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

672 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
able to locate one particular intercept that he considered crucial.
Th is was the “Winds Code Execute,” with the coded weather
words “East Wind Rain,” announcing that the United States
would be involved in Japan’s intended aggression from the very
beginning.
Saff ord described to the Congressional Committee in considerable
detail the procedure which had been followed to prevent
knowledge of MAGIC and especially of the “Winds Code
Execute” from becoming known. A copy of this winds execute
message should have been in the fi les of Saff ord’s division, in
the locked safe of then Commander, now Captain, Kramer. Th e
personal or immediate custodian was Lieutenant Commander
Harrison, U.S. Naval Reserve. Saff ord explained that the only
people who had access to Captain Kramer’s safe were those on
duty under Captain Kramer. Everything was normally cleared
through Commander Harrison. Th ere were not more than ten
people at the most—translators and the yeomen on duty in
Kramer’s section, the head of the section, Saff ord, or the offi cer
who relieved Saff ord; or it is possible that the Director of Naval
Intelligence might have called for fi les at any time. Any higher
authority would have been given the fi les without question if he
had requested it. 1
Saff ord: To the best of my knowledge the combination to the
safe was held by Kramer and Harrison alone. Th ere was a copy
of the combination in a sealed envelope in my safe. Th ere was
another copy of the combination in a sealed envelope in the
safe of the Aide to the Chief of Naval Operations. Th at was
required for all safes in naval operations, so in case of casualty
to the man who regularly opened the safe the safe could be
opened when we had to. . . . I know of no occasion when we
1 79th Cong., 1st sess. Joint (Congressional) Committee on the Investigation
of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Pearl Harbor Attack, 39 vols. (Washington, D.C.:
U.S. Government Printing Offi ce, 1946), part 8, pp. 3675–76.