Defense media tweet threatening Area 51 “raiders” pulled, DOD apologizes
The Defense Department’s Defense Video and Image Distribution Service (DVIDS) issued an apology on September 21 after deleting a Twitter post that suggested individuals who participated in the “Storm Area 51” event and entered Air Force property would be blown up by bombs.
The post, tweeted on September 20, displayed a B-2 Spirit bomber on a runway at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, behind a formation of airmen from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri deployed during a Bomber Task Force mission in January. The tweet’s text read, “The last thing #Millenials will see if they attempt the #area51raid today….”
DVIDS, a service of the Defense Media Activity, is responsible for providing media organizations access to Defense Department imagery, video, and other content, including real-time broadcast-quality video links for interviews with service members (as well as the video content frequently used by Ars’ Sitrep video series). On September 21, a spokesperson for DVIDS issued the following statement via Twitter:
Last night a DVIDSHUB employee posted a Tweet that in NO WAY supports the stance of the Department of Defense. It was inappropriate and we apologize for this mistake.
— DVIDSHub (@DVIDSHub) September 21, 2019
The Air Force had taken the potential security threat posed by the “Storm Area 51” meme seriously, despite the cancellation of the “official” event and its relocation to Las Vegas. Flights over the area, south and west of the Rachel, Nevada staging area for the remaining “raiders,” were banned from September 18 to September 23 in two Notices to Airmen issued by the FAA.
On Friday, two people were arrested by local police when they showed up at an Area 51 gates, while another was arrested for urinating on a sign on the security fence.
No one at the gathering was bombed by the Air Force.
