Opening Statement Mr. Chairman, Ranking Members, and Congressmen, Thank you, I am happy to be here. This is an important issue, and I am grateful for your time. My name is David Charles Grusch. I was an intelligence officer for 14 years, both in the US Air Force (USAF) at the rank of Major and most recently, from 2021-2023, at the National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency 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 (UAP) and trans- medium object analysis, as well as reporting to UAP Task Force (UAPTF) and eventually the All- Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). I became a Whistleblower, through a PPD-19 Urgent Concern filing with the Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG), 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 have been given by individuals with a longstanding track record of legitimacy and service to this country – many of whom also shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation, and classified oral testimony. I have taken every step I can to corroborate this evidence over a period of 4 years and to 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 to truth and transparency, rooted in our inherent duty to uphold the United States Constitution and protect the American People. I am 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 have been told them. In the USAF, in my National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) reservist capacity, I was a member of the UAPTF from 2019-2021. I served in the NRO Operations Center on the director’s briefing staff, which included the coordination of the Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) and supporting contingency operations. In 2019, the UAPTF director tasked me to identify all Special Access Programs & Controlled Access Programs (SAPs/CAPs) we needed to satisfy our congressionally mandated mission. 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 in both 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-on’s. I made the decision based on the data I collected, to report this information to my superiors and multiple Inspectors General, and in effect become a whistleblower. As you know, I have suffered retaliation for my decision. But I am hopeful that my actions will ultimately lead to a positive outcome of increased transparency. Thank you. I am happy to answer your questions. Closing Statement It is with a heavy heart and a determined spirit that I stand, under oath, before you today, having made the decision based on the data I collected, and reported, to provide this information to the committee. I am driven in this duty by a conviction to expose what I viewed as a grave congressional oversight issue and a potential abuse of executive branch authorities. This endeavor was not born out of malice or dissatisfaction, but from an unwavering commitment to truth and transparency, an endeavor rooted in our inherent duty to uphold the United States Constitution, protect the American People, and seek insights into this matter that have the potential to redefine our understanding of the world. In an era, fraught with division and discord, our exploration into the UAP subject seems to resonate with an urgency and fascination that transcends political, social, and geographical boundaries. A democratic process must be adhered to when evaluating the data and it is our collective responsibility to ensure that public involvement is encouraged and respected. Indeed, the future of our civilization and our comprehension of humanity’s place on earth and in the cosmos depends on the success of this very process. It is my hope that the revelations we unearth through investigations of the Non-Human Reverse Engineering Programs I have reported will act as an ontological (earth-shattering) shock, a catalyst for a global reassessment of our priorities. As we move forward on this path, we might be poised to enable extraordinary technological progress in a future where our civilization surpasses the current state-of-the-art in propulsion, material science, energy production and storage. The knowledge we stand to gain should spur us toward a more enlightened and sustainable future, one where collective curiosity is ignited, and global cooperation becomes the norm, rather than the exception. Thank You