The Roberts Commission and wartime secrecy

The Roberts Commission was the first major step in fixing public responsibility on Husband Kimmel and Walter Short. It found errors of judgment and dereliction of duty while exonerating subordinates and largely ignoring more senior military and civilian leadership. The inquiry operated during wartime, when evidence about successful codebreaking and intelligence distribution remained highly restricted. Its conclusions therefore did not account for the secret material Washington possessed but failed to send to Hawaii. The resulting damage to Kimmel's reputation kept him out of later wartime command even when the Navy was short of senior admirals.