Adding an ironic twist to a mushrooming international dispute, alumni records reveal that Nicholas S. Daniloff '56 claimed the CIA denied him a job when he applied nearly 30 years ago.

"I had wanted, at Harvard, to become a diplomat--or, more accurately a foreign servant," Daniloff--the American journalist awaiting trial in the Soviet Union on charges of espionage--wrote in his Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report.

"As luck would have it, the U.S. Foreign Service, the CIA, [and the United States Information Agency] all found my mind lacking."

But having "seen many ironies over the last years...I am delighted to have [become] a journalist rather than becoming a diplomatic servant to other men," Daniloff, a former Nieman fellow, recalled in his reunion biography.

A spokesman for the CIA refused to comment yesterday on whether Daniloff had actually applied for a position with the spy agency.

Daniloff was ending a five-year stint as Moscow bureau chief for U.S. News & World Report when KGB agents arrested him on August 30, after he allegedly received an envelope containing Soviet secrets.

In a further development of the Daniloff case, the State Department plans to expel 25 Soviet diplomats at the United Nations as part of an ongoing effort to pressure Moscow to release the journalist, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

Administration officials believe the Soviets arrested Daniloff to gain leverage in their attempt to win the release of Gennadiv Zakharov, an employee of the United Nations. American security agents arrested the Soviet physicist and charged him with spying on August 23.

Although Daniloff was released from a jail last Friday, Soviet authorities still plan to bring him to court on charges of espionage. The American journalist previously worked in the Soviet Union for United Press International (UPI) from 1961 to 1965 and spent 1973-74 at Harvard as a Nieman fellow.

Just Joking?

But members of Daniloff's class of Nieman fellows say they doubt the correspondent's 1981 remarks indicate his desire to become a CIA spy.

"He has a very dry sense of humor and I'm sure he was just horsing around," said Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, who served with Daniloff as a Nieman fellow.

Goodman and five other Nieman alumni denounced Daniloff's detention by Soviet officials at a press conference earlier this week at the foundation's Cambridge offices.

The Harvard affiliated Nieman Foundation offers year-long fellowships to outstanding journalists, enabling participants to explore scholarly topics free from the pressures and demands of professional journalism.

Other fellows yesterday described their detained colleague, the son of Russian parents, as a man with a passion for that nation's culture.