Several high army officials in the Pentagon have expressed the "warmest possible praise" for the attack on U.S. war transport facilities made in the latest Reporter magazine by Edward L. Katzenbach, Jr., associate director of the defense studies program.

A1 Newman, managing editor of the Reporter, said yesterday that "very high sources indeed" had commended Katzenbach's views and that one official had called the article "very good and timely." The correspondents would not reveal their names and but one Pentagon spokesman possessed very strong favorable views, but "all things considered . . . they should be kept to myself," he said.

The editor believed that Katzenbach's article "might well have motivated" Defense Secretary Wilson's statement that present air force transport facilities are adequate. The Reporter has received no unfavorable comment on the piece so far.