Strange tweet from US Strategic Command goes viral before it is deleted

A confusing and unintelligible tweet released by U.S. Strategic Command (Stratcom) Sunday night drew ridicule and thousands of shares on Twitter after the military arm tweeted “;l;;gmlxzssaw.”

The garbled message, released at 7:48 p.m., received more than 11,000 retweets and hundreds of comments before it was deleted roughly half an hour later.

“Apologizes for any confusion. Please disregard this post,” Stratcom, based at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., tweeted quickly thereafter, then deleted that apology.

The bizarre message drew speculation that it was the military’s inadvertent release of the “nuclear launch codes,” jokes that a cat was allowed on the keyboard and suggestions that the message was meant for extraterrestrial viewers.  

US Strategic Command just tweeted this pic.twitter.com/2vR465AAUl

— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) March 28, 2021

Delighted to discover that US Strategic Command is a cat person pic.twitter.com/6iIU66mbBu

— Jenny Marlowe (@thereismoresea) March 29, 2021

brb ✈️ nuclear codes pic.twitter.com/G8OnFSidgx

— David Mack (@davidmackau) March 29, 2021

Not with a bang but a ;l;;gmlxzssaw.

— Erik Kennedy (@thetearooms) March 29, 2021

The tweet also got some sympathy messages, including from Canada’s military, which tweeted: “These things happen. This might even happen to you one day. It’s okay, folks.”

Stratcom, which is in charge of the military’s nuclear forces and deterring missile attacks, in 2018 was criticized for a New Year’s Eve tweet joking about dropping bombs.

“#TimesSquare tradition rings in the #NewYear by dropping the big ball…if ever needed, we are #ready to drop something much, much bigger,” Stratcom tweeted.

The agency later apologized and said the message was in “poor taste.”