Oh, I have no doubt of that at all and never said that he was not in command. I have read Leahy and Marshall as well and take from both of their writings that they answered to FDR but still had great latitude.
I wonder about the claims of how flat footed we were entering the war since I read that many had begun thinking about it and doing as much as they could to prepare way back in ‘38. It was clear the war drums were banging and getting louder from the mid-30s.
There's a great book titled Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II .
It details how American industry giants were putting our manufacturing plans in place and were ready to go when Pearl Harbor was attacked. In many places you read how quickly shipyards and plants were built and compare that to today's bureaucratic maze - it's really amazing what these guys did.