This whole issue of the media as an occasionally leaky and infallible source of classified information is highly misleading, imo.

If Hitler wouldn't listen to (some of) his own generals about the likely location of the D-Day attack, do you think he'd have been swayed by a newspaper story by a cub reporter? Even with paratroopers descending on Normandy and our men wading ashore there, Hitler refused to believe that it was not a diversion and the main attack would occur at the Pas de Calais, a spot pinpointed by some of the Wermacht general staff. In addition to their own instincts, the Nazi generals were spoofed by an extensive and ultimately successful disinformation campaign waged by Allied specialists to convince the Nazi brass that the Pas de Calais was the site chosen for invasion by Bradley's ghost army, which didn't even exist.

Even if our hypothetical reporter could have filed it - which he couldn't, because he didn't know - the story would never have passed censors, and no American newspaper would have printed it.

Bear in mind the fact that dozens, if not more, American journalists knew the date of the beginning of the bombing campaign in Afghanistan, but not one revealed that knowledge before the bombs began to fall.

In Viet Nam, the source of operational security leaks was more likely to be local Viet Cong who could hear choppers departing, or communist sympathizers who reported on B-52 activity. In Viet Nam, US forces were surrounded by spies. Only the ultra-stealty SOG and LURP units were able to maintain operational security for most of their missions.

But there can be no denying that some members of the press in those days were dedicated to exposing the reality of the 'Nam conflict since the credibility gap about the war had grown to a bottomless chasm for US blood and fortune.

Occasionally, some potentially valuable information may seep out from a newspaper article, but how does an enemy separate it from the intentional and unintentional inaccuracies which color the reported news? Not easily, I'd suggest. Most of the time the press doesn't possess potentially harmful information about impending or ongoing operations. When it does, it generally keeps it mouth shut about it.

As for the story in question from the LA times, I look at it this way. Since those four guys apparently were trying hard to look like Americans, chances are that they are not. The bogus tail number would tend to support that conclusion.

It's possible, maybe even likely, that this whole article is a spoof.

sp