Disinformation: Apparently, it's a military strategy, but the families--obviously--of the people who get killed when a military uses this strategy wouldn't agree with it.

Robert Stinnett: Oh, right. I know. Oh, when I speak about this with the families they just start crying about it, you know. They're terribly upset . . . But, you know, it was used by President Polk in the Mexican War in 1846. And also by President Lincoln at Fort Sumter And then also, as I say, another example is Viet Nam, this Gulf of Tonkin business.

Disinformation: It could be a traditional military philosophy, the idea that a military has to sometimes provoke the enemy to attack, sacrifice its own soldiers, so as to unify a country for war.

Robert Stinnett: I think so. I think you could probably trace it back to Caesar's time.

Disinformation: How much in your book has never been revealed to the public before?

Robert Stinnett: The breaking of radio silence. The fact that the Japanese ships did not keep silent as they approached Hawaii . . . The breaking of Japanese codes--I mean the full proof of it. Military codes, I want to emphasize that . . . And also McCollum's eight action memo--that's the whole heart of my book. If I didn't have that it wouldn't be as important. That is the smoking gun of Pearl Harbor. It really is.

Disinformation: Your research seems to prove that government conspiracies can exist. In your view, how many people would you say ultimately knew that Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor, but kept quiet about it and covered it up before and after the event?

Robert Stinnett: I cite about 35 people there in the book that most certainly knew about it. And it's probably more than that.

Disinformation: It also seems like a classic Washington cover-up. In your book you use the phrase "Pearl Harbor deceits". Ever since the attack there have been missing documents, altered documents, people being disingenuous, and people outright perjuring themselves before the Pearl Harbor investigation committees. Correct?

Robert Stinnett: That is right. Absolutely. And you know the Department of Defense has labeled some of my Pearl Harbor requests as B1 National Defense Secrets, and they will not release them. I say that in the book. Janet Reno would not release them to me.

Disinformation: And all the official Congressional Pearl Harbor committees were denied and weren't privy to all this revealing information?

Robert Stinnett: That's right. They were cut out, also.

Disinformation: A lot of people probably don't want to believe that a president would let something like Pearl Harbor happen. Have you gotten any criticism for contending that FDR had a foreknowledge of the attack?

Robert Stinnett: Yes. I get about a seventy percent approval rating. From, you know, comments, news media, radio, and all that. And there's about thirty percent just don't accept this….But the nitty-gritty questions are fine to me. You know, the people who are attacking me, what they are really quoting from is 1950 information. They don't have the 1999 or 2000 information . . .

Disinformation: The information you put out in your book. You're talking about new things here.

Robert Stinnett: That's right. And this thirty percent, I feel they just don't want to accept it, or they regard FDR as an icon who brought Social Security, and all that. But he also unified this country, and we were able to stop Hitler, you know, and the holocaust, and everything else that was going on. So, you could also say that this was a victory for President Roosevelt.

Disinformation: But it seems under our system of government if President Roosevelt felt it was an emergency to go to war with Germany then he should have come before the American people and the Congress and explained it and convinced us that we had to go defeat Hitler.

Robert Stinnett: Well, you see that was the problem. The strong isolation movement. Eighty percent of the people wanted nothing to do with Europe's war. And, you know, German submarines were sinking our ships in the North Atlantic. That did not rouse the American public. Nobody gave a damn. The USS Ruben James was a destroyer that was sunk, and lost a hundred lives about a month before Pearl Harbor. And there were other ships, merchant ships, and other ships in the North Atlantic that were sunk or damaged. But no one cared about it. I think the American people thought that Roosevelt was trying to provoke us into the German war, or Europe's war. They didn't want anything to do with that. But, you see, Commander McCollum was brilliant. He fashioned this--it was a real PR job--he got Japan to attack us in a most outrageous manner that really did unite the country.

Disinformation: A lot of people would probably be of the opinion that it wasn't so brilliant. The families of the three thousand people who were killed and injured at Pearl Harbor probably wouldn't think it was brilliant.

Robert Stinnett: I know, I know. You see, that's the argument today.

Disinformation: But if this is true, then you agree with what FDR did?

Robert Stinnett: I do. I don't see what other option he had.

Disinformation: Because a lot of the tone in your book seems to be questioning and disagreeing with Roosevelt's actions.

Robert Stinnett: Well, I disagree with the way he treated Admiral Kimmel and General Short, letting them hang out to dry.

Disinformation: Kimmel and Short were cut off from the intelligence loop.

Robert Stinnett: They were cut off. And Congress, you know, last October, the Senate and the House, found that they were cut off. They made the finding. That would have never happened five years ago. Or ten, twenty years ago.

Disinformation: It happened because of the Freedom of Information Act?

Robert Stinnett: I think so. And the Short and Kimmel families have credited my book with getting that through Congress.

Disinformation: Did you ever read Clausen's book? Colonel Henry Clausen was part of a Pearl Harbor investigation of November 1944. He wrote a book that was published in 1992 that claimed FDR didn't have a foreknowledge of the attack.

Robert Stinnett: Well, you know, I read that. But I fault Colonel Clausen because he had access to all of these military intercepts and he did not bring them out. And I think that was a crime for him to have done that. He should have been court-martialed for that.

Disinformation: You infer in your book that at one point Clausen was probably trying to cover up for General Marshall's actions of December 6 and 7.

Robert Stinnett: I think so. You know, he was acting on the behalf of the Secretary of War. He had carte blanche with these intercepts.

Disinformation: When was he acting on behalf of the Secretary of War?

Robert Stinnett: Well, Clausen was authorized by Secretary of War Stimson to conduct the Pearl Harbor investigation in November 1944. He traveled to the Hawaiian monitoring stations and interviewed cryptographers but failed to obtain any evidence or testimony concerning the intercepts the Navy was making prior to December 7. So when Congress opened its Pearl Harbor investigation in November 1945 there were no pre-Pearl Harbor Japanese naval intercepts available. Clausen was told by Stimson to get the intercepts, but he didn't do it.

Disinformation: Did you ever talk with Clausen? Did he criticize you?

Robert Stinnett: He died. I tried to contact him. He was an attorney in San Francisco, and I did write him but he would never answer me. I wanted to ask him why he didn't obtain the intercepts. His book doesn't address that major issue. He didn't return my calls, and he never answered my letters. I guess he just didn't want to be exposed to this. Clausen was obviously a part of the conspiracy that kept the pre-Pearl Harbor intercepts from Congress and the American public.

Disinformation: Why do you think the information in your book is important?