2. The Alsos Project placed the Manhattan Project at risk of exposure
Those qualified to perform the duties of the Alsos Project, as envisioned by Marshall, had by necessity needed to know the breadth and scope of the American effort. Because of the nature of the security clearances issued for the Manhattan Project, most had specific knowledge of certain areas, and only general knowledge of others. Their access to information outside of their specific work in the project was limited by the concept of the need to know. As scientists, they had limited experience in extracting information via interrogation. They also posed the risk of inadvertently revealing classified information related to the Manhattan Project. Groves selected those individuals he believed offered the most promising abilities as potential interrogators. Translators also joined the team, as interviews in several languages were required.
At the end of 1943 American and British military planners expressed confidence that Rome would soon fall into Allied hands. An overseas headquarters for Alsos opened in London. Alsos established liaison offices in areas already occupied by Allied troops. Of immediate concern among the senior American officers and scientists was the likelihood the withdrawing Germans would force those with knowledge of the weapons program to withdraw with them. In December, 1943, the first phase of the Alsos mission assembled in Algiers, in preparation to travel to Italy. This mission included American major league baseball player Morris “Moe” Berg, later famous as The Catcher Was A Spy. The mission succeeded in contacting Italian scientists Gian Carlo Wick and Edoardo Almadi. Neither of the Italians admitted to having any involvement with the German atomic weapons programs.