I guess stupid is easier to see in hindsight.
What's stupid about basing the Pacific Fleet in Hawaii? It's a lot closer the the future combat zone than San Diego. It was always to be the forward command base for a war with Japan.
The stupid part comes in through lining up our ships and planes as shooting ducks, aligned with not knowing our potential enemy. Thousands died.
"I guess stupid is easier to see in hindsight."
It's important to remember that in 1940, the Pacific Fleet Commander was Admiral James O. Richardson.
In late 1940 Richardson was fired by President Roosevelt because of his protests over the fleet's assignment to Pearl Harbor.
But note that what Richardson protested was the administration's refusal to allow him to protect and maintain the fleet against possible attack.
The "not possible to defend" referred to below means: not possible given the resources and policies FDR imposed on Richardson.
In other words: Richardson refused to be a sitting duck in Pearl Harbor.
So FDR found another admiral to be his sitting duck.
"Richardson protested this redeployment to President Franklin D. Roosevelt and to other politicians in Washington, arguing that the burden of defending a perimeter so far removed was not possible, despite Japan's attack on China and whatever promises had been made to the British to come to their aid if attacked.
On October 26, 1940, a White House leak to the Washington-based Kiplinger Newsletter predicted that Richardson would be removed as Commander in Chief. He was replaced by Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in February 1941."Richardson is consequently a main focus of historical fact seekers, who claim pre-war intelligence that heavily suggested Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy in early December was deliberately withheld from the military commanders at Pearl Harbor by the Roosevelt administration.[1]
As of 2010, the CIA refuses to release many of the JN-25 codes deciphered before December 7, 1941."