America's Hidden Stories (2019–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Pearl Harbor Spies - full transcript

On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan's war machine attacked Pearl Harbor, killing over 2,300 American servicemen. The conventional story is that America was caught sleeping that day ...

Narrator: Pearl
harbor, December 7, 1941,

japan's war machine kills
more than 2,000 Americans.

Loureiro: It's at the level of
9/11, how it shook America up.

Roosevelt: A date which
will live in infamy.

Narrator: The
conventional story:

America is caught sleeping,
hit without warning.

But newly declassified
documents tell a shocking story,

of Japanese and German
spies studying Pearl harbor

long before the attack,

and of an FBI hot
on their trail.

Morgan: Pearl harbor was the
culmination of espionage



that dated back 20 years
before it took place.

Carra: Wow.

So, it was like a
coast-to-coast network.

Loureiro: Because Japan
took it seriously.

Narrator: Evidence of stolen
technology, missed warnings,

and cover up at
the highest levels,

may add a new
chapter to the story

of one of the darkest
days in American history.

Loftis: There's no question that
it's grossly negligent,

probably criminally negligent
and maybe even treasonous.

Narrator: History
may be more shocking

than we ever imagined.

Today, technology forces the
past to give up its secrets.

Newly discovered documents
turn history on its head.



And discoveries in
ancient archives

reveal startling
stories we never knew.



(Knocking)

A high-level Japanese
diplomat in the United States

is entertaining a female friend.

But her interest isn't romance.

She's part of a
counterespionage team

run by us naval intelligence.

America is worried about
japan's growing military power

and the threat of enemy spies.

Loureiro: For almost 20 years

and especially on the
west coast,

the Navy was quite concerned
about this Japanese threat.

Narrator: Her mission:
Distract the diplomat

while another agent breaks in.

Inside the diplomat's case,

he finds codes that unlock
japan's secret messages.

Through this break in,
and others like it,

naval intelligence confirms
that a network of spies

has burrowed deep
into the United States

and is helping Japan
prepare for war.

Morgan: If we could
read their codes

and we can understand
their messages,

why are we caught off the
guard the way that we are

at Pearl harbor?

Narrator: On December
7th 1941, at 7:53 A.M.,

the tropical Eden of oahu
erupts into a fiery hell.

Within eight minutes

a dozen ships in Pearl
harbor are ablaze.

The mighty battleship
USS Arizona is hit,

killing over a thousand men.

It's a devastating blow.

2,403 Americans are dead
and over 1,000 injured.

18 ships are lost and
169 aircraft destroyed.

Roosevelt: A date which will
live in infamy.

Narrator: America declares war.

And a national reckoning begins.

Roosevelt: Deliberately attacked
by the empire of Japan.

Loureiro: How did this
happen to us?

How could we have
been caught off-guard?

Somebody has to be
blamed for this one.

Narrator: Blame
falls conveniently

on the military leaders in
charge that terrible day:

Admiral husband kimmel and
lieutenant general Walter short.

Bradbeer: We're going to relieve
the Navy commander,

we're going to relieve
the army general.

The country won't tolerate it

so somebody's head's
going to roll.

Narrator: It's a
neatly packaged story

of a surprise attack, and
negligent military officials.

But today, a once-secret
history is emerging

that threatens to turn
that story upside down.

Bradbeer: 75 years have gone by.

Let's get the whole
story out there.

Narrator: That
story goes much deeper

than failed military leadership.

New evidence reveals the
devastation at Pearl harbor

may have been the direct
result of a spy network

secretly studying
america's defenses,

and that our own spies had
been watching all along.

Morgan: Pearl harbor was the
culmination of espionage

and intelligence gathering
efforts that dated back 20 years

narrator: The espionage
behind Pearl harbor

included Japanese spies
hiding in plain sight,

German agents, and even citizens

of a nation we
considered a friend.

Morgan: This material has
produced powerful revelations

regarding to the extent
to which British subjects

were helping the Japanese.

Narrator: Perhaps
most disturbing of all,

the clearest warning about
enemy interest in Pearl harbor

had been sent to
the man in charge

of america's domestic spying
operation: J. Edgar hoover.

Loftis: Four months ahead of
the Pearl harbor attack,

the FBI is notified
of what's coming.

Narrator: Now, investigators
are conducting

on the ground detective work.

Sheibley: This was the negative.

Narrator: How exactly did
a spy network allow Japan

to wreak such terrible
havoc on December 7th?

And did the FBI fail to
pass on vital information?

For answers, Pedro
loureiro and Michael carra

are following the trail
of the Japanese spies

hiding in Los Angeles

in the months before
the Pearl harbor attack.

Michael is a retired policeman
and former us marine.

He's haunted by the idea
that us military officials

were unfairly blamed
following the attack.

Carra: Growing up here
in Los Angeles,

I became interested
in the armed forces,

joined the marine corps,

I was always fascinated by
what happened at Pearl harbor.

Narrator: Pedro is
a us Navy historian,

and one of the first to begin
unraveling the secret history

of Pearl harbor spies.

Pedro's breakthrough came when
he uncovered a treasure trove

of newly declassified documents

from us naval
intelligence and the FBI.

What he found was astounding.

Loureiro: Intelligence documents

are sealed for at
least 50 years.

And then, during the 1990s,

things were slowly
being released.

One day, I found a document
with a file number on it:

Japanese intelligence
activities,

Federal Bureau of Investigation.

I circled the number, sent
it back and just said, wow.

By the way, we just
located 10,000 pages.

Narrator: The documents,
sealed for five decades,

detailed suspected Japanese
espionage activities

going back to the 1920s.

Loureiro: What surprised
me was the extent

that the Navy had been

looking into this Japanese
espionage matter before the war.

Could it be a
Japanese Americans,

Japanese officials,
Japanese military?

They were worried.

Narrator: Pedro and Michael

are visiting the olympic hotel,

which played a key
role in the spy story.

Carra: So this is it.

Here we are.

Loureiro: You can tell
the old buildings,

this was a good neighborhood
in the old days.

Carra: The olympic hotel.

Narrator: According
to the once-secret files,

this was a Japanese spy nest.

The espionage network

was led by an agent
named itaru tachibana.

This is where he met
his fellow agents.

Carra: Look at this lobby.

It's still the original,
probably the same floor.

So tachibana lived here?

Loureiro: A lot of other
Japanese naval officers,

they also stayed here
at the same hotel.

Itaru tachibana was one of
the many Japanese officers

sent to America routinely
during the '20s and the '30s

to, quote unquote,
"study English."

Narrator: But itaru
tachibana is no student.

He's a commander in
the Japanese Navy.

His primary mission: Hunt for
information on the us Navy.

Carra: And knowing that this
was going on in Los Angeles

is really something special.

Narrator: Michael
and Pedro have come

to one of tachibana's
favorite spots: San Pedro.

In the 1930s, this point
overlooked the us pacific fleet

in long beach.

L.A. had been the
fleet's home port

until it moved to
Pearl harbor in 1940.

Carra: Now it's a little hazy
today but you could see

just about everything
for maybe 20 miles out.

Japanese naval officers would
come up to places like this

and monitor our
fleet go in and out.

Loureiro: This area in
Los Angeles,

the San Pedro long beach harbor,

was a goldmine field
day for tachibana.

Narrator: Along with
naval fleet movements,

tachibana records data on every
imaginable us vital asset.

Loureiro: What kind of
highways did we have?

What kind of port
facilities that we have?

What kind of air
bases did we have?

Japanese naval intelligence
was quite broad

in what they wanted.

Narrator: Tachibana also
wants to recruit spies.

In 1941, naval intelligence

break into the Japanese
consulate in Los Angeles

with a little help.

Carra: They actually went to
terminal island federal prison

and got a safe-cracker out of
custody and brought him along.

Narrator: Inside a safe,
they make a startling discovery.

Carra: The office of naval
intelligence found a list

of 3,000 Japanese Americans
named, by address,

and, what the list was was that
they were proud Americans

and could not be trusted
by the Japanese government.

Narrator: Instead, the
Japanese spymaster tachibana

has more success recruiting
non-Japanese American spies,

including Caucasian factory
and shipyard workers.

In the spring of 1941,

tachibana attempts to bribe
a washed up silent film actor

and former Navy
man named al Blake.

He boasts that he has a friend
stationed at Pearl harbor.

But Blake secretly
double crosses tachibana,

and fingers him to
naval intelligence.

Loureiro: Naval intelligence
were elated.

They said, oh, maybe for once

we can really find
out what's happening,

because we didn't
really have a firm idea

on how the Japanese Navy

were conducting the intelligence
operations in America.

Narrator: The FBI
raid tachibana's room

at the olympic hotel,
and catch him red handed.

Carra: And the FBI
did their searching here

of his room.
Loureiro: In his room, here.

Carra: What'd they find?
Loureiro: Oh, they found boxes

and boxes of documents.

I think it took them
almost a year and a half

to get everything translated.

Carra: Wow.

Narrator: Tachibana's papers

reveal he is running
a spy network

stretching from
Seattle to Mexico

and that almost every
Japanese official

stationed in the united
states may be a spy.

And those spies are
preparing for war.

Loureiro: The network was
controlled by the naval attache

in Washington, D.C.

The Japanese naval attache

controlled all these assistant
attaches on the west coast,

and there was another
assistant attache in New York.

Carra: Wow.

So, it was like a
coast-to-coast network.

Loureiro: Coast-to-coast
network,

because Japan took it seriously.

The next coming conflict
with the United States

is gonna be a naval conflict.

So, the Navy was
particularly interested,

and they were trying
to do their homework.

Narrator: Tachibana
is promptly expelled.

But at home, his work
is handsomely rewarded.

Loureiro: When he went
back to Japan,

he was selected to be
part of the committee

that planned the
attack on Pearl harbor.

Narrator: To Pedro, the
most shocking revelation

of tachibana's secret papers
was discovering the name

of a former high
ranking British officer,

Frederick j. Rutland.

Loureiro: The amazing thing was,

there's a British officer
popping up, non-American,

and involved with tachibana.

Carra: Frederick rutland, he was
a famous British war hero

from world war I.

He was in the royal Navy.

He was a pilot.

Why would he be working
with the Japanese?

Narrator: Discovering a
massive Japanese spy ring

puts the FBI and naval
intelligence on alert

six months before Pearl harbor.

Recently declassified documents

suggest that a former high
ranking British officer

was part of that enemy spy ring.

Loureiro: There were
several reports

that mentioned major Frederick
rutland of the British Navy.

I said, wow, you know,

how would a British
officer be associated

with Japanese spies?

Carra: Right now, we're up
in the Hollywood Hills

and we're looking
for warbler Lane.

I believe it's right
around here somewhere.

Narrator: Michael carra

has dug into the FBI
reports on rutland.

He's found clues linking him

to an exclusive los
Angeles neighborhood

called the bird streets.

Carra: Frederick rutland,
the Japanese government

gave him the equivalent
of $3 million

to buy a house up here.

Narrator: In August 1934,

Frederick rutland
settles in California.

He poses as a wealthy English
investor living the high life

among the Hollywood elite.

Carra: He becomes a pretty well
known, distinguished gentleman

in the Beverly Hills area.

He's actually gone
out and give speeches,

and everybody thinks he is
a reputable business man.

Narrator: Secretly,
rutland is a deep cover agent

for Japan.

He even has a code name:
Shinkawa, meaning new river.

Michael's uncovered
evidence that in the years

leading up to Pearl harbor
rutland criss-crosses America,

filming military installations,

transport hubs,
and heavy industry.

He passes it all

to none other than Japanese
spymaster itaru tachibana.

Carra: Tachibana and
rutland were working together.

They were learning, basically,

all about the military
industry in Los Angeles.

Narrator: Michael thinks
he's found rutland's 1941 home.

To Michael, the
location is a clue

as to what motivated the
working class englishman.

Carra: He grew up a in
a poor family,

became a naval officer
in the royal Navy.

And he always wanted
to be somebody.

The Japanese government
gave him that chance.

They gave him money, gave him
a place of position and power.

This house, this location,
it fits who rutland was.

Narrator: Rutland's
career began in world war I,

as an air force officer,
helping britain's powerful Navy

develop a revolutionary new
weapon: The aircraft carrier.

Bradbeer: Rutland is a visionary
of future naval warfare

and how aircraft can be a
large component of that.

Narrator: Britannia
had ruled the waves

for nearly two centuries.

But in 1921, Japan
shocks the world

and launches the first
purpose-built aircraft carrier.

Morgan: This is a country that,
two generations earlier,

was effectively a
non-modern, feudal society,

that has then broken ground

by developing this
revolutionary,

innovative new weapon of war.

Narrator: Frederick
rutland sees his own future

in the land of the rising sun.

In 1922 Japan approaches
him with a lucrative offer.

Leave the royal air force,
come to Japan and work for us.

Bradbeer: Under the contract,

rutland is working for
mitsubishi shipbuilding.

He was actually working

directly for the
imperial Japanese Navy.

Narrator: Rutland is one

of several British
military officers

invited to Japan in the 1920s.

Japan is determined
to model the success

of another small island nation

which had dominated its
neighbors with a powerful Navy.

Costume designer
Kevin hershberger

and historic advisor
Jason spellman

are working with
actor katsu suetake.

Hershberger: So this is your
European influenced

black wool Navy uniform.

This actually an
original from the 1920s.

Suetake: This looks
very British.

Spellman: Pretty much it was.

I mean that full
length, the dark colors,

that is what makes
it very British

and those are the types
of European powers

that were actually really

helping the Japanese
military build up

so they took those
influences from them

and then they just
made them their own.

Hershberger: They wanted to be
on same level as them

so they copied their
uniforms exactly.

Narrator: In Japan,
rutland sells unique,

secret information
about the technology

of britain's naval
air strike force.

And he trains Japanese pilots

how to land on the imperial
navy's new aircraft carriers.

Bradbeer: Frederick j. Rutland
was a key player

in the development of
Japanese war machine.

Narrator: Rutland was
not the only British citizen

suspected of collaborating
with the Japanese military.

The declassified papers show

in one high profile
case in 1927,

lieutenant commander
Colin Mayers

was caught passing underwater
communication technology

and the blueprints to the
top secret x1 submarine

to Japanese handlers.

At the time,

the x1 was the world's largest
and most advanced submarine.

And a member of the aristocracy,
lord William sempill,

a personal friend of prime
minister Winston Churchill,

was suspected of
spying for the Japanese

from 1922 up until the outbreak
of war with Japan in 1941.

Morgan: He was a
flagrant turncoat

who was providing
direct information

to the imperial government

that could potentially help them

develop military fighting
forces that could match ours,

if not better them.

Narrator: British intelligence
suspect that sempill

passed the Japanese
naval attache in London

secret information about
British naval aircraft,

and classified
aerial bomb plans.

He may also have reported
directly to the Japanese

on secret conversations

between president Roosevelt
and Winston Churchill.

Bradbeer: Sempill believes

that we're focusing on
the wrong enemy.

The threat are the communists
and the Soviet union.

The Germans and Japanese,
that's who we need to support.

Narrator: The full extent
of sempill's treachery

is still emerging from
declassified archives.

But it is now clear that
he and other British spies

helped kick start japan's
military industry,

and that their
spying cost lives.

Morgan: Between rutland
and sempill

there is direct information
going to the empire of Japan,

who would ultimately become
an enemy of the United States,

and it would ultimately
become an enemy

of the United Kingdom.

Narrator: By 1941, one of
the world's deadliest weapons

is the mitsubishi zero.

Carra: Here I
am, an aviation nut.

And this is a Japanese zero.

Narrator: Michael
carra's investigation

into Japanese military
technology has led him here

for an inside look at a zero
captured in world war ii.

Scores of zeros
attacked Pearl harbor,

launching from aircraft carriers

that Frederick
rutland helped build.

Carra: Besides the
surprise attack at Pearl harbor,

this airplane was also a big
surprise to the army and Navy.

Hinton: Yes.

The airplane had
such a long range

that our military thought the
Japanese had secret air bases

all over the pacific.

Narrator: Steve hinton, a
former air-speed record holder,

is the caretaker

of one the world's five
remaining original zeros.

He says it's packed with
technological wizardry.

Hinton: This is the
original airplane

with the original engine that
had flew in world war ii.

It's a 14 cylinder engine,

so it's two rows
of seven cylinders,

this being the
front row of seven,

then you see the back row.

Carra: And unlike the water
cooled engines, inline,

this is a radial
air-cooled engine.

Hinton: Radial air-cooled.

The air is all
captured in the cowling

and forced through the cylinders
and exits out the back.

And works very well.

Narrator: In peacetime,
American and British companies

had hoped the Japanese
would buy planes

directly from their factories.

Morgan: They wanted to go,
here's our product,

we make it here,

buy it from us.

When what Japan really wanted
was, we want to bring you over

to Japan for a
brief period of time

to help us make
these things here,

and then you can go back
to wherever you're from

and we will continue
producing them.

Narrator: The Japanese bought
planes on the open market,

tore them apart, studied them,

then built even better planes.

Hinton: They incorporated a lot
of techniques and designs

from other countries.

They've bought
airplanes from Curtis

and they used the
same design features

that some of the
Douglas products.

The propeller is basically
a Hamilton standard,

under copyright,
produced propeller.

Carra: Wow, is this cool.

Narrator: But to Steve,
the zero's key advantage

comes from a uniquely
Japanese invention:

Super lightweight aluminum.

Hinton: They designed the
airplane to be that way.

It wasn't very fast.

It was really maneuverable.

You don't dogfight a
zero because it can

still turn tighter...

Flip the aleron over.

See how far that
aleron comes up.

Carra: Wow, that's
more than 20 degrees.

Hinton: They were
highly motivated.

They were conquering the world.

As far as I'm concerned,

the Japanese actually
caught up to everyone

in the early '30s.

Narrator: In 1932,
rutland's Japanese handlers

had given him a new mission.

Spy on the United States.

Bradbeer: Their biggest threat
is the United States fleet

in the pacific.

And so, they will set
up and establish rutland

in the early '30s,
in Los Angeles.

Rutland falls into
this slippery slope.

Narrator: By the summer of 1941,

Frederick rutland is traveling,
from Los Angeles, to Hawaii.

Bradbeer: Rutland will
then propose, hey, you know,

the us fleet is now
moved to Pearl harbor,

let me go set up an
establishment there.

Morgan: They're needing to
collect direct information

about countries
that they recognize

as being potential enemies.

We're talking about
the United States

because we're talking
about Pearl harbor.

Narrator: When his
handler tachibana is busted,

Frederick rutland slips
out of the country

and escapes the media spotlight.

Neither man is prosecuted,
and in rutland's case,

naval intelligence appear
to look the other way.

Loureiro: What really
intrigued me the most

was the district intelligence
officer requested the FBI

to back off the investigation
of major rutland.

The FBI complained

that we were asked to
do that with no reason.

Why would the office of naval
intelligence ask the FBI

to back off an
investigation with rutland?

Narrator: By letting both
rutland and tachibana go,

American intelligence
missed golden opportunities

to learn more about their
interest in Pearl harbor.

But perhaps the biggest missed
clue about a pending attack

comes not from the Japanese
or British, but Nazi Germany.

Following the bust of
their west coast spy ring,

Japan receives help
from a wartime ally.

In August, the
German spy service

send one of their best
agents to New York,

a Serbian named dusko Popov.

Loftis: Popov
spoke five languages.

He was extremely
bright, he was a lawyer,

he was a crack shot
with a pistol as well.

So he was sort of
the perfect guy

that any country would want.

Narrator: But unknown
to his German masters,

Popov is a double agent.

He hates the Nazis,

and had immediately
defected to the British.

Lofits: Popov just goes to the
British and says,

oh, by the way,

I've just been recruited
to be a German spy.

Do you want me as
a double agent?

Narrator: The British tell Popov

to cooperate with the FBI
once he reaches New York.

Historian Larry loftis has
dug into declassified files

detailing what Popov
passed to the bureau.

Loftis: The commodore
hotel on August 18,

Popov spends three
hours with them

and lays out what he's doing.

He's a British double agent,

the Germans have sent him
to America for two reasons.

Reason number one is to start
a spy network in the us,

and number two,

they want him to investigate
the defenses of Pearl harbor.

Narrator: Popov's
orders are hidden

in an astonishing piece
of German spy technology

called a microdot.

Lofits: They worked out this
ingenious technology

where they could shrink a
full page into a tiny dot,

or three-quarters of a
page into a tiny dot,

and so when he comes to
America he has these microdots

and it looks like
a speck of dust,

it's no larger than
a period on a page.

Narrator: He shows the FBI

what the tiny microdot contains.

It's simply stunning.

A detailed request
for information

about Pearl harbor's defenses.

Loftis: So at this meeting,

he lays it all out for the FBI.

He brings with him the
German questionnaire.

40% of it is pertaining
to Pearl harbor.

Narrator: To see how Popov
hid his secret spy orders,

Michael carra is
in Pennsylvania.

He's meeting violin
maker Michael sheibley.

Carra: How you doing?
Sheibley: Hello.

Narrator: He's also
one of the world's leading

micro photography specialists.

Carra: Can I see your lab?
Sheibley: Certainly.

This is set up for documents,

which is the way you would
start to make a microdot.

Narrator: Sheibley
walks through the steps

of making a microdot,

a process in which a document
can be progressively reduced

until it is less
than two millimeters,

about the size of a period
at the end of a sentence.

The dot can then be embedded
in any kind of document,

from a product label
to a postage stamp.

Carra: You could put
anything on a microdot.

You could put text and
information, maps, drawings,

anything graphic
that you can imagine.

Narrator: This
technique is still used

by modern intelligence agencies.

Sheibley: Two different people
from two different countries

said to me, if I want to get
a communication somewhere

and I want it to be
100%, I use a microdot.

Narrator: A
special lens is needed

to read the tiny image.

Carra: That's about the size
of a grain of rice.

Sheibley: It is.

Carra: That is something else.

Sheibley: I think purveyors
of espionage

are masters of improvisation.

They work with what they
have and they make it work,

because most of the time,
their life depends on it.

Narrator: Michael sheibley
has improvised his own method

to view microdots.

He's rigged a reverse microscope

to create a projection of
popov's German instructions.

Carra: Wow, look at that.

Michael, this is amazing!

Wow! Sheibley: Yeah, you can see

the clarity is pretty
good on it this way.

Carra: I don't read
German, I know you do.

This is the actual
Pearl harbor document

that he showed the
FBI in August of 1941.

Can you tell me some of
the highlights on it?

Sheibley: They want to know
about the enemy ships,

and their materials.

Carra: When you say enemy ships,

you're talking about
the United States Navy.

Sheibley: The United States, the
us ships, that's right.

Narrator: Popov is being ordered

to gather detailed
information on Pearl harbor.

The location of ammunition
dumps, airfields, troop levels,

and ships in port.

Sheibley: What I find
particularly interesting

is their 'sonder aufgaben',

their special job.

They wanted to know information

about British and us
torpedo protection nets.

Narrator: The German
spy wants information

about a special job
at Pearl harbor.

Carra: Nets.

They're asking for the
nets in the harbor.

Sheibley: Yeah.
Carra: To see if the battleships

were being protected
by anti-torpedo nets.

Fascinating!

Narrator: The threat
couldn't be clearer.

America's enemies want to know
if the ships at Pearl harbor

can be attacked by
torpedo bombers.

At his meeting with the FBI,

Popov passes on another piece
of critical information.

Japan is preparing to
attack Pearl harbor

by studying an earlier
successful attack

on ships in harbor.

According to British
intelligence,

Popov tells the FBI

that, in early in 1941,
a Japanese delegation

had traveled to Italy

to study how the British
had sunk Italian battleships

in a surprise attack on the
mediterranean port of taranto.

Loftis: So to understand Pearl
harbor, why it happened,

how it happened, you have
to understand taranto.

On November 11, 1940,

the British attacked
the Italian naval base

at taranto, Italy.

It was the first time in
history it had ever happened

that there had been
an aerial attack

against a defended naval base.

Newsreel: Britain has
dealt the Italian fleet a blow

which its remains will
remember for a long, long time.

Narrator: Two-dozen
British planes

launch from an aircraft carrier

to attack Italian warships
in taranto harbor.

It's a devastating success,

sinking or crippling
three Italian battleships.

Loftis: It looks just
like Pearl harbor.

So the Japanese see that

and they're, wow, we want
to know how that happened.

Earle: We have that mapped.

Let me pull up taranto.

Narrator: Historian Marty Morgan

is working with graphics
artist Edmund earle

to figure out how
the taranto attack

had helped the Japanese
attack Pearl harbor.

Earle: Yeah, I can see it's
a harbor similar there

to Pearl harbor.

Morgan: They launch aerial
torpedoes in the same way

that the Japanese would a
little more than a year later

at Pearl harbor in the
territory of Hawaii.

Narrator: Japan is
especially interested

in how the British
adapted their torpedoes.

Morgan: Japanese officers
are brought to taranto

to inspect the scene of
the crime after the attack.

The Japanese take away from this

knowledge that it can be done.

We can do it.

The British had to have
done something special

to their torpedoes to get them

to operate in a shallow harbor,

so we can develop
something like that too.

Narrator: In shallow bays
like taranto and Pearl harbor,

aerial torpedoes were
prone to bottom out

and detonate uselessly.

But after studying the
British attack at taranto,

the Japanese engineer
their own solution.

A wooden box on the
tail slows the torpedo

as it enters the water.

And special wooden
fins stop it rolling,

and diving too deep.

Morgan: That's looking
a lot better.

And the point of
the anti-roll fins

was that when the weapon
fell through the air,

the fins themselves
would catch air,

and they had the tendency

to prevent the weapon
from rolling as it fell.

Narrator: Like an acrobat
high diving in shallow water,

the torpedoes pull up quickly,
and continue their attack.

Morgan: It has to enter
the water stabilized,

prevented from rolling, and
that's what those fins do.

Earle: Here in taranto, after
the British attacked,

the Japanese come

and they sort of do
detective work on it, right?

Can they then use that
knowledge to figure out a way

of attacking Pearl harbor,

and maybe scaling up
the level of damage?

Morgan: That's absolutely
what they did.

They see the pride
of the Italian fleet

sitting on the bottom.

They see what light aircraft
carrying aerial torpedoes

are capable of doing.

The Japanese come away
from the experience

of seeing it first
hand, with the knowledge

that if the royal
Navy can do it,

the imperial Navy can do it.

Narrator: Japan's intentions
were obvious to dusko Popov.

Loftis: Popov's warning was a
clear and present danger

to the United States.

It's clear as day to Popov

that Pearl harbor is
going to be attacked.

Narrator: By late 1941,
they need one more thing:

A precise layout of
Pearl harbor itself.

Loureiro: What they
needed to know in 1941 is,

okay, when are the ships
going to be in port?

Narrator: And naval intelligence

will get a final, golden
opportunity to stop the attack.

By early 1941 the
Japanese military

are preparing a sneak
attack on the United States.

They need detailed information

on their target, Pearl harbor.

Loureiro: So when we hit them,
are the ships going to be there?

Are any going to be missing?

So what is the routine
habit of the pacific fleet?

Narrator: Japan's
solution is a young diplomat

named takeo yoshikawa.

Officially, yoshikawa
is a junior staffer

at japan's Hawaiian consulate.

Secretly, he's a naval ensign
and intelligence officer.

Morgan: Takeo yoshikawa
provides vitally important

intelligence information
about us Navy warships

at Pearl harbor

to the people who need
that information the most.

Narrator: Yoshikawa is
the kind of enemy agent

government newsreels like
this warned soldiers about:

A spy hidden in plain site.

He dresses as a casual tourist

and even takes a part time job
at the naval officers' club.

Morgan: He poses as a
Filipino waiter

and works at an officers' club

where he can overhear
conversations about it.

He acts like he doesn't speak
English when actually he does.

In this way, he's blending in

and he's soaking up every last
detail that he possibly can.

Narrator: Yoshikawa
tracks ship movements,

troop strength,
and naval activity.

He sends his surveillance
photos back to Japan

disguised as postcards.

But his most damaging act,

drawing a precise map of
American battleships in harbor.

Morgan: That's recognized as
being as important moment

because we intercept
the message,

we eventually translate the
message and understand it

and action is not taken.

Narrator: Yoshikawa
doesn't realize American spies

are monitoring
his communication.

His so-called bomb plot
message is intercepted

in late September 1941, two
full months before the attack.

Why had action not been taken?

And how were so many critical
signs and warnings missed?

Loftis: If the warning is
given to Pearl harbor,

we knock out the planes,
we knock out their carriers

and we control the pacific
rather than the Japanese

so that obviously has
down-the-road effects.

It certainly would
have saved lives

beyond the lives that would
have been saved at Pearl harbor.

Narrator: Recent disclosures

from the British military files

contain one disturbing
possibility.

Some Pearl harbor warnings

may have been
intentionally hidden.

After being implicated
in a west coast spy ring,

Frederick rutland is
whisked back to england

by the royal air force.

Bradbeer: They fly him
back in a bomber.

He's interrogated.

He's thrown in Brixton
prison without a trial,

he's not court martialed,

he's not charged or arrested.

Narrator: Records of
rutland's interrogation

remain classified, and
details of his work

in Japan remain secret.

Rutland committed
suicide in 1949.

Rutland may not have been the
most damaging British spy.

For over two decades, lord
William Forbes sempill

feeds Japan a steady stream
of British military secrets.

These secrets are the basis

for many of the weapons
used at Pearl harbor.

Morgan: We can draw direct
correlation to American bodies

killed as a result
of Japanese weapons

that were developed as a
result of direct assistance

from technical advisors who
were from the United Kingdom.

Narrator: British
counterintelligence

had long suspected
sempill of espionage.

In 1941, they advise

prosecuting the British
lord for treason.

Instead, prime minister
Winston Churchill

quietly reassigns lord
sempill to northern Scotland.

Rather than risk
relations with America,

Churchill buries the scandal.

Bradbeer: I believe that
Churchill makes the decision.

I can't go to my ally,
Franklin delano Roosevelt,

and tell him for 20 years

I have had a member
of the house of lords

communicating with Japanese
government and the military,

transferring state secrets
about military capability,

aircraft capability,
ship capability.

I'm not willing to take that
risk because our relationship

with the Americans
is tenuous right now.

Morgan: The last thing that
America needed to hear

was that a member of
the house of lords

was providing direct information
about them to the Japanese.

And so I don't criticize
his decision

to kinda keep that quiet.

Narrator: But perhaps the
biggest intelligence failure

comes not from the
British, but our own FBI.

One of the clearest warnings

that Pearl harbor
would be attacked

had come from the double agent
in New York, dusko Popov.

In August 1941, Popov showed
the FBI his secret instructions

from the Nazis, hidden
in a tiny microdot.

They reveal that the Germans
want detailed information

on Pearl harbor's defenses.

The warning couldn't be clearer.

Morgan: He's giving them
something

that should've
announced immediately

stop what you're doing,

pay attention to the
territory of Hawaii.

Narrator: But instead of
warning president Roosevelt,

FBI boss j. Edgar
hoover only tells him

about the new technology
of the microdot.

Loftis: What he sends is not,
we've got direct information

that the Germans are
helping the Japanese

figure out how to attack
us at Pearl harbor.

No warning, no
information about Popov,

no information about
the questionnaire,

no information
about Pearl harbor.

Narrator: Why had hoover
held back popov's warning?

One explanation may
be that the FBI boss

had distrusted the double agent,

and taken offense at
popov's playboy lifestyle.

During the war one
of popov's handlers

at British intelligence is
none other than Ian Fleming.

After the war, Popov would
become one of the models

for Ian fleming's
womanizing James Bond.

Loftis: He's got all
these things going

on at the same time.

German spy, British spy,
ladies man, bachelor, playboy.

It's likely that part
of hoover's reason

that he didn't notify anyone

is because he doesn't like
Popov, he doesn't like playboys.

Narrator: To loftis,

there's no way to
justify hoover's silence.

Loftis: It's gross
negligence at best.

There's no excuse, when
you have a naval base

that is on notice to be
attacked and you tell no one,

that's your job, that's your
job to tell the president.

Narrator: The Pearl
harbor inquiry widens.

Narrator: In April 1946,

at the exact same time
congressional investigators

are grilling the military
officials in charge

at Pearl harbor, hoover
writes a reader's digest story

about the microdots.

Again, he makes no mention
of the Pearl harbor warning.

Loftis: There were eight
investigations into Pearl harbor

how many got this questionnaire?

Zero.

How many knew of
the questionnaire?

Zero.

How many knew of Popov?

Zero.

He buries the information,
he keeps it classified

and then he lies to
the American public

through the reader's
digest article.

Narrator: In light
of all the new evidence,

historians now face
a burning question.

How much did the
Pearl harbor spies

contribute to the destruction
and death on December 7th?

Earle: As the attack happens,

you can see
everything tallies up.

Morgan: This is awesome.



Earle: What are
we looking at here?

Morgan: You are looking
at the business end

of three 14-inch
breech loading rifles,

the main armament of
battleship USS Arizona.

We owe it to the people
who were killed that day

to understand why their lives
had to end the way they did

and when they did.

And part of that picture
is espionage.

Narrator: Marty
Morgan and Edmund earle

are examining forensic evidence
of the December 7th attack

on Pearl harbor.

They are developing a
data driven breakdown

of the true cost of espionage.

Morgan: We're constantly
challenged with,

"you got to quantify it.

Figure out a way
to quantify this."

And that's where
Edmund comes in.

Narrator: The idea is

to determine the
cause-and-effect relationship

between espionage and the
deadly events of that day.

Earle: So these numbers
on the right...

Morgan: What this is meant to do

is to provide an
evaluative framework

for the extent to which the
contribution of espionage

had a direct impact
on loss of ships,

loss of aircraft,
and loss of lives.

Narrator: Morgan has made
a series of calculations.

They measure how individual
acts of espionage

increased japan's
combat efficiency

and led directly to
on-the-ground casualties

at Pearl harbor.

Earle plugs the raw data

into an interactive
timeline map of the attack.

Earle: You got the
island of oahu here.

We can scrub through this,
watch the planes come in.

As the attack unfolds, we
can build this data out.

Narrator: Over
70 mitsubishi zeros

are launched in two waves
from aircraft carriers.

They strafe airfields
across oahu.

The Japanese had developed
carrier launched aircraft

with collaborators
like Frederick rutland

and lord William sempill.

According to the model

their actions made the
attack 15% more efficient.

Bradbeer: The assistance
that lord sempill

and Frederick rutland

provide the imperial
Japanese Navy

definitely allowed them
to advance much quicker

in the development of
their carrier fleet.

Narrator: A squadron
of 40 Kate-class bombers

join the attack with
deadly aerial torpedoes.

Dusko popov's microdot had shown

that the Germans and
Japanese wanted to know

whether the American fleet

was protected by
anti-torpedo nets.

Morgan: The Japanese planned
their attack on December 7th

with the rather extensive use
of the type 91 aerial torpedo.

It pays off a big
dividend for them.

Narrator: Up to 21
torpedoes find their targets.

Marty calculates
that torpedo nets

could have reduced
the efficiency of

that weapon by 25%.

Morgan: One thing that
admiral husband kimmel

had the option of doing
was using anti-torpedo nets

to protect the battleships.

You'll see several examples,
like if you find USS Oklahoma,

you'll see the primary
loss of that ship

was the result of the use of
the type 91 aerial torpedo.

Earle: Yes, right here.

Narrator: 429 lives
were lost on the Oklahoma.

In this model,
popov's information

might have saved over
100 of those lives.

Morgan: What this analytical
approach is doing is,

it's giving us an ability
to imagine what the attack

might look like if you
reduce the effectiveness

of one weapon.

Narrator: Val class
dive bombers followed,

dropping anti-ship bombs.

They hit the Arizona,
killing over a thousand men.

Their precise targeting

was thanks to takeo yoshikawa's
detailed harbor map.

Earle: We have our totals
over here on the right.

So as the attack happens, you
can see everything tallies up.

Morgan: This is awesome,
this map is wicked.

Narrator: While this
model is a prototype

that will require
further refinement,

the raw data makes grim reading.

Earle: By the end of it, it
culminates with these figures

where casualties, we can
see missed intelligence

accounts for almost 200 of that,

prewar collusion a
bit more, right, 350.

Then well at the top is use of
secret agents, right at 845.

Narrator: Spies and
traitors may have contributed

to as many as half the
deaths at Pearl harbor.

Earle: It's not just a
strong attack,

it's a really smart attack.

That's why it was as
successful as it was?

Morgan: It's more than a
decade's worth of espionage,

preparation,
technological development,

and then training to
lead to this moment.

All of these numbers,
everything that ended here,

the loss of lives, the loss of
ships, the loss of aircraft,

it didn't have to
happen that way.

But for a few circumstances,

things could have been
entirely different.

Narrator: Do newly declassified
intelligence documents

change the official
history of Pearl harbor?

Us Navy historian, Pedro
loureiro has teamed up

with retired army lieutenant
colonel Thomas bradbeer.

Bradbeer: Is there espionage
going on?

Yes.

Do we know what's going on?

Yes.

Narrator: Retired
lieutenant colonel

and air force intelligence
officer Rick via...

Viau: The conventional histories
have not made very good use

of recently
declassified material.

Narrator: And
historian Marty Morgan.

Morgan: When I consider
some of the things

that you gentlemen have
pointed out this morning,

that it looks like we
were setting the stage

for the Japanese to
succeed that day.

Narrator: After the
attack, military commanders

Walter short and husband kimmel

become the public face
of American failure.

They resign in disgrace.

Morgan: It seems like we rushed
to package blame during the war,

in the convenient form of
husband kimmel and Walter short.

Loureiro: The public
and the nation

needed a scapegoat,
or scapegoats.

Narrator: It wasn't
just military officials

who fell under
suspicion and blame.

Newsreel: Notices were posted.

All persons of Japanese descent
were required to register.

Narrator: In the
months after the attack,

the government detained

over 100,000 west coast
Japanese-Americans

in internment camps.

Anti-Japanese hysteria
swept the nation.

Narrator: Politicians
such as Texas congressman

Martin dies stoked the fears
of the American public.

But was there any truth
to these accusations?

Loureiro: The naval
intelligence officers,

they all assure headquarters

that the Japanese-American
population here is loyal

and we have no reason, no facts

to believe that any
subversion will occur.

That is unanimous across
naval intelligence.

Narrator: Even today,

much of the Pearl harbor
story remains untold.

Not all documents about the
attack have been released

by the British or
American governments.

Viau: One of the things
I found...

Narrator: Rick viau

has researched other
world war ii stories.

He says bureaucratic inertia
is part of the problem.

Viau: There were people in the
intelligence committee I know

who had been very happy

if not another document
was declassified, period.

They just didn't want to do it.

Morgan: It leaves this lingering
tantalizing scent of conspiracy,

documents remain classified.

That we only have
recent revelations

within the last 20 years

about collusion on the parts
of people like sempill.

Bradbeer: Let's get the
whole story out there

and realize, yeah, that
some of the reputations

of our strategic leaders,
like Winston Churchill,

may suffer for this.

But it is what it is.

Narrator: The hunt
to find a scapegoat

may miss a bigger
lesson of Pearl harbor.

The new evidence reveals how,
in practically a generation,

Japanese spies and engineers
had carried their nation

from a feudal past

to challenge the great
powers of the west.

Pearl harbor was the
pinnacle of that achievement.

Bradbeer: Here we are 50,
60, 70 years later,

we're still searching for blame

for why we got caught
unaware at Pearl harbor.

Loureiro: Why can't we just say

it was a brilliant
Japanese surprise attack?

Morgan: The enemy had a
vote that day.

And they voted to kick us
in the ass, and they did it.

Narrator: December 7th, 1941,

was not merely an
American failure.

It was a bold operation

planned with more precise
calculation than ever imagined.

The attack was
brutal and murderous,

but it was also a
military success

thanks to japan's victory
in a secret spy war.