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

738 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
Maintaining the Secrecy of the Japanese
Intercepts and MAGIC
It was apparent throughout the several investigations that special
eff ort had been made to keep information about the “Purple”
machines and the MAGIC intercepts secret. Quite understandably,
extreme caution was necessary before the war to prevent any
security leak. And during the war, when the intercepts were still
yielding intelligence valuable in the struggle against the Japanese,
it was necessary to continue to maintain tight security. However,
the determination to maintain silence persisted—even after
August 1945, when Japan surrendered, and even after President
Truman, who had taken offi ce on the death of FDR, had revealed
the existence of MAGIC by releasing to the public the SECRET
1944 reports of the Navy Court of Inquiry and the Army Pearl
Harbor Board. 14 When fi nally, in December 1945, the restrictions
against revealing MAGIC were further relaxed to permit
witnesses before the JCC “to testify and give information regarding
cryptanalytic activities which had to do with the investigation
of the Pearl Harbor incident,” 15 many witnesses revised their
stories.
Saff ord, Bratton, and Kramer had been intimately involved in
handling the Japanese intercepts and each had been questioned
at length during previous investigations while the war continued.
Each had then faced the same dilemma—how to respond
to pressures placed on them by wartime patriotism and loyalty to
their superior offi cers, and how to testify under oath to the truth
as they saw it without revealing military secrets. Th en when questioned
during the JCC hearings after the war and after restrictions
had been relaxed, they had to decide whether to modify or to
14Ibid., part 8, pp. 3736–40.
15Ibid., Report, p. 498.