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Read the book “Day of Deceit” by Robert Stinnett.

You don't even have to read a bunch of tinfoil books. Just read the official testimony.

Captain Laurance Safford testified in 1944 that the US knew by December 1st that Japan was going to attack. You can read his testimony, and you can read about Admiral Leigh Noyes blocking his attempt to warn Kimmel, as well as Noyes' blocking his attempts to warn Marines on Wake Island. By December 5, Washington knew it was imminent, and again, folks in Washington blocked efforts by people wanting to pick up a phone and call Hawaii. But even back in October, they had reports that Japanese were tracking Pearl Harbor ship movements, and this was not passed on to Kimmel.

Now Noyes was somewhat punished/blamed later on, but not to the extent that Kimmel was. And Noyes' superiors knew a lot of what he did, so it didn't appear that he was acting alone.

You read the official records, and you'll see that Washington knew, and they didn't pass it on. People directly above Kimmel didn't give him the information he needed.

If Kimmel had the information that the folks in Washington did on December 5th, you can bet that ships would have been moved out of Pearl Harbor and that all of the anti-aircraft and other light weapons would have been manned 24/7. Kimmel and Short may have made mistakes, but they were operating under an information blackout imposed upon them by Washington.

Something to be considered is that Japan’s success was, in a way, a blessing in disguise.

If the fleet had been at sea in the vicinity of Pearl, ALL the battleships would have been sunk, and the loss of life would have been enormous. Most of the Pearl Harbor battleships were bombarding Japanese islands in a year or two.

Additionally, after having stuck his finger in Japan’s eye by moving the fleet to Pearl, FDR spent the rest of the time up to the attack stripping the Pacific fleet of its assets by sending them to the Atlantic. He then cuts off the fuel supply to a militaristic maritime power, and does littlee to reinforce Hawaii. Short ws an idiot, Kimmel less so. But both took the blame that should have been shared much further around.