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

770 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
Keefe: . . . . Th e thing that attracted the attention of the GY
watch offi cer was that in this message appeared the same
Japanese language words that were in the original set-up; isn’t
that true? . . . And you still want to say to us that you can’t recall
what those words were?
Kramer: Th at is correct, sir.
Keefe: Th ey must have been the words of the original code,
otherwise you wouldn’t have paid any attention to it. . . . And
it is because the words on this teletype tape were the original
Japanese code words in the original code set-up that you determined
that this was the coded execute message at that time;
isn’t that true?
Kramer: It is not sir. . . . I should like to explain precisely what
I mean by that. Th e determination was not made by me in the
case of this piece of teletype. On the number of previous times
when I had been called down concerning possible messages in
this winds system, I had examined long sheets of this teletype
paper, had looked for the point of whether or not the expression
was repeated or appeared as it was supposed to appear
in the middle or at the end, or both. In this particular case
my presumption was that the GY watch offi cer had made that
determination inasmuch as the piece of paper I saw was only
a short piece of paper, 3 or 4 inches in length as I recollect,
and that presumably he had identifi ed this message as being
an authentic winds message, not only from the wording that
actually appeared in it, but from its location in the Japanese
plain language broadcast. Th at was a function of the GY watch
offi cer not only as regards this winds system, but as regards all
systems to determine its authenticity and to break it down. Th e
only reason for having shown this piece of paper to me was in
connection with the Japanese words thereon, and that is all, sir.
. . .
Keefe: And you looked at those words and looked at the interpretation
which he had given them. You may have corrected it