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

Joint Congressional Committee, Pearl Harbor Attack: Part 2 729
Not guilty. My aircraft were not in a state of readiness for a surprise
attack, but were protected against sabotage as directed by
the War Department in the sabotage-alert messages of 27th, of
28th November 1941, and as reported to the War Department
by me. If they had been equipped with ammunition, grouped
as they were, and a sabotage attack had been made, there would
have been much more damage by exploding ammunition.
11. Failure to provide for the protection of military personnel, their
families, etc., and of civilian employees on various reservations.
We made a quite elaborate plan for evacuating the families
of civilians on the military reservation. We asked the War
Department for money to establish a camp some 4 miles east
of Schofi eld. I wrote a personal letter to the Chief of Staff and
told him that we were asking for the money to establish these
camps on the basis of recreation camps. . . . [B]ut our real purpose
was to get ready for a possible attack. . . . He answered
my letter and stated that guns were needed worse for other
purposes.
Th us Short pleaded “not guilty” to number 11 also. 161
* * * * *
As the committee wound up its questioning of Short, Barkley
asked him if he wished to make any further statement. Short
said,
As a matter of the interests of the country and as a loyal soldier,
I maintained a steadfast silence for 4 years and I bore the load
of public censure during this time and I would have continued
to bear it so long as I thought the question of national security
was involved. However, the war is now ended.
161 Ibid, pp. 3194–95.