What Are The Causes Of Pearl Harbor Intelligence Failure

The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7th, 1941. The effects of the attack were devastating. The U.S. had not seen such a heavy loss of men and equipment in such a short period of time. The United States lost 2,403 personnel in the attack with another 1,246 wounded. Three battleships, and two destroyers were sunk. Six additional battleships, a destroyer, a mineslayer, and two service ships were also damaged during the attack. 188 planes were destroyed and an additional 159 were reported as damaged.1 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, delivered his famous “Day of Infamy” speech to Congress the following day. He outlined the unprovoked attacks from Japan against the United States. He said, “I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."2 Congress approved his request to go to war with Japan later that day. …show more content…
Although most experts believe a failure of intelligence on the American side was to blame, they disagree on whether the roots of that failure were organizational, psychological, or analytical. Conversely, others argue the real problem lay not with the intelligence community, but with the military commanders who were unprepared for the Japanese attack; or with the American policy makers who pushed the nation to war; or even with the Japanese enemy who devised a brilliant plan of deception and surprise.3 One of the key arguments that historians lean towards is how cognitive biases fueled the intelligence failure in the attack at Pearl Harbor. Two of the types of cognitive bias that aided the intelligence failures were and confirmation