Federal agents from the State Department's Protective Services Division are guarding Lee Kwan Yew, Prime Minister of Singapore, during his stay in Eliot House.

Armed guards are stationed near the superintendent's office at the entrance to Eliot House and in the stairway leading to Lee's suite 24 hours a day.

They have not checked bursar's cards or other identification at any time. Students living in the entry say neither the guards nor the Administration has made special requests of them.

The division's agents guard heads of state and heads of government visiting the United States, as well as the Secretary of State.

At a press conference shortly after his arrival in Cambridge last week for a month-long visit as a Fellow of the Institute of Politics of the John F. Kennedy School Government, Lee said he wanted to be "just another anonymous person in Cambridge."

Raymond Garo, a security agent from the division's Washington, D.C., bureau who is in charge of security for Lee, said yesterday his agents are trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, in compliance with Lee's wishes, while still providing adequate security.

"To have a head of state within a campus for such a long period is unusual," Garo said. "We have to be flexible and live with existing conditions as much as possible, although conditions here aren't very conducive to security," he said. The United States Government is paying for the security costs.

Institute Pays

Robert Tonis, Chief of University Police, said last night that a Harvard policeman, under Garo's direction, is present at Eliot House 24 hours a day. The Institute of Politics is paying for the special police duty, Tonis said.

Additional security is provided by Lee's personal aides, and arrangements have been made for assistance from Cambridge and Boston police if necessary, Garo said.

Lee has lunched with students in the Eliot House dining hall several times, with guards sitting a few tables away. Agents keep track of his movements by means of walkie-talkies.