Battle to Supreme Court The taping issue surfaced last November when Cable News Network reported that it had obtained tapes of the general's conversations.

He said secretly obtained tapes would be played at the Monday hearing providing evidence of violence and obstruction of justice by the three men.

It has been said that if enough people write in to ask how to obtain tapes for their own use, they might be sold by NASA.

Mr. Peters said the flight standards district office at Teterboro Airport would investigate the incident by obtaining tapes of ground-to-air communications and radar data showing the flight's path.

He and his staff obtained tapes of the actual conversations in 1986, recorded surreptitiously by an ever-helpful Peter Lorre.

The magazine, Isto E, did not disclose how it had obtained tapes of the wiretaps, but government officials have not challenged their authenticity.

The man, whose identity was not revealed, later cooperated with the F.B.I., helping the agency obtain tapes of conversations with Mr. Cody.

It was in that search, according to the agents' written report, that the authorities obtained the books, audio tapes and pamphlets.

The network has televised only one such conversation, on Nov. 9, but the network has suggested that it obtained other tapes made of the general's telephone calls from his jail cell.

The man, whose identity was not revealed, later cooperated with Federal investigators, helping them obtain tapes of conversations with Mr. Cody.