WASHINGTON – Some jokingly said the cryptic tweet, “;l;;gmlxzssaw,” was aUS nuclear launch code. Others, that the Pentagon had been hacked.
And some even thought it was a signal to political conspiracists.
Now the US Strategic Command, which runs the country’s powerful nuclearweapons force, says the enigmatic posting on its Twitter account in factcame from the hands of a precocious kid.
Headquartered in Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, Stratcom manages the USmilitary’s strategic deterrence — that is, the massive nuclear weaponsforce and missile defenses that are designed to discourage any attackagainst the country by other powers.
So its media comments are closely watched for signs of any change in itscurrent defense stance.
But Stratcom told reporter Mikael Thalen of the Daily Dot that the tweetwas no secret message, and was instead was the result of a Stratcom socialmedia editor working from home.
“The Command’s Twitter manager, while in a telework status, momentarilyleft the Command’s Twitter account open and unattended. His very youngchild took advantage of the situation and started playing with the keysand, unfortunately, and unknowingly, posted the tweet,” Stratcom officialKendall Cooper said in a letter Thalen posted on line.
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“Absolutely nothing nefarious occurred, i.e. no hacking of our Twitteraccount.”
Thirty minutes later Stratcom tweeted to disregard the previous tweet, andthen both of those messages were deleted.
It is not the first time Stratcom has run into trouble on social media.
In December 2018, referring to the Times Square New Year’s Eve ball-drop inNew York, it joked on Twitter about it being prepared to drop something”much bigger,” with a video of a B-2 stealth bomber dropping two bombs tothe beat of pulsing music.
Hours later it deleted that tweet and apologized that it was “in poortaste.” -APP/AFP
