--- title: "Pentagon Whistleblower Admits Photo of UFO Mothership Was Fake" description: "A Pentagon UFO whistleblower has admitted something unusual for anyone involved in government: that he was wrong." date: "2024-11-02" modified: "2024-11-02" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/pentagon-whistleblower-admits-photo-fake" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "Pentagon" - "the digest" - "uaps" - "ufos" --- # Pentagon Whistleblower Admits Photo of UFO Mothership Was Fake ![A Pentagon UFO whistleblower has admitted something unusual for anyone involved in government: that he was wrong.]() *\Image: @ingenuahumanidad via Telegram\* ## He Admit It A Pentagon UFO whistleblower has admitted something [that often feels unprecedented]() for anyone involved in the government: that he was wrong. In a [post on X-formerly-Twitter](), ex-intelligence official Luis "Lue" Elizondo owned up to sharing a photo purporting to show a UFO that he later learned was fake. "A photo that was provided to me by a friend in Government a couple of years ago was presented by me two days ago at our engagement in Philadelphia," the former head of the Defense Department's secret UFO tracking program wrote, referencing a private event in the city of brotherly love that took place earlier in the week. In a clip posted by UFO journalist Steven Greenstreet, Elizondo was seen presenting in Philadelphia on a so-called "mothership" purported to have been seen over Bucharest, the Romanian capital, in 2022. "Guess what we caught in Romania in 2022?" he told attendees [per a video taken]() from inside the event and posted to X. "By the way, \[the photo was taken from\] the US Embassy." https://twitter.com/MiddleOfMayhem/status/1851273969422520382 ## Teamwork Shortly after the presentation, however, digital sleuths discovered that the photo had not been taken from the vantage point of the Bucharest embassy at all. A power plant in the background of the image suggested it had instead been taken hundreds of miles away in the town of Arad. With a [simple reverse image search](), Elizondo's fellow UFO hunter John Greenewald, Jr. traced it to its source: a Facebook group called "Mysterious Ancient Discoveries." What's more, Greenewald suggested, per findings from another [debunked viral UFO photo](), that the "mothership" in the whistleblower's photo [may well have been a chandelier](). Instead of being angry at the revelation that his mothership was more mundane than met the eye, Elizondo lauded the teamwork it took to debunk his claim. "Looks like we can put this one bed," he wrote. "Excellent work to whoever solved this one and a big thank you! Crowdsourcing works." "Now let’s see," Elizondo continued, "if together we can figure out the rest." We've gotta hand it to him: for someone who's made some outrageous claims, including his recent insistence that there was a [secret government program]() meant to "trap" alien tech," Elizondo's humility is welcome. **More on UFOs:** [*Pentagon Officials Stumped by Mysterious Drones Haunting Military Base for Weeks*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()