The Press: The Masquerader

On a beach near Oceanside, Calif, last week, a Navy-Marine force went through maneuvers. Some 500 Army officers watched as 60 ships, 275 planes and 30,000 men did their stuff. A man in Russian army uniform busily took notes of everything.

A Marine MP invited him to watch from the officers’ section, where he could see better. An officer introduced “Colonel Pitirim Nadski” to Brigadier General Omar T. Pfeiffer, chief of staff at Camp Pendleton. Pfeiffer and the colonel exchanged salutes and pleasantries. But when asked for his credentials, the colonel had none. He was politely whisked away for questioning. After two hours, he came clean; he was no Russian but Reporter John D’Alfonso of the San Diego Journal, wearing a uniform rented from a Hollywood costume shop. He had been assigned by his paper to test “security” at the maneuvers.

The Journal was embarrassed to learn that D’Alfonso could (but wouldn’t) be prosecuted for unauthorized use of the uniform of a friendly foreign power. But the rival San Diego Tribune-Sun was even more embarrassed. Said its banner headline, before the truth was out : RED COLONEL SEIZED AT S.D. MANEUVERS.