David Grusch

David Charles Grusch is a former U.S. Air Force Major and intelligence officer who worked at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). He became a public figure in June 2023 after going on the record with claims that the U.S. government possesses craft of non-human origin, and he testified under oath before Congress the following month.

What did David Grusch do in government?

Grusch served 14 years as an intelligence officer, first as an Air Force Major and later as a GS-15 civilian at the NGA, a rank equivalent to a full-bird Colonel. He deployed to Afghanistan supporting counter-illicit finance, drug, and arms-trafficking operations with JSOC and ISAF. He held an active Top Secret security clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information, and served on the NRO Operations Center director's briefing staff, which included coordinating the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB).

From 2019 to 2021, he served as the NRO's representative to the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF). From late 2021 to July 2022, he became the NGA's co-lead for UAP analysis and its representative to the task force. He also assisted in drafting the National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, which includes whistleblower protections and exemptions to non-disclosure orders related to UAP reporting.

What whistleblower complaints did he file?

In July 2021, Grusch filed a protected disclosure with the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, alleging that classified UAP-related material was being improperly withheld from Congress. In May 2022, through his attorney Charles McCullough III, the original Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, he filed a Disclosure of Urgent Concern and a Complaint of Reprisal with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG). He also filed a separate Complaint of Reprisal alleging retaliation by superiors.

In July 2022, the ICIG found his complaint "credible and urgent" and transmitted it to the Director of National Intelligence, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Grusch resigned from government service on April 7, 2023.

What did he say publicly and before Congress?

On June 5, 2023, journalists Leslie Kean and Ralph Blumenthal published his claims in The Debrief. His statements had been cleared for open publication by the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review on April 4 and 6, 2023. In that report, Grusch stated the material he provided Congress includes "intact and partially intact vehicles" and that "we are not talking about prosaic origins or identities."

On July 26, 2023, Grusch testified under oath before the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs, alongside former Navy pilots Ryan Graves and David Fravor. He testified that he "was informed in the course of my official duties of a multi-decade UAP crash retrieval and reverse-engineering program to which I was denied access." He also testified that the U.S. has recovered "non-human" biological matter associated with alleged UAP craft. He stated his testimony was "based on information I've been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy and service to this country" and that he was "speaking to the facts as I have been told them."

What has he done since leaving government?

After resigning in April 2023, Grusch became Chief Operating Officer of the Sol Foundation, a nonprofit research and policy group focused on UAP, beginning in May 2023. In March 2025, Representative Eric Burlison announced Grusch as a special advisor on transparency and federal-secrets declassification efforts. His four-month appointment as Special Advisor on UAP matters began on April 1, with a focus on advising Burlison and his staff on how to formulate meaningful questions for future Congressional hearings on UAP.