Fact Check: Was There an Explosion at the Pentagon?

The limits of and threats to U.S. domestic security were at the forefront of public conversation earlier this year after the appearance of "spy balloons" across the country.

The alleged monitoring craft were shot down in February, sparking criticism toward President Joe Biden over White House decision-making surrounding the incident and what other security weak spots the U.S. might have.

Evidence of continuing domestic insecurity was seemingly laid bare on Monday when photos of what was described as an explosion near the Pentagon were shared widely on social media.

The Claim

Multiple tweets posted on Monday, May 22, 2023, shared a photo of a huge plume of smoke outside a building, claiming it showed an explosion near the Pentagon.

One tweet by user @GeromanAT, posted on May 22, 2023, viewed 82,000 times, said: "Explosion rocked near the Pentagon building in the USA. (That was done by the Free United States Volunteer Group) - there mission is to end the dictatorship of the Biden Regime."

Another tweet by user @Saboor_Sarem, viewed 63,000 times, said: "An #explosion near the #PENTAGON in the United States #BreakingNews #explosion #PENTAGON"

The Facts

The image of the explosion was widely shared on Twitter, with some claims that the news impacted the S&P 500.

Given the amount of attention that such a threat to safety that an explosion at the Pentagon could imply, it was surprising to see little information beyond the photo of the alleged incident.

When Newsweek called the Department of Defense (DOD) communications office on Monday, a representative said that "nothing happened here this morning," adding that they had "received a lot of calls" about the claim.

Arlington Fire and EMS, the local fire and safety service, also tweeted confirmation that there had been no fire or explosion near the Pentagon.

"@PFPAOfficial and the ACFD are aware of a social media report circulating online about an explosion near the Pentagon," it said. "There is NO explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon reservation, and there is no immediate danger or hazards to the public."

There are a number of visual inconsistencies that show the image shared on Twitter was modified or artificial.

Crucially, the building in the background does not look like the Pentagon. There are no Romanesque columns (as there are in the photo), and the detail on the windows of the building is quite poor, even taking into account the distance from which it appears to have been shot.

There is no escape of smoke between the metal railings in front of the explosion site, nor has the smoke led to any shadows or created other disruptions in the environment around it. The explosion itself appears to have caused no debris, with none scattered on the sidewalk or road outside the fence.

While it is not necessarily an impossibility, there are also no responding services, or people in the area of the explosion, despite it allegedly having happened at the headquarters of the DOD.

There are compelling reasons to believe that the photo was produced using Artificial Intelligence.

The fencing around the shot is not a uniform structure, switching between temporary aluminum railings and what looks like wooden or metal posts driven into the ground.

A streetlamp in the front of the shot appears to have a shady silhouette just behind it, which might be a result of AI image processing. The streetlamp pole also appears to blend into the fencing.

In any case, the visual inconsistencies, processing errors that appear to be caused by artificial intelligence image generation, and statements from the DOD and the Pentagon's local emergency service responders, confirm that the image is fake.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently expressed concerns to a Senate Judiciary Committee about the impact AI might have in the battle against misinformation.

Asked by Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar what his plan is regarding upcoming elections and misinformation about candidates, polling places and election rules, Altman said he is "quite concerned" about potential impacts.

"This is not social media. This is different," Altman said. "And so, the response that we need is different. This is a tool that a user is using to generate content more efficiently than before. They can change it; they can test the accuracy of it; if they don't like it they can get another version."

The Ruling

False.

There was no explosion or fire near the Pentagon at the time the photo was shared, as confirmed by the Department of Defense and local emergency responders.

Apart from the fact that the building in the background of the photo does not look like the Pentagon, there are a number of visual inconsistencies and oddities that suggest the image was AI-generated. Mismatched foreground details, missing effects an explosion would be likely to cause and blurring of objects strongly suggest that it was created by AI.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team