Intelligence Failures Of Pearl Harbor

For the longest time, the event that took place at Pearl Harbor was considered the most disastrous event that has taken place on American soil. (Johnson, 2007) This event took place on December 7, 1941, when Japan went forth with a precise and calculated attack. They planned this attack Even though they were appearing as if they were in peace negotiations with the United States in eyes of the rest of the world. In just under a two-hour span, a wave of over 200 Japanese fighter planes descended on the American convoy. These planes destroyed around 20 vessels which included the destruction of nearly 200 planes. There were a lot of casualties too. Over 2,400 American soldiers had been killed, and thousands of other soldiers had been injured. (History.com,2009) The Pacific Fleet was now at the bottom of the harbor and no longer a threat to the Japanese. Even though the Japanese attack destroyed many ships and planes and took the lives of the American soldiers, the largest intelligence acquired was considered the largest failure in history. With this paper, the research will be geared to look at the failures in obtaining information, the analytics, and the management of the intelligence obtained in the time before the attack happened. There will also be a discussion to display the changes that were implemented in the Intelligence Community after the attack.

According to the CIA information obtained, it was stated that “we failed to foresee the Japanese assault largely because we were influenced by a faulty stereotype of what was an adversary nation” (Darling, 1993). These warning signs were missed by the United States. The signs that were displayed went by the wayside even though everything pointed to an imminent attack. The United States did not truly understand the depth of hatred that the Japanese had towards the United States. There was an assumption that the Japanese people did not have the capacity or the means to do anything harmful to anybody.

When the United States seized the Philippines in 1898, this caused tensions to flare between the U. S. and Japan. Japan saw the westward expansion as “squeezing and poisoning Japan” (Kahn, 1991/1992). They felt this expansion was invading their territories. In 1922, the United States was able to force Japan to accept a much lower ration of warships than they had originally wanted. This was done during the Washington disarmament. Herbert O. Yardley and his team decoded the Japanese diplomatic messages. The American negotiators knew exactly how far the Japanese could be pushed. (Kahn, 1991/1992) Japan tried everything to become a state of power. However, the United States kept putting obstacles in their way that they struggled to get around.

Even though there were not as many means of gathering intelligence as we have in our world today, the United States still had many different means of collecting intelligence on Japan. Operation MAGIC was enacted and became a communication operation that was put in place and used by the Army and Navy. It was able to decode Japanese communications. Diplomatic information was able to be acquired by the military. American officials utilized cryptographic machines for gathering information from Tokyo a lot faster at times than Japanese officials could. In 1941, MAGIC was able to intercept a message intended for a Japanese spy was in Honolulu. The intended message was able to be translated. The message noted that American warships and aircraft were to be tracked and notes were to be taken as well. It was supposed to be specific as to “when there were two or more vessels alongside each other in the same wharf.” (Congress, 1941) Radio traffic allowed for ways to listen, analyze, and then detect the whereabouts of the Japanese ships. America also had an Embassy in Japan that allowed the Ambassador to gather reports and intel that related to the Japanese people’s mindset. One report that was provided by Ambassador Grew, stated that “I take into account the probability of the Japanese exploiting every possible tactical advantage, such as surprise and initiative.” (Congress, 1946) The Ambassador received information in January 1941, about a plan to do a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that would be considered massive. The State Department received this information and then passed it on to the intelligence team from the Army and Navy, and then it was sent on to the commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet that was located in Hawaii. The message was discarded and forgotten about because it was determined to be a rumor and the legitimacy of the information was negated. (Congress, 1946) Even though there were a lot of challenges and not much technology to use, the U.S. was still able to gather a large amount of intelligence. This intelligence was able to outline diplomatic moves, intentions, and capabilities.

The lack of management in the intelligence field really led to the massive intelligence failure of Pearl Harbor. The Intelligence field, at the time, was very young and had no means of being organized. None of the individual agencies worked together. All they did was focused on items of their own. Now that the attack happened, it was time for changes. In June of 1942, there was a formation of the Office of Strategic Services. Their goal was to gather intelligence and then analyze the information that had been received. Then they were supposed to present the information to the Joint Chiefs so sound decisions could be made while in combat. In 1947, the CIA was able to take on federal policy-making functions to provide the most accurate intelligence assumptions for the nation’s security. Another lack of intelligence happened in 1950 when the U.S. was surprised when South Korea was invaded by North Korea. In 1952, there was the creation of another agency called the National Security Agency. The U.S. quickly created an aircraft called the U-2. This aircraft was used to spy on other countries from higher altitudes and it also utilized long-range cameras. (Staff,2017) The one positive thing that can come out of the attack on Pearl Harbor, is we saw our weakness in intelligence gathering. Even the most recent attack on American soil on 9/11, the United States missed the interception of intelligence that could have saved numerous lives. The outcome of Pearl Harbor and even 9/11 helped provide new resources to utilize to better our intelligence community. History needs to be learned from and changes need to be made so there are no repeats.