Press Leak - Battle of Midway

[ReadyR]

See this story http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nati ... story.html

A potentially serious leak...

[Jorge_Stanbury]

But in perspective, the IJN was sunk every week or so according to newspapers, so I doubt it was suspicious

[bartrat]

It did not tip the Japanese off, but the FBI took it very seriously.

[spence]

But in perspective, the IJN was sunk every week or so according to newspapers, so I doubt it was suspicious

Knowing that your coding system is compromised is a very serious concern for any military organization. The newspapers may have reported the IJN sunk 5 times over in the past but those times it had not included the operational facts surrounding their loss. At Coral Sea the same Stanley Johnson had reported the sinking of a completely ficticious IJN carrier "Ryukaku" (HIJMS Shoho). The sudden change to an article that accurately named many of the ships involved, how they were deployed, their objective and how they would approach their objective provided too many details. The Japanese continued to believe their JN-25 code was secure til the end of the war. So too did the Germans with their "Enigma" system. It would be exceedingly stupid to believe we (as the US or the "West") will ever get that lucky again.