Columbus, O. (UP) - The release of 150,000 Japanese now held at relocation centers may lead to widespread sabotage and a "second Pearl Harbor in California," Gov. Earl Warren of California said Monday.

Speaking before the 35th annual governors conference, Warren said their release would lead to a situation whereby no one "will be able to tell a saboteur from any other Jap.

"Recently we have read of the social experiments in these relocation centers and the movement within our government to release the most of them as harmless to the security of our home front," Warren said. "But please don't be deceived. No more dangerous step could be taken."

The vital necessity of civilian defense requires that these Japanese be kept in the relocation centers, Warren continued, and they should be placed under the jurisdiction of the army or the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

He emphasized his was not "an appeal to race hatred, but an appeal for safety."

"We are now producing approximately half of the ships and airplanes of the country on the Pacific coast," Warren said. "To cripple these industries would be a body blow to the war effort. We don't want a second Pearl Harbor in California."

Gov. Dwight Griswold of Nebraska challenged Warren's statements and said "thousands of Japanese had been released with the approval of the FBI without one particle of trouble."

"Lack of trouble since the release of the Japanese is no proof at all they don't intend to commit sabotage" Warren replied. "Axis warfare is timed and when the time has arrived and the Japs make a thrust of some sort then we'll feel the full effect of the saboteurs."