The "Winds" message was intended to be a warning to the consulates and embassies in the affected countries. We knew of it since the original message was sent in the "Purple" diplomatic cipher which (as opposed to the Naval operational code JN-25) we were reading before the attack. An intercept of a "winds execute" message would not have done much for us, however. We already knew war was coming, and the winds message says nothing about the intended target.

Oddly enough, many historians now believe that the "winds execute" message was never sent. We certainly never intercepted it. Here is a set of the exhibits from the Congressional inquiry. It incluides the original message as well as the efforts put in place to intercept it. The British and Dutch never heard their respective alerts, and Japan went to war with them in early December as well.

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