FOIA Crack Opens: ‘Mosul Orb’ UFO Video Finally Goes Public
Written by Christopher Sharp - 1 July 2025
A four-second clip of the ‘Mosul Orb’ Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) has finally surfaced after investigative journalist Dustin Slaughter won a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and its National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).
In 2023, journalists Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp released a still image from the four-second video, showing the UAP above the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2016, reportedly from a CIA spy plane.
The video was filmed at 9:47 am Coordinated Universal Time on 16 April 2016, according to its timestamp.
During an appearance on Jeremy Corbell and George Knapp’s WEAPONIZED podcast, Slaughter said his 2023 FOIA filing hadn’t singled out the Mosul Orb; instead, he’d submitted a broad request for any UAP-related videos.
After what he described as stonewalling by the USAF and NASIC, Slaughter and his legal team filed suit in 2024.
The footage captures a mysterious sphere gliding right-to-left above Mosul’s rooftops.
Slaughter described to Corbell and Knapp how the video arrived unexpectedly, stating:
“It kind of arrived out of the blue. My attorney and I got an email from a Justice Department lawyer who is representing the Air Force in the case. He just attached this video, sent it to us, and said, ‘by the way, here is this video that they found.’”
Slaughter’s litigation remains open, with him and his legal team of FOIA litigation experts fighting for the release of further videos, now with the help of Corbell and Knapp.
Above: Journalist, Dustin Slaughter
Speaking on WEAPONIZED, Jeremy Corbell said that after examining the ‘Mosul Orb,’ the U.S. military and broader intelligence community still label it a UAP, unable to explain how it maintains altitude without any visible propulsion.
Corbell, Knapp and Slaughter are inviting online sleuths to scrutinise the new footage for clues about the object’s identity. One early theory sparked by the still image—that the ‘orb’ was just a puddle on the ground - has now been decisively proven false by the moving video.
Although the UAP footage was verifiably shot over Mosul, Iraq - territory under U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) - Slaughter told Corbell the video surfaced via U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), which oversees Central and South America.
On WEAPONIZED, Corbell noted - echoing his earlier reporting - that videos like this are usually circulated through various U.S. government systems and analytic teams for further examination - hence why the video may have surfaced under USSOUTHCOM, rather than USCENTCOM.
In 2023, the Daily Mail reported that an intelligence source said the video was sent to the Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia, where imagery and electronic signals intelligence experts studied it for USCENTCOM.
The Daily Mail also reported that the case formed part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Preliminary Assessment on UAP, a report published in May 2021, which analysed 144 cases and found an explanation for just one.
Slaughter’s findings reinforce Corbell’s assertion that the footage has circulated widely inside the U.S. government: it was even scrutinised by NASIC, based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base - the very unit Congress has assigned to analyse UAP videos.
In 2022, language introduced by Congress stipulated that:
“The Director of National Intelligence and the Secretary of Defense shall jointly require that each element of the intelligence community and component of the Department of Defense with data relating to unidentified aerial phenomena makes such data available immediately to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, or successor entity, and to the National Air and Space Intelligence Center."
The Daily Mail also reported that Congressional intelligence and defense committees have seen the image and footage, as part of a briefing given by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), a previous incarnation of the government's UFO office, known as the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).
In January 2023, Liberation Times pressed AARO and Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough to verify whether the UAP Task Force had investigated the case and to share any further details.
Gough replied that the Pentagon had nothing to share, stressing that the Department of Defense has to balance transparency and accountability with protecting sensitive information, sources and methods:
“We’ve seen the reporting. I don’t have anything for you.
“We’re not going to comment on remarks by unnamed sources alleging leaks from a classified report.
“DoD takes public interest in UAP seriously. The Department is committed to openness and accountability to the American people, which it must balance with its obligation to protect sensitive information, sources, and methods. AARO is working to develop a means to provide updates to the public on UAP cases, including sharing the analytic approach and method used. When able to obscure and protect sensitive information, AARO will work to declassify and clear material for release to the public.”
Speaking about the Mosul Orb case and future plans to unearth new footage, Jeremy Corbell told Liberation Times:
“This moment marks a historic victory for UAP transparency. One of the core reasons George Knapp and I launched our WEAPONIZED podcast was to remain untethered from external influence - and we went live nearly six months after the Pentagon officially created the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). That timing was no accident. It was a deliberate countermeasure - intended to hold AARO accountable to the mission Congress assigned them on behalf of the American public, or to expose them for concealing the truth about the UAP presence consistently witnessed and documented by service members and civilians alike.
“This is a case study in that mission. George and I gave AARO and the Department of Defense multiple opportunities to release full versions of UAP footage and related assets we had obtained and reported on. Instead, they chose sleight-of-hand and misdirection.
“We told them exactly where to retrieve the full ‘Mosul Orb’ UAP video. We reported on the flow of intelligence - from acquisition to analysis - after the footage was captured by a CIA reconnaissance aircraft. We offered to help them deliver the best evidence to the American people - as they were mandated to do under orders of transparency.
“AARO has failed in their congressionally mandated task. Not due to a lack of diligence from their staff - but because of top-down decisions designed to keep the public in the dark. Decisions based on the belief that you’re not ready for the truth. That you can’t handle it. That you don’t deserve it.
“That ends now. George and I have a lot to release because it’s time to take the power back. To be loud. To fight for your birthright to know the truth - about the natural world you don’t just live in, but are a part of. A world - and a history of humanity - that includes the UFO presence.
“This moment sets a historical precedent - not only for government transparency, but for investigative journalism itself. What Dustin achieved proves that persistence, courage, and factual reporting can penetrate even the most fortified walls of secrecy. This is a watershed for the field. It signals a shift in the balance of power - where journalists and the public can force accountability, demand answers, and reshape the future of UAP research. From this point forward, silence is complicity.”
Notes: For more information, please find Dustin Slaughter’s full story here at The UAP Register.
