REF ID:A42924 

,.(¥): Tf::!E NE.W ~9.RK'·TIMES,- SWIJAY1 APRIL 13,, .1952 .· · .. ~-~ . ,. .· . '.{.::·~ 

.... ,- Army Inteiligenc~__;_j··-· 

Grow's Diary Incident Brings to Light 

.i., ~,'t'¥11~:·' :( • 

cap_ltals;-' particularly ·:it\;,yc\_i,Uigerl asSJstant attachi!s, so~· Of Whom are "live wires," and · there fare 

many competent men In ~~::,m 

Washington. ~lfill'·· 

But thel'e have been eqough cases of mlsasslgnment, like 'ithat 

M ' · t f M 'J '... A tt h of General Grow, to mar the r81lo 1sass1gnmen s o 1 hary ac ~s ord seriously and ·to reduce mate-

_ _. ., rlally the uUlity of Army Intelligence. And It Is clear that thlll 

B.r HAN~ON W. BALDWIN ' fine intent that motivated the pcm\-i 

Once agah1 the · Army has opean cowitry afte1· the war;ttere war re-establishment· of our a~ 

closed the barn door 'after the notorious one fior his coiviVtal tach6s system has now been: 

horses have been stolen · . ' i! f• ; negated, by, among other l'eaaonii 

Its order •last week, 'paralleled habits, the othe for selling on the the "spoils" · system of ~. by·one from the Air Force, pro· black market some excess clothing Pc;>lltlcs. 

hiNtlng military attachl!s 'and he• had brought. One major gen· -------- ; '!' Army personnel overseas from era!, who during the war waa head! 

'.;~; keeping dairies waa a belateclo and of G-2, waa recalled from bis. post ;

1 f' {feeble attempt to rectify funda· as military and.air attach6 In Lon- i .j- mental errors ln t~ Army's ap- don four years ago for lnvestiga- " 1 , _:proach to the coJlection and evalu· tlons of charges dealing with al- \' ... l "atlon of Intelligence information. leged black market activities. ·~,t.:·.~·~ But,· unless this 'futile order ls Quite recently a military attach!! 

l :·.' ~ 'fc!llowed by much more basic ~- In a key Asiatic country had to be 

"';:··'forms. ,no major.rlmprovement .in recalled because of the damage he 

'. ~ ·~'the deterlop.tton·.of what' waa a was doing his nation. 0Two yea.rs :. r;. gOOd intelligence service during ago In anothei• Asiatic country t.he 

'! !',,. Wor1!f War II can be exl!8cted. Incompetence of vlrtull.lly all of our i'r, ,, The diary order stemmed from attaches was a matte1• of common .~,\ what la now the famous and unfor- goasi11 ln tile capital of that coun- \•: ·; · tunate, "Grow case," an incident try. 

J ,: that will probably be discussed ln Vital Intelllge Link , ~ ' . Intelligence circles with anger, lm· nee . ' patience, or humor for years to Attaches are only one !Ink in an ,~ ,come. · · · Intelligence service, but they are •: · Maj.•Gen. Robert W. Grow, un· an Important link. They are,! . ~ tll recently United, States military moreover, more than intelligence , 'attach6 to Moscow, and an officer "agents"; they are diplomatic rep- '1 !',with a fine World· War .II record resentatives who should represent : in' command of a1'11lor, Is, deserved· their country with tact, distinction, · ly, the "goat" of 'tbla one, but the dignity and "brains." . ' 

larger share of the'<blame must be "They are, or they.should/be, an shouldered by G·2·'"(1nteJ11gence) ambassador's military aides, but , ). and by the Army-.!tself.' J;f._, .~ ' many of them in the ·post-war , · • General Grow, ' a ' fire-eating years, have viewed the Foreign .. ".. type 'with very" decided opinions Service and the State Depa1·tment · i .. ,. that he is not slow to voice, vi· with Ill-disguised contempt and I··•:'·) 1 olated a kindergarten principle have made themselves \'lrtually ln- 1 • .',, ~of•intelllgence by keeping, during dependent of the Ambas&adors 

t• ' · his Moscow duty, a compromising under whom they should '\York. • · . ,. 'diary, «which not only urged war Personality and pres~e fric-

!" ··" agalnst'the Soviet Union but also tlons have sometimes caused al· Ph m· po,rd~ With ex114itltude' the gen· most open "squabbles" 1:.!Jetween 

•,. 1! 1;1 observat10aa in Moscow, his various representatives fibf, ''the 

i· · ,· • "wtth other"attach6s and ob- United States Government'"In fo1·-

i ·servers, his varloua "contacts'I and elgn capitals, and-there have been 1 hla dislike' for: tl!,e:,~untted' S'tatea times 'when the military, defying . Ambaasador. t · ' · · the tradition of civilian supremacy, . : . ~ D•·- In Hie Ro have gotten too big for their boots · , , -., om and have virtually tried to run the 

Then, to compound bis lndlscre- show. 

tfon he left his diary In his room These criticisms are not, of 

In a Frankfurt (Germany) hotel, course, universal: the A1my has 

while there on a visit; a nursery- many good attaches in foreign school violation of secu1·ity. Some-1===,.--·--------- one pilfered and photographed It 

(before returning It) and the Com- 1 

munlsts · are using It With some effect In both propaganda and In· 

telllgence. ". · About the only hopeful note, aa one of General GrOW's fellow offl· cera said, ls that the diary, which 

displayed little erudition and leBB 

lnfom1at1on, "might damn. well 

confuse the Russians." " . As a result of this miscue, 

General Grow was recalled from , . M!lllcow, along with a bevy of 

others whom he compromised; the · unfortunate general has been Jinked unfairly by the Russians with 

their genn warfare propaganda campaign, and· his scalp has been .-. demanded" :by: ~'·the ~ Connecticut 

Co,μncll • ot' 'Ch11rchea and by all 

and Blllldry. · •· • · , •o;..· But «'nobody\ ff seems 'to · have 'aaked.~Why' a 'man like" General 

Grow was In Moscow at au, and , ~ nobody seallll to have laid the 

blame where lt squarely belongs- . on the Army policies that per- mitted and encouraged the placing , • . . of a. square peg In a round hole. , ,General Grow has major mlllt&r1 

f · , uaefuJnesa; but the peculiar attrl· r~ ,, butes required byamllltar,)!a~~~I! 

~.,,, .. , ~ ~!!:fil_og,g'hls ta\en~1:1 •' • , The most Important - mlllta1·y ,. •attachll post In the world, Moscow. 

f • ' hall twice now been bestowed upon good, two-fisted, tough fighting , ; , men,"wlth 'no other quallflcatlons 1 whatsoever for the job. Maj. Oen. 

John' W." ("Iron ·Mike") . O'Danlel 1 -. (now a lle~tenant general, com- .' manding the ·l"lrst Corps In Korea1 ~, • waa·~Genetal Grow's· predecessor. · Some of his personal reports drew • ' 80l1\e rather sweeping conclusions · from the shabby appearance of the 

·•buildings In Moscow, the slowness , of the trains and the dreBS of the 

people. ~ '• 'i ;' 

· Excelled As Combat Officer 

General O'Danlel possessed one of the finest combat records of 

any division commander In World 

War II. Later be commanded the 

Jntantry School with credit, and 

he deserves well of his countl'y, as dld General Grow, until he em- barraaaed lt by his unfortunate 

..carelesaneaa. But the quallflca- tlona of either of these officers for 

the difficult job of military attach!! are veiled in.mystery, Neither were experts on,. Russia; neither had 

·made mlJltary lntelUP.Dce their . specialty. • '; 1, • • 

If Moscow were the only post so distinguished by.,the Army the re- sult, though l!acl, might not be dis- astrous. But·there have been re- peated Instances In the years since 

the war of' major misaas!Pmenta 

in mllltary attach!! posts. Some 

attachl!s have been outright fail- ,, urea; many have bel!D exc,edlngly 

' •Y(eak. '· . ">. .. ' J . ;. 

Two attachl!s ln•an Eastern Em·-