Evening star., 1945-12-20
BY J. A. O'LIARY and
CARTER BROOKE JONES.

The Pearl Harb0r Committee
was told today that in the fall of
1941 two high-ranking naval
officials in Washington thought
Rear Admiral Husband E. Kim
mel, then Pacific fleet COM
mander, was equipped to decode
in Hawaii the japanese mes
sages that were available here
through code-cracking opera
tions.
This revelation was made by
Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner,
who was chief of the War Plans
Section of the Ofiice of Chief of
Naval Operations in 1941. He said: !:
ut was my belief at the time, and
Admiral (Harold r. Stark's, that
all of these major diplomatic mes
sages, at least those relating to the
Pacific, were being decrypted. by
both Admiral tThomas CD Hart
and Admiral Kimmel."
The witness added he did not know
that Admiral Kimmel did not have
DECIDING facilities In Hawaii until
the naval court Of inquiry met to
investigate the attack on Pearl
Harbor
Available at Corregidor.
1t was brought out earlier in the
hearings that DECIDING facilities
were available at Corregidor. in the
Philippines, where former Admiral
Hart, now a Senator from Con-
necticut, was in command, but
that in Hawaii they were not able
to decode the important commune
cations to and from Tokyo which
enabled Washington to follow the
maneuverings Of the Japanese, both
in the diplomatic negotiations and
In military movements.
As the committee resumed hearing
Admiral Turner this morning, Lead
ers made plans to seek Senate and
House action later in the day on q
resolution extending the life of the
investigation until February Is.
With its present authority due to
expire January 3. the committee
voted 2 to last night to recommend
the six-week extension.
No Recollection Of Message.
Admiral Turner also testified he
had no recollection OF having been
shown IN 1e41 the so-called target
area message in which Tokyo was
asking spies in Honolulu to divide
Pearl Harbor into squares on map
and to report the exact location Of
feet units in those squares.
Recalling this and other Jap In
tercepts were not transmitted to
Hawaii, Committee Counsel William
D. Mitchell asked Admiral Turner
whose function it would have been
to notify the Hawaiian command,
assuming that the spy message had
been interpreted here as q request
for bombing map of Pearl Harbor.
II conceive that to be the function
Of the ONCE Of Naval Intelligence"
Admiral Turner replied. (Vice Ad-
miral Theodore S. Wilkinson became
director of Naval Intelligence on Oc-
tober Is, 1941, about a week after
VAC oo-IdllCQ tdleCb diCd AlCocdkc
was decoded)
"As matter of fact" Admiral
Turner continued, II have no recol-
lection of ever seeing that message
until recently"
Admiral Turner said If he had
seen it he would have not originated
a warning message. but would have
talked it over with the Once of
Naval Intelligence.
II don't know why didn't see 1t.
I think I would have remembered
it." Admiral Turner added.
Says Message Changed Picture.
Mr.. Mitchell recalled the testi-
mony of other Army and Navy wit
nesses that the belief here was that
the Japanese had no designs on
Hawaii, but were preparing to move
southwark into the Philippines and
Kra Peninsula. He asked Admiral
Turner If he thought the target
area" spy message changed that
overall picture.
II think it changed 1t sufi1ciently
that II I had seen it would have
taken it up with Admiral Wilkinson
or Admiral (Royal e. Ingersoll
(then assistant to Admiral Stark,
1Soo pEIRI, HARROR. PAGE A-4.)