July 28, 1973

Some US Army intelligence agents in W Ger rept Army intelligence has begun program of Offensive counter-intelligence' against anti-Army civilian groups in W Ger, tapping telephones, photographing their meeting places and trying to infiltrate them; agents believe program is illegal and have protested by disclosing to NY Times operational orders and copies of transcripts of telephone conversations monitored; say agents have explicit instructions not to mention some operations to Ger authorities; operations are aimed against those Army believes are encouraging desertion or otherwise causing trouble; Army hq in Heidelberg, questioned on charges, says hq does not confirm or deny specific classified operations; Ger law and status-of-forces agreement have not permitted Amer agents to monitor Ger telephone lines or to conduct other surveillance operations without permission; one mil agent says driving force behind 'offensive' is Maj Gen H R Aaron; Deputy C/S for Intelligence at Heidelberg; most important targets are underground newspapers published by GIs, sometimes with help of Ger and Amer civilians; agents say other targets are Ger univ orgns and even a Prot mission near Mainz Univ; say objective against Gosner Mission is to determine if it does or does not induce or assist US soldiers to desert from mil; among others under surveillance is clergyman pastor H Stueckmann; civilian, T Schwaetzer, who writes under pen name M Watts for Liberation News Service in Heidelberg, also knows he is under surveillance; a transcript involving him quoted; transcript signed by F E Dent, special agent of 66th Mil Intelligence Group; D C Wales, operations officer of 527th Mil Intelligence Btn, has signed documents on surveillance of Schwaetzer; illus of a notice in an underground newspaper

countdown for launching of 2d Skylab mission with US astronauts Capt Alan L Bean, Maj Jack R Lousma and Dr Owen K Garriott enters final hours on July 27; Walter J Kapryan, dir of launch operations at Kennedy Space Center, says technicians encountered fewer problems preparing Apollo spacecraft and Saturn 1-B rocket than during previous launchings; project officials say thorough med study of crew will be conducted after 1st 28 days in orbit and that decision will be made, and re-evaluated wkly, on whether to continue mission for full 59 days; high on priority list of assignments for astronauts will be observations of sun through 8 telescopes, observations of earth through remote-sensing instruments designed to survey planet's resources and observations of themselves to see how well they can function in weightless environment; crew will be launched with menagerie of small creatures for variety of experiments; Skylab program dir William C Schneider says space station's internal temperature has stabilized at 79 degrees Fahrenheit; says astronauts will make 'space walk' to extend new sunshade over space station, and will install new set of gyroscopes; diagram depicts sequence of events from launching of Apollo spacecraft at Cape Kennedy to docking with Skylab space station; listing of key highlights of mission

Ex-White House aide J D Ehrlichman defends, in July 27 testimony before Sen Watergate com, Nixon campaign's practice of spying on opposition pol candidates saying that politicians have 'affirmative obligation' to investigate and expose drinking habits and personal morals of other candidates

Record sales and earnings for the second quarter and first half of 1973 were dis closed yesterday by the Gen eral Motors Corp. Page 31.

Oklahoma State Penitentiary inmates seize control of prison on July 27 and systematically begin to burn it; 3 convicts are known dead and 19 are known to be injured; 6 guards are injured; convicts are holding 21 guards hostage, demanding meeting with Gov D Hall; Natl Guard troops and state troopers are planning to storm prison, located at McAlester; some non-participating prisoners are evacuated to other sites; estimates of number of inmates involved range from 250 to 1,000; inmates are believed by prison officials to be on some sort of drug; disturbance began when 5 inmates seized guard capt and lt; Gov Hall refuses to meet with inmates until they surrender; illus