Mr. Chairman, Ranking Members and Congressmen, thank you, I'm happy to be here; this is an important issue and I'm grateful for your time.
My name is David Charles Grusch; I was an intelligence officer for 14 years, both in the US Air Force, both active duty Air National Guard and Reserve at the rank of major, and most recently, from 2021 à 2025... oh just 2023 at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA) at the GS-15 civilian level, which is the military equivalent of a full-bird colonel.
I was my agency's co-lead in unidentified anomalous phenomena and trans-medium object analysis, as well as reporting to the UAP Task Force (UAPTF), and eventually, once it was established, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). I became a whistleblower through a PPD-19 Urgent Concern filing in May 2022 with the Intelligence Community Inspector General, following concerning reports from multiple esteemed and credentialed current and former military and intelligence community individuals that the US Government is operating with secrecy - above congressional oversight - with regards to UAPs.
My testimony is based on information I've been given by individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this countr - many of whom also have shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation and classified oral testimony to myself and many of my various colleagues.
I have taken every step I can to corroborate this evidence over a period of 4 years while I was with the UAP Task Force, and do my due diligence on the individuals sharing it, and it is because of these steps that I believe strongly in the importance of bringing this information before you. I am driven by a commitment of both to truth and transparency, rooted in our inherent duty to uphold the United States Constitution and protect the American people.
I'm asking Congress to hold our government to this standard and thoroughly investigate these claims. But as I stand here under oath now, I am speaking to the facts as I've been told them. In the US Air Force, in my National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) reservist capacity, I was a member of the UAP Task Force from 2019 à l'année d'avant. I served at the NRO Operations Center on the Director's briefing staff, which included the coordination of the Presidential Daily Brief and supporting variety of contingency operations, which I was the Reserve Intelligence Division Chief backup. In 2019, the UAP Task Force Director asked me to identify all special access programs and controlled access programs, also known as SAPS and CAPS. We needed to satisfy our Congressionally mandated mission, and we were direct report at the time to the Dep SEC Deaf. At the time, due to my extensive executive level intelligence support duties, I was cleared to literally all relevant compartments and in a position of extreme trust both in my military and civilian capacities. I 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 to those additional read ons when I requested it.
I made the decision based on the data I collected, to report this information to my superiors and multiple Inspectors General, and in effect, becoming a whistleblower.
As you know, I've suffered retaliation for my decision, but I am hopeful that my actions will ultimately lead to a positive outcome of increased transparency.
Thank you, and I'm happy to answer your questions.