Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

418 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
Captain Safford Talks with Kimmel
Captain Saff ord played a key role in the whole Pearl Harbor
picture, both before the attack and also afterwards during the
investigations. He served with the Navy Department communications
intelligence unit from May 1936 until after the attack. He
had worked in radio intelligence and cryptology, the deciphering
of codes. As chief of the communications security section of naval
communications during the months preceding the Pearl Harbor
attack, he was responsible for the security of the secret Japanese
intercepts and for keeping them from reaching unauthorized
hands.
In the fall of 1943 Saff ord, “by the direction and instruction
of the Director of Naval Intelligence,” was under orders to work
on “a history of radio intelligence from 1924 to 1941.” 24 Like
most people in the country, Saff ord had believed that Kimmel
had failed to fulfi ll adequately his responsibilities as fl eet commander,
that he had been remiss in interpreting the intelligence
and orders sent him and thus was partially culpable for the severe
damage done to the fl eet during the Japanese attack.
Because of his pre-Pearl Harbor responsibilities, Saff ord
expected that he would be called to testify in any Kimmel courtmartial
proceedings that might be held. So, as he looked through
the fi les for the historical research to which he was assigned,
he started to review the pre-Pearl Harbor situation also and to
assemble material he would need as a witness. 25 To his amazement
he discovered that the intelligence derived from the Japanese
intercepts, which Saff ord’s section had decoded in the months
before the attack, had not been forwarded to the Pearl Harbor
commanders as he had assumed. When he realized this, he was
24Joint Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack, part 8, p. 3601, Saff ord testimony
before the Joint Committee.
25Ibid., part 36, p. 69, Saff ord testimony before Hewitt Inquiry; reprinted in
ibid., part 8, p. 3602.