The Ringle Report concerning doho, 26 January 1942 was a letter written by Lt. Commander K.D. Ringle, USN, and sent to the Chief of Naval Operations on the doho problem. This letter was made available to the deliberations of the Commission on Wartime Relo
cation and Internment of Civilians, but was deleted from the final CWRIC Report and Findings (See page 215, American and Japanese Relocation in World War II; Fact, Fiction & Fallacy, Lillian Baker, Webb Research Group, Medford, 1990).
The Ringle Report
Baker noted that Ringle's letter below ...is a portion of the RINGLE REPORT that was delected from CWRIC Report and Findings. This accounts for the letter consisting of subparagraphs.
BIO/KD/KF37/A8-5
Serial LA/1055/re
26 JAN 1942
DECLASSIFIED (Previously classified CONFIDENTIAL)
From: LIEUTENANT COMMANDER K.D. RINGLE, USN
To: The Chief of Naval Operations
Via: The Commandant, Eleventh Naval District
Subject: Japanese Question, Report on
(b) That of the Japanese-born alien residents, the large majority are at least passively loyal to the United States. That is, they would knowingly do nothing whatever to the injury of the United States, but at the same time would not do anything to the in
jury of Japan. Also, most of the remainder would not engage in active sabotage or insurrection, but might well do surreptitious observation work for Japanese interests if given a convenient opportunity.
(c) That, however, there are among the Japanese both alien and United States citizens, certain individuals, either deliberately placed by the Japanese government or actuated by a fanatical loyalty to that country, who would act as saboteurs or agents. Thi
s number is estimated to be less than three percent of the total, or about 3,500 in the entire United States.
(d) That of the persons mentioned in (c) above, the most dangerous are either already in custodial detention or are members of such organizations as the Black Dragon Society, the Kaigun Kyokai (Navy League), or the Hoirusha Kai (M
ilitary Service Man's League), or affiliated groups. The membership of these groups is already fairly well known to the Naval Intelligence Service or the Federal Bureau of Investigation and should be immediately placed in custodial detention, irrespective
of whether they are alien or citizen. (See reference (c) and (f)).
(f) That in spite of paragraph (c) above, the most potentially dangerous element of all are those American citizens of Japanese ancestry who have spent the formative years of their lives, from 10 to 20, in Japan and have returned to the United States to c
laim their legal American citizenship within the last few years. Those people are essentially and inherently Japanese and may have been deliberately sent back to the United States by the Japanese government to act as agents. In spite of their legal citize
nship and the protection afforded them by the Bill of Rights, they should be looked upon as enemy aliens and many of them placed in custodial detention. This group numbers between 600 and 700 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area and at least that many in
other parts of Southern California.