The Day We Weren't Looking - December 7, 1941

On December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbor in a "surprise" assault that killed over 2,400 Americans and pulled the U.S. into World War II. But Richard Backus investigates why it wasn't really a surprise: there were warning signs, intelligence was available, and multiple indicators were present. The failure was that we were looking in the wrong direction, preparing for expected threats while missing the unexpected one. From his investigator's perspective, he examines how the intelligence system failed to connect dots, how assumptions overrode evidence, and why this same pattern repeated on 9/11 and threatens us today. This isn't just about military history; it's about how we assess threats, how we fail to see what doesn't match our expectations, and whether we're prepared for attacks we haven't imagined.