from the book conspiracies declassified. copyright
© 2018 by brian dunning. reprinted by permission of
adams media, an imprint of simon & schuster, inc.,
simonandschuster.com.The USS Arizona aflame. The officer on duty saw the Japanese military on radar reports, but
he mistook those bombers for Americans.
out in the open, making them easier to
guard. The same with the battleships—
it’s easier to guard one cluster of ships
than ships scattered around the har-
bor. But while grouping the ships may
have deterred saboteurs, it made them
sitting ducks for the bombers.
Conspiracists are correct about the
code Purple—it had been broken. But
it was a diplomatic code, not military.
Intelligence gained from it provided
no warning of the Pearl Harbor attack.
As for Lt. Tyler, he did see the planes
heading for Pearl Harbor on radar re-
ports. But he mistook them for a flight
of American B-17 bombers scheduled
to arrive that morning. A 1942 court of
inquiry cleared him of any wrongdoing.This leaves the “intentionally” absent
aircraft carriers. The carrier USS Sara-
toga was coming out of overhaul in
Seattle, leaving only the USS Lexington
and the USS Enterprise on duty. With
the threat of war looming, both carriers
were tasked with ferrying aircraft to the
strategic islands of Midway and Wake
on staggered schedules so that one was
always defending Pearl Harbor. But just
as the Lexington left and the Enterprise
was supposed to get back, the Enter-
prise struck bad weather and was kept
at sea two days longer than planned.
That second day was December 7.rd.com 105ev
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National Interest