June 8, 1986

THE outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936, with the attempt by the group of Spanish generals led by Gen. Francisco Franco to make a pronunciamento overthrowing the Spanish Republic, resulted almost from the start in introducing onto Spanish soil two separate but coinciding wars. The first of these was purely Spanish, a continuation of the age-old struggle of the great Spanish landowners - aristocrats and leaders of the church hierarchy - with the peasants and (in later years) the industrial workers. There was also the further complication of the struggle of the Basques and Catalans for independence from the centralizers of Madrid. The second war was the projection into Spain, partly as a rehearsal for world war, of the international conflict in Europe between fascists and antifascists. As the civil war went on, its international aspects loomed larger, with increasing support of Franco by Nazi Germany and increasing interference in the Government of the Spanish Republic by the Russians.

EAST END officials, seeking to preserve the rural character of the region, are acting to try to limit the modern architectural designs employed in many new homes. But some residents fear that the officials are taking upon themselves the authority to decide what kind of home a property owner can build. The debate over the issue escalated last month when the East Hampton Town Architectural Review Board approved guidelines that favor a return to traditional design and discourage the use of modern geometric forms and unusual materials. Many homes in the Hamptons represent avant-garde designs by a number of the nation's most celebrated architects, and these buildings have shared space on the South Fork with the more traditional homes for several decades. The new guidelines call for smaller homes devoid of distracting colors, homes that are shingled or have clapboard siding and shingled roofs, but no skylights or sharp angles. The guidelines also encourage houses built of wood as opposed to stone, steel or other materials that do not conform to traditional styles.

After receiving a rare look at the inner workings of the hypersecret National Security Agency, a Federal jury in Baltimore concluded last week that Ronald W. Pelton was guilty of selling to the K.G.B. details about America's ability to eavesdrop on Russian communications. The evidence in this trial, the latest in a budding series involving home-office analysts accused of espionage, included a few dollops of classified information intended for the jurors' eyes only.

Vice President Bush disclosed today that the Reagan Administration has issued a secret directive labelling drug smuggling a major security threat because it is intimately linked with terrorism. Mr. Bush also said at an appearance in Houston that the United States is considering expanding the use of the military to combat the problem. The Vice President made the disclosure to emphasize the seriousness with which the problem is regarded by President Reagan, a White House official said. Mr. Bush told reporters in Houston that he hoped by making public the President's decision to sign the directive two months ago, ''every American will understand a real link between drugs and terrorism.''

Even before it is formally placed in President Reagan's hands, the final report on the Challenger disaster is proving as notable for the criticisms it omits as for the conclusions it draws, according to members of the Presidential space shuttle commission and outside experts. Missing from the final version, for example, are recommendations about such critical issues as whether the space agency should limit the crews of future shuttle flights to a minimum number of professional astronauts, how much time the agency should take in preparing and inspecting space shuttles between launchings and where blame should lie for the creation of an atmosphere that engineers say made them afraid to delay any liftoff. Some Criticism Toned Down Also missing is the harsh, sometimes emotional language of Richard P. Feynman, a Nobel laureate and commission member, who reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's own studies of the probability of a shuttle accident. In a draft of his report that was later toned down at the insistence of William P. Rogers, the commission chairman, Dr. Feynman wrote that agency officials wildly overstated the safety of the craft ''through their stupidity or their habits of dissembling.'' A revised version of Dr. Feynman's study is to be published as an appendix to the report, though it may not be made available for another month.