CONFIDENTIAL
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
WASHINGTON
April 20, 1942
MEMORANDUM FOR THE PRESIDENT
As you know, I have been gravely concerned about security in Oahu ever since I returned from Honolulu. The attached letter written by Commander John Ford, of Colonel Donovan's office, merely goes to re-emphasize my fears and alarm.
I think the project of taking all of the Japs out of Oahu and putting them in a concentration camp on some other island in the group ought to be pressed vigorously. I have urged this point of view repeatedly but, thus far, with slight results.
[Signature] Frank Knox
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
COORDINATOR OF INFORMATION
WASHINGTON, D.C.
April 13, 1942
Honorable Frank Knox
Secretary of the Navy
Washington, D.C.
Dear Frank:
For your own information, I am sending along excerpts taken from a letter which I have just received from Commander John Ford at Honolulu.
I am still laid up in New York and it looks as though I will be there for another week.
Sincerely,
William J. Donovan
"These islands from a military view are merely bases for striking forces, Army and Navy. This, to my view, is their only advantage. The Army talks in terms of defense--the Navy in terms of offense. They do not get together. As this is the front line of Naval striking force, we need the supreme command in Navy hands.
The local Japanese situation is distorted. N.I. and M.I.D. are poles apart. Their efforts are not coordinated. F.B.I. acts independently. Example; M.I.D. turns over for our use as liaison man with local Japs a supposedly loyal American of Jap ancestry, fully vouched for by the Army. Three days later, F.B.I. picks him up and throws him in jail.--complete lack of coordination of information.
We are doing the Japanese espionage stuff very thoroughly. It's fascinating and quite exciting. Personally, I do not trust any of the Japanese. I honestly believe the majority of them are tainted. It's strange since the "Raid" how very Oriental Honolulu appears--thousands upon thousands of Jap faces. We have been photographing scores of Jap signs to show the character of the town. Now you can hardly see one. They have all taken down their signs and have substituted English lettering. Example; "Banzai Cafe"--beers and liquors--is now the "Keep Em Flying Cafe". The Army is being influenced in its Japanese attitude by Walter Dillingham. Naturally, the "Big Five" would be embarrassed economically by any
From the best sources, they estimate about six hundred active agents still loose on the island. I figure triple that number. Some amazing stories of spying leak out daily, some cunning, some crude, but information is getting out. Up to this date, April 3, the mountains have not been carefully searched for sending sets. Pistols are fired at midnight, fires start, etc. I wish they would open up and light up the town and coax them back again. I'm sure this time they'd never get back. And I am reluctantly forced to admit, despite my former reasoning drawn from some knowledge of the Jap, that he will come back, if only for a token raid--perhaps an incendiary attack on Honolulu proper. There have been too many authenticated flights of single planes, presumably launched from subs, over the city at night-these reconnaissance flights are for some purpose. It has one good effect, it keeps the Army boys on their toes.
As for our work, we're really working hard but the result should and will be magnificent. Our story of the "Raid on Pearl Harbor" must be the best documentary of all times. It is, first, a great historic document. I am not sacrificing truth for fiction. This thing we're doing is the real thing."