Walter Short was the U.S. Army commander responsible for Hawaii’s Army defenses during the Pearl Harbor attack.
Lieutenant General Walter C. Short commanded the Hawaiian Department, which controlled the Army forces defending Oahu. His responsibilities included airfields, coastal defenses, antiaircraft units, and Army coordination with the Navy. The Japanese attack exposed serious weaknesses in the readiness and coordination of those defenses.
Short had ordered aircraft concentrated near runways partly to protect them from sabotage, but that arrangement also made the planes vulnerable to an air attack. Army warning systems and command procedures did not produce an effective response before the first bombs fell.
Short and Admiral Husband E. Kimmel, the Pacific Fleet commander, were both removed from command after the attack. Their responsibilities were different: Short commanded Army forces, while Kimmel commanded the Navy fleet. Walter Short should therefore not be confused with Douglas MacArthur, who commanded U.S. Army forces in the Philippines.