After Secretary James Forrestal ordered a Navy Court of Inquiry, its members could examine evidence unavailable to the Roberts Commission. The court found Kimmel's decisions largely reasonable given the limited information supplied to him. It focused instead on former Chief of Naval Operations Harold Stark for failing to transmit warnings and verify timely distribution. Because the findings exposed American cryptographic success against Japanese systems, they remained sealed during the war.
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The Navy Court of Inquiry and secret intelligence
A later naval inquiry with access to intelligence distribution records largely cleared Kimmel and focused criticism on Harold Stark's warning failures.