Is there a real image of "0-1" spray-painted under a Department of War plaque? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that graffiti was ever painted beneath the sign, which is located at the Pentagon. Image searches frequently returned a very similar image featuring the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
The claim appeared in a post made on X by user @TheRealThelmaJ1 on June 18, 2026 (archived here). The post included an image of a "Department of War" plaque on a building, with graffiti reading "0-1" underneath. The caption read:
True
This is what the image looked like in the post made on X at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @TheRealThelmaJ1 on X.)
Reverse image searches on Google (archived here), TinEye (archived here), and Yandex (archived here) did not reveal identical results beyond social media posts. However, a similar image (archived here) taken on November 13, 2025, of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth screwing a "Department of War" sign onto the grand entrance of the Pentagon (archived here) was a frequent result. The image was taken from an identical angle as the graffiti picture, with matching background imagery.
Google Gemini (archived here) and OpenAI Verify (archived here) -- which contain artificial intelligence detection technology -- did not find any evidence that the image was made with AI. However, given their similarities, it is likely that the Hegseth image was digitally altered with other tools to remove Hegseth, leaving enough space to add the "0-1" graffiti. While not conclusive, Fotoforensics' error level analysis, which "highlights differences in the JPEG compression rate" (archived here) showed that the graffiti image (archived here) had significant contrast on the surface of the building where the plaque is located. This contrast is absent in the original, Hegseth image (archived here). The high contrast in the graffiti image indicates digital modification in the area around the Department of War plaque. The low contrast in the Hegseth image suggests that it has not been resaved or manipulated frequently. The error level analyses of the two images are compared below:
(Image source: Analysis images taken from Fotoforensics.)
Additionally, a Google News search for "Department of War AND graffiti AND 0-1" did not generate any relevant results (archived here). If such an action occurred in the in the Washington D.C. area, it is likely that it would have been covered by at least a local outlet.
Other Lead Stories fact checks related to the Department of War can be found here.
