3.1. The Search Begins – 28 November 1941

By 28 November, with the two translations of the Japanese Gaimusho messages setting up the Winds code phrases and words, along with the message from the Commander-in-Chief Asiatic Fleet, Admiral Thomas Hart, which reported the British exploitation of the same two messages, American naval intelligence was ready to act. The Director of Naval Intelligence (ONI), Rear Admiral Theodore Wilkinson, passed a request through the Director of Naval Communications (DNC), Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes, that the communications intelligence arm of DNC was to make every attempt to intercept any Winds Execute message. Noyes seconded the request to Captain Safford, adding that it was to be construed as an order.[]

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