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

494 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
witnesses. Th e court began by exploring the situation at the time
of the attack and thus covered much of the same territory as had
the Roberts and Hart investigations.
Th e jurisdiction of the NCI was not limited to investigating
Navy personnel only; it was to inquire “into all circumstances
connected with the attack made by Japanese armed forces on
Pearl Harbor” (italics added). Moreover, as Captain L.F. Saff ord
had located the Japanese intercepts and had had copies replaced
in the fi les by the summer of 1944, these intercepts were available
to be introduced to the NCI. Kimmel was determined that they
be made a part of the record. But obtaining NCI access to them
would not be easy.
Japanese Intercepts Located
Kimmel brought the subject of the intercepts up at his fi rst
opportunity. He said he had been “branded throughout this country
as the one responsible for the Pearl Harbor disaster.” He was
anxious that “this investigation should go far enough to disclose
all the facts in connection with the matter;” it should call “witnesses
from the Army, from the State Department, or from any
other federal department” in order to establish “the facts that are
necessary . . . to refute the utterly false and misleading statements
made throughout the Roberts Commission.” 5 Unless the intercepts
were introduced, Kimmel maintained, it would be impossible
to properly assign responsibility for the disaster.
Judge Advocate Biesemeier asked Forrestal on August 1
for access to the Japanese intercepts. No answer. On August 4
Biesemeier was told that the letter had been “misplaced.” Th en
apparently it was found and returned to Biesemeier with a
request for “a change in its classifi cation—from SECRET to
5 Ibid., p. 19.