Aides Faulted in Firings at Travel Office : Probe: White House report to be released today criticizes those who handled seven dismissals, officials say. It will urge that five be rehired.

White House officials plan to release a report today that will sharply criticize aides who participated in the dismissal of seven employees from the White House travel office and will recommend that five of the employees be given new jobs, senior Administration officials said Thursday.

The report, to be made public by Chief of Staff Thomas (Mack) McLarty and Budget Director Leon E. Panetta, draws no conclusions about the conduct of the travel office workers, leaving that subject to a continuing investigation by the FBI. But it does not present any new evidence to back up initial suggestions by some White House aides that members of the travel office staff may have engaged in illegal activities.

Pending completion of the FBI inquiry, the report says, the five lower-ranking employees of the office, who have been on administrative leave since late May, should be given new jobs, although not necessarily in their original posts.

The report, put together by White House aide John Podesta, upholds the dismissal of the office’s two supervisors--one of whom took early retirement--saying they were guilty of poor management.

But the heart of the report is a series of strong criticisms of President Clinton’s own aides who handled the firings, and White House officials are hopeful that the public chastisement of those aides will put an end to an episode that became a public relations disaster for them.

The report will not recommend that any White House aides be dismissed, but will detail “mistakes” made by several.

It is expected in particular to criticize the actions of two aides--Associate Counsel William Kennedy, a former law partner of Hillary Rodham Clinton, and the White House’s chief of administration, David Watkins, a longtime political aide to Clinton from Little Rock, Ark.

Watkins had direct supervisory authority over the travel office and handled the firings. Kennedy handled White House relations with the FBI, and in that capacity contacted the bureau about the travel office. Many critics claimed this placed improper political pressure on the bureau.

The report also will criticize the actions of some people outside the White House who participated in the affair. Officials would not name those outsiders discussed in the report, but it is likely to mention the activities of the President’s longtime friend, television producer Harry Thomason. He contacted the White House to forward complaints that some friends in the airline business had been denied opportunities to bid on White House travel business.

The travel office books airline charters for reporters who accompany the President on trips. Its employees are paid by the government, although the charters themselves are paid for by the news organizations who use them.