Intelligence can and should be used in all matters of homeland security and emergency
management. There have been episodes throughout history where the proper or improper use of
intelligence created success or failure for one side or the other, be it a military action, business
excursion, police matter, or other type of event.
Share the details of 1 major event in history where the proper or improper use of intelligence
made a significant difference in the outcome of the event. Be detailed. Remember the types of
intelligence available now and then along with the intelligence cycle.
Introduction
In history of the United States, intelligence has been part of the national agenda and has been
utilized in mnay ways which seeks to drive homeland security efforts. Intelligence comes in three
disciplines; signal intelligence (Signint), human intelligence (Humint), imagery intelligence
(Imint) which provide the most important information for analysts (Nemeth, 2017). Intelligence
is very important to the extent that governments cannot run without it and wars cannot be fought
or borders secured without it (Nemeth, 2017). There have been episodes throughout history
where the proper or improper use of intelligence created success or failure for one side or the
other. One major event in the history of the United States where improper use of intelligence
caused an unforeseen attack in the US is the Pearl Harbor. On December 7, 1941, the U.S Pacific
Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, was attacked by Japan due to hoarding of intelligence and
United States ill-conceived perception of Japan as not capable to carry such attack (Clark, 2020).
History of the Pearl Harbor Attack
Before the attack, tension between Japan and the United States had been mounting for over a
decade. In the 1930s, the Japanese government received multiples sanctions and embargoes from
the US due to the country’s expeditions to solve its economic and demographic woes by forcing
its way into China and invasion of Manchuria in 1931(History.com Editors, 2021). These actions
where condemned by the League of Nations at that time which caused the withdrawal of Japan
from the international organization. Japanese continuous expedition in 1937 led to the clash
between China and Japan that led to the Nanjing Massacre where Japanese forces killed, raped
and at the long run captured Nanjing (the Capital of Chinese Nationalist Party or
Guodomindang), (History.com Editors, 2021). The United States in its efforts to stop this
Japanese cause for expansions and continuous atrocities caused the nation to place multiple
economic sanctions against Japan, which included trade embargoes on aircraft exports, oil, scrap
metal and among other goods and provided support to the Chinese Nationalist Forces. Japan also
retaliated by joining forces with the fascist regimes; Germany and Italy in the Tripartite Pact of
September 1940 with the three fighting against the allied nations. Later the US and Japan
negotiated for months but yielded no better results and later followed by the attack on Pearl
Harbor because Japan believed the attack on US naval base in Hawaii will give them more power
and dominance on the Pacific region (History.com Editors, 2021).
Intelligence cycle failure.
The intelligence cycle is a ceaseless process in which collection requirements based on national
security threats are developed and intelligence is collected analyzed and disseminated to broad
range of consumers. Consumers sometimes provides feedback on the finished intelligence
products which can be used to refine any part of the intelligence cycle to ensure that consumers
are getting the intelligence they need to make informed decisions and/or take appropriate actions
(Nemeth, 2017, p. 322).
Before the attack, the Army Signal Intelligence Service (SIS) on December 6th, 1941, intercepted
and analysed the first 13 parts of a message made by the Japanese government to its delegation
in Washington DC with the Japan’s claims of the Pacific. Though the 14th part of the message
arrived a day later, prior intelligence painted a clear picture to the US government of Japanese
non consideration of further negotiations and the imminent possibility of war (Tagg, 2017).
The U.S. officials, in fact, received an indication on a potential target from a highly reliable
source though the Army and the Navy’s signal intelligence machine with code name “MAGIC”.
The reason for the reliability is that the Japanese government was not aware their
communications were being intercepted. MAGIC intercepted a Japanese espionage message on
September 24, which was translated on October 9, 1941, requesting the Japanese agent in
Honolulu to make his reports to divide the waters of Pearl Harbor into five areas (Kobayashi,
2005, p.23)
The United States not only received information from their military counterparts but exploited
many sources to seize Japanese information prior to the attack. According to Kobayashi (2005),
the navy and the army’s use of special operations known as MAGIC gave US political leaders
the privileges of seeing the most private communications shared by Japanese governments and
its ambassadors in Washington, Berlin, Rome, and many other places, made the US aware in
advance the Japanese intension to attack the US. In addition, the US had information from other
intelligence sources like the American embassy in Japan; reports from Ambassador Grew who
was stationed in Japan and intelligence from the British government (Kobayashi, 2005). These
were superb sources that contributed to the insight of Japanese intentions towards the United
States but despite the US leaders receiving all these intelligence from various sources, however,
the US government could make proper use of the intelligence cycle to better prepare for the
attack because they believed Japan did not have the capability to carry such attack. (Kobayashi,
2005, p.18). When the United States officials received the full message and interpretation, and
they became aware of the possible attack on Hawaii, Philippines, and Thailand though they
didn’t know when and how it will take place.
Again, intelligence was delayed due to its sensitivity and as a result it was not shared between
other capable agencies in the appropriate time. According to Dahl (2013) sufficient intelligence
was available but simply misunderstood or ignored and not shared properly (Dahl, E. J, 2016).
When the president was informed of the possibility of Japanese attack, the Chief of Staff of the
Army held the intelligence due to its sensitivity and later alerted the commanders of both Hawaii
and Philippines departments for imminent attack from Japan, however the alert was sent through
a telegram and weekend closures of offices hampered the delivery of the message and by the
time the message got to Fort Shafter and delivered to the Adjutant General’s office, the attack
was over (Tagg, 2017). Eighteen U.S. ships and 188 aircraft were damaged or lost; human
casualties included 2,335 service members and 68 civilians with another 1,178 wounded.
Additional losses were suffered during simultaneous attacks on Thailand, Malaya, Singapore,
Guam, Hong Kong, Wake, and the Philippine Islands (Tagg, 2017). The attack on Pear Harbor
and and other events of war led a growing consensus that the nation needed a central authority to
manage national intelligence pertinent to multiple departments of Government. In 1947, the U.S.
enacted the National Security Act that created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) (Daniel,
2006)
Biblical Perception.
The Pearl Harbor experience taught the United States a lesson not to underestimate their
opponent and always use intelligence available to fully prepare for uncertainties and surprises.
Sharing of information among all agencies tasked to defend the homeland is very essential
because it yields a better mitigation plan among those tasked to protect the homeland. According
to Clark (2020), a lesson from Pearl Harbor to be earned was the tendency intelligence agencies
to be caught in silos and not share information. Intelligence on Pearl Harbor was either not
shared or believed; and the same happened in 9/11. The Bible says Galatians 6:2 that “carry each
other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” This passage brings to the power of not
being alone but giving people the chance to help you in time of problems and this can be related
to information sharing. One agency not carrying the burden of hoarding all intelligence but
sharing it allows cooperation and better preparedness and respond when issues arise.
References
Clark, M. (2020, December 6). Lessons from Pearl Harbor are still relevant. Florida Times-
Union. Retrieved September 28, 2022, from
https://eu.jacksonville.com/story/opinion/columns/2020/12/06/column-lessons-pearl-harbor-live-
today/6262132002/
Daniel, B. J. (2006). Why efforts to centralize the US intelligence Community fail [MA Thesis].
Air University: School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.
Dahl, E. J. (2016, October 6). Intelligence and Surprise Attack: Failure and Success from Pearl
Harbo. Air University (AU). https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/ASPJ/Book-
Reviews/Article/1245781/intelligence-and-surprise-attack-failure-and-success-from-pearl-
harbor-to-911-a/
History.com Editors. (2021, December 2). Pearl Harbor. HISTORY. Retrieved September 28,
2022, from https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
Kobayashi, M. (2005). U.S Failures in the Pearl Harbor attack: Lessons for Intelligence [MA
Thesis]. The Fletcher School: Tufts University.
Tagg, L. S. (2017, January 4). Intelligence, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. www.army.mil.
https://www.army.mil/article/180285/intelligence_japanese_attack_on_pearl_harbor
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