This still image from an undated video released by the Islamic State extremists on Tuesday purports to show journalist Steven Sotloff being held by the terrorist group.

Steven Sotloff Video Fake? ISIS Beheading a Hoax, Conspiracy Theories Claim

White House says it's authentic

As with any major news development, there’s usually a bevy of rumor and conspiracy theories that say its fake or a false flag. The release of a video that appears to show journalist Steven Sotloff’s beheading by ISIS is no different.

For example, when James Foley was killed and the video was released by ISIS, it was immediately described as as “false flag” by some websites and blogs. The same happened when Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared earlier this year and also when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed in Ukraine.

Alex Jones’ website Infowars.com alleges that SITE, the intelligence group that released the Sotloff video on Tuesday, has “close connections to former terrorism czar Richard Clarke and his staff in the White House, as well as investigators in the Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, and the Department of Homeland Security, according to SourceWatch.”

It adds: “In 2007, following a series of patently fake Osama bin Laden videos, we reported on SITE’s relationship with the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University. The former dean of SAIS is Paul Wolfowitz, the former Deputy Secretary of Defense during the Bush administration.”

The site then says that “the same process is now underway with the James Foley and Steven Sotloff videos. Both are precisely timed to coincide with the Obama administration’s scripted response to ISIS and the alleged threat of super-terrorism that begs American retaliation.”

After the video was leaked on Tuesday, the White House later confirmed that the Sotloff beheading video is authentic.

“The U.S. Intelligence Community has analyzed the recently released video showing U.S. citizen Steven Sotloff and has reached the judgment that it is authentic,” a National Security Council spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday, reported CBS.

This follows theories that ISIS, or the Islamic State, was essentially “trained” by the CIA and other