The American magazine “The National Interest” revealed the validity of what is known as the “Pentagon Pizza Report,” explaining that the US Department of Defense has developed more advanced methods to provide meals for its employees during overtime, coinciding with the resurgence of talk about this phenomenon in light of the escalation of tensions in the Middle East region.
According to the magazine, the deep-rooted practice known as “pizza intelligence” surrounding the Pentagon may become a thing of the past, after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth hinted at the possibility of ordering large quantities of food to the US military headquarters “just to confuse everyone.”
Hegseth, a former Fox News anchor who currently holds a leadership position at the Pentagon, was referring to the well-known phenomenon of a sudden increase in pizza orders in the Washington, D.C., area and northern Virginia before a major geopolitical event occurs.
The magazine’s report comes at a time when all eyes are on the Middle East, where the United States is mobilizing aircraft carriers, equipment, and weapons in anticipation of the possibility of a strike against Iran if the nuclear negotiations fail, in exchange for Iranian threats to respond in a harsh and unexpected manner.
The Pentagon is often considered the center of gravity of America’s military, but it is essentially a massive office building with about 26,000 employees working there every day. When employees have to work late hours, they need food, prompting observers to track orders from nearby restaurants, especially pizza, as an indicator of unusual activity.
Pizza orders from nearby restaurants doubled on the night of the invasion of Grenada in October 1983, and the same thing happened before Operation Just Cause in December 1989, the invasion of Panama. Domino’s Pizza also reported a significant increase in orders before Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, although the orders at the time were directed to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
The “Pentagon Pizza Report” account on the “X” platform monitors takeaway orders using publicly available information. Although this indicator is not scientific, it is historically considered a clear sign that a major event may occur.
The Pentagon is aware of the existence of pizza trackers and has developed countermeasures. Hegseth, who joked that he would order large quantities on random nights to “confuse everyone,” appeared to be an attempt to downplay the accuracy of this indicator.
“I’ve thought about just ordering a lot of pizza on random nights to confuse everyone,” Hegseth told Fox News. “We’re monitoring all the indicators.”
Although the Pentagon has a large dining area containing several restaurants, including Subway, Starbucks and Popeyes, as well as employee-dedicated branches of McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Panda Express, there are no pizza restaurants inside the building, necessitating ordering from outside for major events.
Hegseth noted that some of the larger requests may be related to ensuring operational security, emphasizing his awareness of the ease of access to publicly available information via the Internet. He added that the success of Operation Midnight Hammer was due to understanding open sources and the ways in which others try to monitor movements, stressing that the ministry “controls a lot of that.”
