The Department of the Navy released more than 1,300 pages of emails and related records involving former Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott W. Bray on September 23, 2026, following a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Black Vault on May 24, 2022. The request, filed under FOIA case number DON-NAVY-2022-008648, sought all emails sent to, from, or copied to Bray containing terms including "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," "UAP," "UAPTF," "UFO," "AATIP," and "AAWSAP." Of the 1,321 responsive pages located, 302 were withheld in their entirety, while 1,019 were released with redactions under multiple FOIA exemptions.
The released records provide extensive documentary insight into the Navy and Pentagon's internal UAP communications during the period in which the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force was established and grew into a formal government effort. The correspondence names a wide range of senior officials and covers congressional briefings, public-affairs strategy, the April 2020 release of Navy UAP videos, the 2021 ODNI UAP assessment, classification questions, and media inquiries. Bray himself testified publicly before a House Intelligence subcommittee on May 17, 2022, alongside Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security Ronald Moultrie, in the first open congressional UAP hearing in decades.
Beginning in mid-November 2024, a sustained wave of unidentified drone sightings over New Jersey — concentrated around Morris County, Picatinny Arsenal, and Naval Weapons Station Earle — prompted responses from local, state, and federal officials. By early December the sightings had spread to at least ten New Jersey counties as well as Philadelphia, Brooklyn, and Staten Island, with additional parallel incidents reported over RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, RAF Feltwell, and RAF Fairford in the United Kingdom in late November. On December 6, 2024, the DoD's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) delivered a classified briefing to lawmakers; the specific content of that briefing regarding the drone sightings was not publicly disclosed.
The episode is notable for the formal involvement of AARO — the DoD's official office for unidentified anomalous phenomena — in what is primarily a domestic drone-security matter. AARO Director Dr. Jon Kosloski had previously told lawmakers during a Senate hearing that while his office is not directly tasked with drone investigations, AARO's detection capabilities and best practices could be offered to counter-UAS efforts. The incident underscores growing congressional and executive-branch concern about unidentified unmanned aerial systems over sensitive military and civilian infrastructure.
The House Oversight Committee Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, chaired by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), holds a public hearing titled 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Eyes on the Sky, Secrets in the Dark,' featuring testimony from former military and intelligence officials.
Former intelligence officer David Grusch, retired Navy Cmdr. David Fravor, and retired Navy Lt. Ryan Graves testify under oath before the House Oversight Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs. Grusch states that the U.S. government operates a long-running classified program to retrieve and reverse-engineer non-human craft.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduce the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act of 2023 as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. The legislation proposes a nine-member presidentially appointed Review Board modeled on the JFK Records Review Board.
The House Intelligence Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation holds the first open congressional hearing on UAP in fifty-three years. Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Ronald Moultrie and Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray testify.