President Ford asked Congress last night for nearly $1 billion in emergency military and economic aid to Nguyen Van Thieu's Saigon government.

In a foreign policy address to a joint congressional session. Ford increased his $300 million request of January to a call for $722 million in "additional military hardware" for the South Vietnamese regime.

Ford also requested $250 million in economic and humanitarian aid to South Vietnam.

Congressional leaders indicated yesterday the military aid request would be rejected. "The Congress will never vote for military aid," House Democratic leader Thomas P. O'Neill (D-Mass.) said yesterday.

Sen. Jon McClellan (D-Ark.), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, would further military assistance would only prolong human suffering in Indochina.

"The sums I have requested before the North Vietnamese offensive and the South Vietnamese retreat are obviously inadequate," Ford said, referring to the past month's military action.

Calling his address a "straight talk among friends," Ford said nothing new about the Middle East or detente with the Soviet Union and China.

CIA Defended

Ford defended the Central Intelligence Agency and asked Congress to lift the arms embargo against Turkey and the trade restrictions from the Soviet Union.

Ford also said federal laws should be changed to permit Untied States forces to help evacuate "endangered South Vietnamese," as well as American civilians should Saigon be invaded by Provisional Revolutionary Government forces.

"I hope this authority will not have to be used," Ford said, but if it must, "there will be no time for congressional debate."

Ford said the setbacks for the Saigon and Phnom Penh regimes have "disquieted many of our friends," especially in Asia.

Ford disclosed he has scheduled meetings with the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Indonesia, and he recalled his recent visits to Japan and South Korea.

Ford made no new requests for aid to Cambodia, beyond the $222 million already asked. He read a letter from Saukham Khoy, acting president of the Phnom Penh regime.

Ford's comments on the Middle East were only general, with allusions to the international danger of continuing tension in the region and to U.S. efforts to promote negotiations there.