Stanley Johnston (1900 – September 13, 1962) was an Australian-American journalist who, as a correspondent during World War II, wrote a story for the Chicago Tribune that inadvertently revealed the extent of American code-breaking activities against the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).

After participating in the Gallipoli Campaign during World War I and ten years of working in gold mines in New Guinea, Johnston embarked on a three-year holiday that took him through the United States and Europe.

Following the sinking of the aircraft carrier in the battle Johnston was repatriated aboard the USS Barnett with the Lexington's executive officer, Commander Morton T. Seligman.

He also wrote an account of the prelude to the Midway action that caused fears in the United States Navy that the Japanese would realize that their codes were broken.

Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox pressed Attorney General Francis Biddle to prosecute Johnston and others at the Tribune for harm to national security under the Espionage Act of 1917.

[4] A grand jury declined to indict, because revealing enemy secrets was not then an offence, and also because the Navy could not release evidence for fear of further compromise.