: I was arguing about this some people on GAF, but rereading the passage from
: Grasslands... it's not a done deal, and it doesn't specify when or how
: fully Parangosky was going to make the details public (obvious, they'd be
: minimizing ONI's involvement in the scheme). Clearly people like Buck know
: about the kid soldiers (New Blood—sometime post 2554).

: I kind of assumed Hunt the Truth was set c. 2558 (i.e., Halo's
: "present") but I realized Sullivan's message to Ben isn't dated
: on the HuntTheTruth Tumblr. I may have missed a date in the audio
: recordings, but it could be set close enough after the war that it isn't
: common knowledge yet, irrespective of Grasslands and what Parangosky might
: have done (or may have just told Halsey to bury the knife in deeper.)

: Having all this be a ONI PR campaign before the events of Halo 4, or even
: directly after, makes a lot more sense in that context.

It's hard to know how much of the interaction with Halsey is ONI mind games; Halsey hasn't interacted with the public at large in a very long time, and likely hasn't been allowed access to the net or anything like that since her recovery from the shield world.

As far as Buck knowing, I don't really have any clue except that his connection with Dare might make him privy to secrets, rumors, and the like...but that's some top level stuff to just be gossiping about. I imagine that conspiracy theorists within the Halo universe have figured it out, at least somewhat; maybe Buck is a bit of a conspiracy buff?