Scott W. Bray
Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence
- Claims listed
- 17
- Checked
- 1 of 17
- Video
- 1
- Background checked
- 29 Sep 2026
Our assessment
A career civilian naval intelligence officer whose public UAP-related statements come entirely from a single, measured, on-the-record congressional appearance. His testimony is consistently reported as candid and cautious, explicitly declining to claim either extraterrestrial origin or a debunking of every case. No source found disputes his credentials, his account of the video he showed Congress, or his personal conduct.
Credentials
Verified credentials
- Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence and Director, Naval Intelligence Activity, from January 2020
- Acting Director of Naval Intelligence, August-December 2023
- B.S. International Affairs, Georgia Tech, 1996 (secondary-source corroborated)
- M.A. International Affairs, Columbia University, 1998 (secondary-source corroborated)
- Senior Executive Service since 2007; prior roles as ONI China Senior Intelligence Officer, Special Assistant to the US Defense Attaché in Beijing, Principal Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Military Issues (ODNI), and National Intelligence Manager for East Asia
Unverified or disputed credentials
- None found
Expertise
Within their expertise
- naval intelligence
- military intelligence analysis
- East Asia/China intelligence
Topics outside their expertise
- None noted
Claims by video
- Unverified
The UAP Task Force was established in August 2020, directed by then-Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist, within the Department of the Navy, building on the Navy's earlier efforts to respond to aviator reports of unidentified objects in training ranges.
almost two years ago in august of 2020 deputy secretary defense nordquist directed the establishment of the unidentified aerial phenomena task force within the department of the navy
- Unverified
The UAP Task Force's database has grown to approximately 400 reports, up from the 144 covered in the June 2021 ODNI preliminary assessment.
the uap task force database has now grown to contain approximately 400 reports the stigma has been reduced
- Unverified
ODNI's model for resolving UAP incidents sorts them into five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric phenomena, U.S. government/industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, or an 'other' catch-all bin.
if and when individual uap incidents are resolved they likely fall into one of five potential explanatory categories airborne clutter natural atmospheric phenomena us government or u.s industry developmental programs foreign adversary systems or a other bin
- Unverified
Two triangle-shaped-object videos, recorded off different coasts in different years, are assessed with 'reasonable confidence' to be unmanned aerial systems (drones); the triangular appearance results from an artifact of viewing the light source through night-vision goggles recorded by an SLR camera. The second incident was corroborated by other Navy assets that independently observed unmanned systems nearby.
we're now reasonably confident that these triangles correlate to unmanned aerial systems in the area the triangular appearance is a result of light passing through the night vision goggles and then being recorded by an slr camera
- Unverified
DoD has a formal reporting protocol for aviators: after landing, the pilot preserves sensor data, files a detailed report (location, altitude, speed, observations, sensor data) with their intelligence officer, and the report routes both to the operational chain of command and to the UAP Task Force database, sometimes triggering aviator follow-up interviews.
the first thing that aviator would do after landing as a part of their normal debriefing is they would contact their intelligence officer... that report is filed it goes two places
- Unverified
A spherical, reflective object was recorded passing near the cockpit of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 in a training range; Bray states DoD has no explanation for this specific object.
what you see here is aircraft that is operating in a u.s navy training range that has observed a spherical object in that area and as they fly by it they take a video i do not have an explanation for what this specific object is
- Supported
Of the 144 UAP reports in the 2021 ODNI preliminary assessment (2004-2021), roughly 80 were recorded on multiple sensors/instruments.
for the majority of incidents we had in last year's report the majority had multi-sensor data
Our check Confirmed against the actual ODNI Preliminary Assessment (June 25, 2021): of the 144 reports reviewed (Nov 2004-March 2021), 80 involved observation with multiple sensors, which the task force cited as increasing confidence that the objects were physical rather than sensor artifacts.
Sources odni.gov
- Unverified
DoD/ODNI is not aware of any foreign adversary capable of moving an object without a discernible means of propulsion.
i would say that we're not aware of any adversary that can move an object without discernible means of propulsion
- Unverified
A small number of unresolved UAP cases show 'signature management', an apparent effort to manage or hide the object's sensor signature, that DoD cannot explain with current data.
there's certainly some degree of something that looks like signature management that we have seen from some of these uap
- Unverified
The UAP Task Force is aware of studies that flew a drone and filmed it with the same night-vision-goggles-plus-SLR-camera setup to test whether the triangular appearance could be reproduced, supporting the drone explanation.
the uap task force is aware of studies that have done that
- Unverified
The UAP Task Force has detected no material and no emanations within its holdings that would suggest a non-terrestrial origin for any reported UAP.
we have no material we have detected no emanations within the uap task force that that would suggest it's anything non-terrestrial in origin
- Unverified
There have been no collisions between U.S. assets and UAP, but at least 11 near misses.
we have not had a collision we've had at least 11 near misses though and maybe we'll talk about those
- Unverified
No communications or signals emanating from UAP have been detected, and the U.S. has not attempted to communicate with any of them.
there's no communications or any kind of communication signals that emanate from those objects that we've detected
- Unverified
The UAP Task Force holds no wreckage that is inconsistent with being of terrestrial origin.
the uap task force doesn't have any wreckage that isn't explainable that isn't consistent with being of terrestrial origin
- Unverified
Most UAP reports 'probably' represent physical objects, but Bray cannot say with 100% certainty that all reported UAP are physical objects; some could be sensor anomalies or meteorological phenomena.
i can say with certainty that a number of these are physical objects okay so there we can't rule out that some of them may not be physical objects
- Unverified
The 2004 Nimitz incident remains unresolved and is offered by Bray as the clearest example of a UAP encounter that cannot be attributed to a known human-made or natural object.
the example that i would say that is still unresolved that i think everyone understands quite well as the 2004 incident from nimitz we have data on that and it simply remains unresolved
- Unverified
In a small number of cases, military aircraft sensors detected radio-frequency (RF) energy associated with UAP sightings, and at least some of the RF-emitting cases were not otherwise behaving unusually.
in a small number of cases military aircraft systems processed radio frequency energy associated with uap sightings... at least some that we have detected rf emissions from were not behaving oddly otherwise
