#PentagonLeak trends: Is it due to increased bot activity, a memo on Covid-19 plans or infamous UFO sightings?
The hashtag "#PentagonLeak" started trending on Twitter on the evening of June 30, and what's bizarre about it is that no one seems to have any idea as to why the hashtag has been trending. While many Twitter users have connected the trend to increased bot activity, others are shedding light on possible theories that could be connected to it. For one, many have been linking the hashtag to COVID-19 after Task & Purpose, a military and veteran-focused digital media company, wrote a report about a Pentagon memo addressing COVID-19 being leaked.
“We have a long path ahead, with the real possibility of a resurgence of COVID-19. Therefore, we must now refocus our attention on resuming critical missions, increasing levels of activity, and making necessary preparations should a significant resurgence of COVID-19 occur later this year,” the memo read. The memo apparently drafted for the Defense Secretary Mark Esper revealed tat the top Department of Defence officials will have to prepare for a possible resurgence of the pandemic with the unavailability of an effective vaccine until 2021. However, it did not brandish Esper's signature.
When approached by the media outlet, The Hill, a Pentagon official said they could not find the version of the memo as reported by Task & Purpose, and so they could not confirm its veracity. But it did confirm that the DOD “continues to develop plans that address operating in the COVID-19 environment,” and some versions of similar plans were drafted as outlined in the reported memo, they had never been approved.
Check out some #PentagonLeak tweets that have gone viral here.
One of the many theories that has been circulating the internet since the hashtag began trending is the notorious UFO sightings, that the Pentagon has repeatedly denied any involvement. after reported sightings, if unidentified flying objects in the sky by naval officers, the Pentagon reportedly conducted secret investigation instances until 2012 under the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. Earlier last month, the UFO theories resurfaced but a Pentagon spokeswoman said that “the [Defense] department has determined that the authorized release of these unclassified videos does not reveal any sensitive capabilities or systems, and does not impinge on any subsequent investigations of military air space incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena.”
A third theory links the #PentagonLeak trend to the 1967 Pentagon Papers or the 'Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defence Vietnam Task Force'. It was commissioned by Robert McNamara, the then Secretary of Defence, and became public knowledge when parts of the report were leaked to the pressed and distributed widely in 1971. The Pentagon papers revealed that the United States had expanded its war with the bombing of Cambodia and Laos, coastal raids on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps attacks. None of these were ever reported by the American media. The Twitter hashtag, however, comprised of tweets with picture attachments of similar-looking documents computerized for the 'Call of Duty' video game.