Pentagon Pizza Index

[Frostbit]

The Israel Air Force (IAF) has issued a new directive asking soldiers not to order food to the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, fearing an uptick in orders could alert outsiders to military action, Ynet reported. According to the new directives obtained by Ynet, the IAF is concerned about a system similar to the “Pentagon Pizza Index” being used to measure food orders to the Kirya. The directives posted in the Kirya consist of several guidelines to “avoid giving advance warning to the enemy.”

Pentagon denies index's accuracy

The Pentagon pizza index is the idea that military action can be predicted by volume of food orders near military headquarters, like the Pentagon in Washington. Originating in the 1990s with a Domino’s owner in Washington when the CIA bought an extraordinary number of pizzas on the cusp of the Gulf War, some credit the index with predicting military movement in recent years. Advertisement

As tensions between Israel and Iran reach their highest levels since last year’s 12-Day War, Israeli military officials reportedly believe that food delivery orders to bases could expose operational vulnerabilities, potentially enabling enemies to anticipate upcoming strikes. Today, the phenomenon has a dedicated X/Twitter page that provides real-time updates on food orders in Washington based on Google Maps traffic data. Still, the Pentagon has denied the accuracy of the index. Following the 12-Day War, a Pentagon spokesperson said that the abundance of food available in the Pentagon itself rendered the index useless. “There are many pizza options available inside the Pentagon, also sushi, sandwiches, donuts, coffee, etc,” they said to Newsweek.

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[scott]

That denial by the Pentagon didn't age well. Also, the fact that ordering more food (at off hours) in Pentagon restaurants would itself be a signal. These people that work there and the vendors that service the restaurants aren't cleared for security protocols, they are just cleared for potential inside attacks. There is simply no way to order that much food on demand without someone noticing something.

It's definitely a vulnerability as the "corporate" military structure intersects with food and other service vendors.

Similarly, I remember learning about how $100 printer cartridges were being bought for $500 and thought it was just obvious government waste. Then I learned that it was the "recycling" that cost so much and it was required that all printer cartridges had to be exchanged instead of just thrown out (tape, inkjet, and laser). It was to conceal spikes in printer usage ahead of planned military operations. We had warehouses half full of every type of printer cartridge and sometimes the other half was full of used items. Most were burned in incinerators at the base power plants.