Child pornography being linked to the American government has all the hallmarks of being one of the major scandals of the decade.

When the Pentagon child pornography story surfaced in 2010, it was naturally one of those media reports that created a whirlwind of interest and astonishment. Yet almost as quickly as the scandal emerged, it disappeared, leaving the nation dumbfounded and none the wiser of its outcome.

At the time the story came out, both the US and the international media was littered with reports of a “major federal investigation” being carried out, which found dozens of military officials and defense contractors, allegedly buying and downloading child pornography onto private and government computers.

While the shocking case was only leaked to the media in 2010, the Pentagon released investigative reports that spanned almost a decade, implicating employees of government agencies and who handled some of the US’s most top secret issues.

A 2006 investigative report into the Pentagon child pornography stated: