Rumor Doctor blog archive
Does pizza signal a crisis at the White House?
Published: July 27, 2010
“Deep Throat” famously told Bob Woodward to follow the money, but would a better axiom for national security reporters be “follow the pizza”?
Does the presence of the pizza delivery man indicate a crisis at the top levels of government?
The Rumor Doctor investigated this after a reader asked whether the press had been tipped off to major military planning back in August 1990 because the Pentagon ordered hundreds of pizzas.
That was about the time that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and military planners were working on Desert Shield, later to become Desert Storm.
Since The Rumor Doctor was about to enter middle school at the time, he turned to more experienced and well-respected journalists to find the answer.
“As a matter of fact, I was the guy who broke the story that the U.S. was sending troops to Saudi Arabia and it had nothing to do with pizza deliveries,” CBS News national security correspondent David Martin said in an e-mail. “I’ve heard that as sort of an all-purpose rumor – i.e. the first sign that something is up – but it’s never worked for me.”
That sounded pretty definitive, but CNN’S Wolf Blitzer suggested that this rabbit hole is deeper than it seems.
Blitzer, who was CNN’s Pentagon correspondent in 1990, said he learned about Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait from a Pentagon official, but when he saw pizzas arrive at the building, he knew that Defense officials would be burning the midnight oil to deal with the situation.
“Later, by the way, when I was CNN’s senior White House correspondent, I always knew there was some sort of crisis going on in the West Wing after hours when I saw the arrival of pizzas,” Blitzer said in an e-mail. “Bottom line for journalists: Always monitor the pizzas.”
Could it be true that the White House – which traditionally despises leaks –is inadvertently tipping its hand every time it orders a large pepperoni, sausage and onion pizza with Buffalo wings?
White House spokesman Tommy Vietor threw cold water onto this theory.
“It’s a fun premise, but I don’t think it’s at all true,” Vietor said via e-mail.
However, CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller said it is common practice for White House staffers to order out when working late.
“You can see pizza and Chinese food deliveries being made to the northwest gate of the White House,” Knoller said in an e-mail. “It's not all that convenient, because White House staffers have to be outside the gate to receive the food, pay the delivery person and then take it through security.”
THE RUMOR DOCTOR’S DIAGNOSIS: Forget WikiLeaks. Watch Papa John’s.
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