Theory that US knew about Pearl Harbour attack 'debunked'

NEW YORK: More than 67 years after the Pearl Harbour attack which forced America to join World War II, historians have concluded that the US did not have advance intelligence about Japan's plan to bomb the key naval base.
 
Who in Washington knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, was one of the Second World War's most enduring mysteries. Now, a team at the National Security Agency (NSA) has carried out a study which
debunked the long-held belief.
 
According to the historians, decoded messages buried in Japanese-language weather reports, meant to alert Japanese diplomats worldwide to destroy confidential codes as war with America, Russia and Britain was beginning, did not reach US officials prior to the attack, 'The New York Times' reported.
 
Under Japan's "winds execute plan", East wind rain meant the US, north wind cloudy was the erstwhile Soviet Union and west wind clear was Britain if diplomatic relations were "in danger" with one of three countries.
 
Washington also missed potential warning signs because intelligence resources had been diverted to Atlantic theatre and the Japanese deftly practiced deception to mislead the US about the whereabouts of Tokyo's naval strike force, Robert J Hanyok, one of the study's authors, said.
 
"The problem with the conspiracy theory is it diverted attention from the real substantive problems, the major issue being the intelligence system was so bureaucratised," Hanyok was quoted as saying.
 
Beginning about December 1, Washington became aware that the Japanese were ordering diplomats overseas to destroy confidential documents. But, the NSA study found, "because of the sometimes tardy exploitation of the messages, intelligence officers knew only parts of the complete programme."
 
"It is possible," the study went on, "that they viewed the Japanese actions as ominous, but also contradictory and perhaps even confusing. More importantly, though, the binge of code destruction was occurring without the transmittal of the winds execute message".
 
According to the historians, the weight of the evidence "indicates that one coded phrase, 'west wind clear', was broadcast according to previous instructions some six or seven hours after the attack on Pearl Harbour".
 
"In the end, the winds code never was the intelligence indicator or warning that it first appeared to the Americans, as well as to the British and Dutch.
 
"From a military standpoint, the winds coded message contained no actionable intelligence either about the Japanese operations in Southeast Asia and absolutely nothing about Pearl Harbour.
 
"In reality, the Japanese broadcast the coded phrase (s) long after hostilities began -- useless, in fact, to all who might have heard it," the historians said.