manager for General Public Utilities, Met Ed's
parent corporation, said the Gregg Security Co. of Mechanicsburg had
failed to check Kapler's employment background and references when it
hired him. Rice said he never made sure Gregg actually had checked
Kapler's fingerprints with the FBI.
    Even if a fingerprint check had been made, Rice said, the backlog at
the FBI could hold up results for four months, during which time a
guard applicant would be allowed to work.
    Kapler's attorney, Joseph Roda, asked Rice if any guards, at the end
of their shifts, had ever driven off Three Mile Island without
surrendering their security badges, which give people access to
certain parts of the plant.
    Rice: ''It has happened ... The one instance I know of was Mr.
Kapler.''
    Roda: ''You didn't know about it until Kapler identified himself as
an impostor?''
    Rice: ''That's correct.''
    
ap-ny-02-05 0642EST
 - - - - - -

a209  1026  05 Feb 80
PM-TMI Bogus Reporter, 1st Ld, a036,250
Controversial Article Published first 8 grafs, pickup 7th pvs.
By TIM PETTIT
Associated Press Writer
    HARRISBURG, Pa. - (AP) - A newspaper reported today that one of its
reporters, hired as a Three Mile Island security guard, made his way
to the control room of the crippled nuclear plant.
    The Guide, a weekly Harrisburg-area newspaper, printed copyright
stories and photographs by 26-year-old Robert Kapler, one day after
plant operators failed to win a court injunction against the planned
publication.
    Kapler said he walked into the control room, which maintains vital
functions at the plant's severely damaged reactor, through an unlocked
door.
    The Guide ran front-page pictures of the control room and the door,
which had its doorknob missing and had a piece of rope attached so it
could be pulled open.
    The newspaper also detailed what it claimed were examples of a lax
security operation, which allowed Kapler to get a job as a security
guard with bogus identification, allegedly without having his
background checked.
    Last March, Three Mile Island was the scene of the nation's worst
commercial nuclear power accident. Mechanical failures and human error
resulted in overheating of a reactor core.
    On Monday, Judge John Dowling of Dauphin County Court rejected
Metropolitan Edison Co.'s plea to block the story on the grounds that
it might endanger the plant's security. Met Ed operates TMI.
    ''I think the plant owners' rights are far from clear and are
eclipsed by the First Amendment,'' Dowling said in a quickly-reached
decision.
    Under questioning, 7th graf
    
ap-ny-02-05 1329EST
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