Pete Hegseth has said he may order take-out at random to foil speculation that delivery spikes occur during military operations
US War Secretary Pete Hegseth has said he may start having large quantities of pizza sent to the Pentagon to confuse those tracking delivery patterns.
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Hegseth addressed a meme linking spikes in pizza orders to potential military operations.
The so-called “pizza index” has become a running online joke, with social media users speculating that spikes in deliveries near the US military HQ might signal upcoming operations – or just late-night strategy sessions. The X account Pentagon Pizza Report has over 254,300 followers, and a website called Pentagon Pizza Index tracks six pizza shops nearby using Google Maps data.
“I’m aware of that account,” said Hegseth, a former Fox News host who became defense secretary last year.
“Next time there’s going to be an airstrike. Have you guys thought about maybe just going to the cafeteria?” the Fox News reporter asked.
The war secretary responded with a laugh: “I haven’t thought of just going to the cafeteria. I’ve thought of just ordering lots of pizza on random nights.”
The defense chief emphasized that the move is meant to obscure any visible pattern that might be tied to military activity.
“Some Friday night when you see a bunch of Domino’s orders, it might just be me on an app, throwing the whole system off so we keep everybody off balance,” Hegseth added. “Trust me, we look at every indicator,” he said.
A surge in deliveries was recorded during Israel’s June strike on Iran, which was joined by Washington. The attack targeted Iranian nuclear facilities, causing heavy damage and leaving dozens dead. About an hour before Iranian state TV reported explosions in Tehran, pizza orders near the military HQ had already spiked, according to Pentagon Pizza Report.
“As of 6:59 p.m. ET nearly all pizza establishments near the Pentagon have experienced a HUGE surge in activity,” the account, which claims to provide “hot intel” on “late-night activity spikes,” posted at the time.
Deliveries to the Pentagon reportedly doubled ahead of the US invasion of Panama in December 1989 and spiked again before Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
