Person
Scott Bray
Also known as Bray
- Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence
Scott Bray was Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence and the official face of the Navy's UAP effort when Congress held its first open UAP hearing in more than 50 years, before the House Intelligence subcommittee on 17 May 2022. The Navy had run the UAP Task Force since August 2020, building on aviators' reports from training ranges, and Bray had approved its security classification guide.
He testified that sightings in military training areas are "frequent and continuing", that the database had grown to about 400 reports, and that there had been at least 11 near misses. He showed two videos. One was a sphere flashing past an F/A-18 that he could not explain. The other showed "triangles" that the task force had resolved as drones distorted by night-vision optics. He said no adversary was known to move objects without discernible propulsion, and that a small handful of cases show flight characteristics or signature management the data cannot explain. He named the 2004 Nimitz incident as one that "simply remains unresolved".
He was equally clear about the limits. The task force held "no material", had detected no signals or emanations suggesting anything non-terrestrial, and had no official data on the reported Malmstrom missile shutdowns. Its working assumption was that sensors work as designed, with no assumption about origin. Ryan Graves later criticised the classification regime Bray oversaw, saying that since 2021 all UAP videos have been classified secret or above.
Sources: HPSCI open hearing, May 17, 2022 (transcript and video)
Facts and claims
- claimed As Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Bray told Congress in 2022 that reports of unidentified objects in military training areas are “frequent and continuing”, and that the UAP database had grown to about 400 reports. — Scott Bray Source: Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 at 19:00
- documented He testified that Deputy Secretary of Defense Norquist set up the UAP Task Force within the Navy in August 2020, and that aircrews now carry reporting procedures on their kneeboards: “If you see something, you need to report it.” — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
- documented Replaying an F/A-18 video of a reflective sphere flashing past the cockpit, he said: “I do not have an explanation for what this specific object is.” He also showed night-vision footage of flashing “triangles” that the task force later concluded were drones, the shape an artefact of the goggles and camera. — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
- documented He testified “that we are not aware of any adversary that can move an object without discernible means of propulsion”, that there is “something that looks like signature management” in some cases, and that the task force's one basic assumption is that “our sensors operate as designed.” — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
- claimed He testified that “When it comes to material that we have, we have no material”, and that no emanations had been detected suggesting anything nonterrestrial. — Scott Bray Source: Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 at 53:02
- documented He said there had been no collisions but “at least 11 near misses”, that no communication signals had been detected from the objects, and that the task force had never fired on a UAP. — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
- claimed He cited the 2004 Nimitz incident as an unexplained case: “We have data on that, and that simply remains unresolved”, and said there had been at least 11 near misses. — Scott Bray Source: Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 at 1:16:04
- documented Asked by Rep. Mike Gallagher about the reported Malmstrom incident in which ten ICBMs went offline, he said the data was not in the task force's holdings: “I have heard stories. I have not seen the official data on that.” — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
- documented He testified that allies have seen these objects and that “China has established its own version of a UAP task force”. — Scott Bray Source: Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022)
Connected files
Claims
- A UFO shut down nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base in March 1967 (comments on claim)
- The U.S. holds recovered craft of non-human origin and runs a secret program to reverse-engineer them (disputes claim)
- The 2004 Nimitz “Tic Tac” flew in ways no known aircraft can (comments on claim)
Documents
- Hearing transcript: HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (May 17, 2022) (statement about)
Incidents
- Malmstrom AFB missile shutdown (asked about) — He said the task force had no official data on the reported Malmstrom shutdowns
- USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter (called unresolved) — He cited Nimitz as a case that “simply remains unresolved”
Organizations
- Office of Naval Intelligence (worked at)
Hearings & briefings
- HPSCI open hearing on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (testified at)
Programs
- Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (testified on) — He approved the task force's security classification guide and testified on how it was set up
Videos
- Congressional hearings on military reports of Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) - May 17th, 2022 (discussed in)
- Christopher Mellon on UFOs, secrecy and what the public still doesn't know (The Chris Cuomo Project, 2025) (discussed in)