DURING A SILENT ATTACK, THE PRESS KEPT QUIET, TOO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160017-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: January 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160017-1
ARTICLE APPEARED WALL STREET JOURNAL
2 January 1987
ON PA6
During a Silent Attack, the Press Kept Quiet, Too
t By ANDY MASLOWSKI
President Reagan and CIA Director
William Casey complain of a bad couple of
years trying to plug national security leaks
to the press: now, with the Iran contra tu-
mult- newsmen are fairly splashing ? round
in the stuff. The White House's woes in this
regard are not unprecedented. However
there have been times when the Dress
proved it can cooperate in preventing dan-
gerous information from a tting out.
One good example is a little remem-
bered episode of World War II. involving
the Japanese balloon bombing of this conti-
nent from November 1944 to April 1945.
Following Gen. Doolittle's raid on To-
kyo in April 1942, the Japanese began plan-
ning retaliation against the American
mainland. After two years of testing, they
decided balloons could be used to carry
bombs or incendiaries across the Pacific
Ocean using the prevailing west wind. The
bombs were designed to cause random de-
struction in cities, forests and farms.
Two types of balloons were made:
bomb carriers, about 33 feet in diameter
when filled with hydrogen and made of
very thin paper glued together, with a lift
capacity of up to 300 pounds: and radio
balloons, which accompanied the bomb
carriers and provided tracking signals. Ra-
dio balloons were made of rubberized silk,
in the belief they were stronger. But only
three silk balloons reached North America.
The paper balloons worked better.
Each balloon had 30 six-pound sandbags
designed to release when a barometer indi-
cated the balloon fell below 30,000 feet in
altitude. Another barometric device
opened a valve and released hydrogen
when the balloon rose above 35,000 feet.
Each balloon usually carried four explo-
sives, including incendiaries and 32-pound
fragmentation, anti-personnel bombs.
These were supposed to release after all
the sandbag ballast had been dropped,
which the Japanese had hoped would be
over a mainland target. Another device
would destroy the balloon after its payload
had been delivered. But this device often
failed, allowing many balloons to he sal-
vaged. The balloons could reach speeds of
200 miles per hour, and depending on wind
conditions, normally crossed the Pacific in
three to five days.
The first to reach American territory
were launched Nov. 1, 1944. On Nov. 4. a
Navy vessel salvaged one balloon envelope
off the coast of Southern California. On
Dec. 11, the first discovery on land was
made near Kalispell, Mont.
By January 1945 enough balloon frag-
ments had been collected to convince the
War Department the Japanese had devel-
oped a new threat. But what was the pur-
pose of these ballons? Were they only for
incendiary and anti-personnel bombing?
Could they be used as chemical or bac-
teriological weapons' Were they a means
of diversion or some other purpose?
Balloon parts were sent to the Naval
Research Laboratory in Washington. D.C.,
and to the California Institute of Technol-
ogy. The FBI, state and federal forest
rangers and other groups were alerted and
told to report balloon sightings or finds.
Geologists who examined sand from the
ballast bags listed five Japanese areas that
could be the source of the sand. Air Force
surveillance produced photographs that
discovered the manufacturing plant in one
of these areas with several of the pearl-
gray bags on the ground.
Fourth Air Force pilots also tracked
two balloons from the air. A P-3S pilot
from Santa Rosa Army Air Field brought
one down, while a P-63 pilot from Walla
Walla trailed his target from Redmond.
Ore., to Reno, Nev., before forcing it to
land by repeated sweeps of air from his
plane's propeller.
One of the most interesting aspects of
this attack was the voluntary censorship
exhibited by the U.S. and Canadian press
and radio corps. Although it was a time of
war, press cooperation prevented the Japa-
nese high command of learning of all but
one landing, that at Kalispell. After this
announcement the news blackout on bal-
loons was complete. The Japanese
launched 9,000 balloons and estimated at
least 10c'c would reach the U.S. But with
only one reported landing, the Japanese
General Staff ordered a halt.
Brig. Gen. W.H. Wilbur was chief of
staff of the Western Defense Command
and followed the entire Japanese balloon
invasion. After the war he visited Japan
and met the commander of the balloon
campaign, Gen. Kusaba, who said he was
told by his superiors that his balloon cam-
paign was wasting the fast-dwindling re-
sources of Japan. The Japanese General
Staff believed that if the balloons were
reaching America they would have been
reported in its newspapers.
Unfortunately, the news blackout was
perhaps responsible for the only fatalities
of the balloon attack. On May 5, 1945. after
the Japanese had stopped balloon launch-
ings, five children and a woman were
killed when they discovered a bomb on a
picnic near Bly, Ore. Elsewhere, balloon
bomb fragments had been found from the
Aleutians to Mexico and from California to
Michigan. Military authorities confirmed
that about 150 balloons were recovered.
Besides the media, many other groups
including health officials. county agricul-
tural agents, farmers, ranchers, school au-
thorities, teachers and law-enforcement
representatives were notified of the bal-
loons. Their cooperation also allowed si-
lence when silence was necessary, and
panic never had a chance to develop.
Most of the balloon bombs didn't ex-
plode or exploded over forests and moun-
tains. far from populated areas. Had there
been more damage, especially in urban
areas, would newsmen still have remained
silent' That will never be known. But the
press did come through when it was
deemed vital to clam up. As a result. the
Japanese balloon bombing was a historic
fact, experienced without the hysteria that
might have been expected.
Mr. Masloteski is a free-lance writer
based in Columbus, Ohio.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504160017-1