Documents Detail David Grusch's Efforts to Avoid Speaking to AARO

​New government documents obtained by John Greenewald of The Black Vault show that so-called “UFO whistleblower” David Grusch repeatedly refused offers to provide testimony and evidence to the Pentagon’s UFO office, AARO, even while Grusch publicly stated that AARO had refused to meet with him. The documents show that Grusch initially expected that AARO would simply rely on previous statements Grusch had made to the intelligence community inspector general, not realizing that because he raised a potential criminal matter (about hiding programs from Congress) the material was not accessible to AARO during the investigation. When asked to repeat his testimony to AARO, he refused, raising false concerns that AARO wasn’t legally entitled to classified information and refusing to show up for scheduled interviews. Even after AARO and Congress informed Grusch he was wrong about the law, he did not speak to them.

​Also of note are messages then-AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick exchanged with Chris Mellon in which Mellon appeared to workshop ways to spin events so Grusch could avoid speaking to AARO while blaming AARO. Mellon demanded contact information for Kirkpatrick’s general counsel, which Kirkpatrick said he would not provide without permission due to the threat of harassment. “Dave can now say, ‘Sean has refused to provide me or my attorney the contact information that would allow us to discuss legal concerns we have with providing testimony to AARO.’” Kirkpatrick replied, “Actually, Dave can’t say any such thing since he hasn’t asked me for anything. Only you.” (Side note: Why don’t these government officials have public-facing contact information for their offices specifically for use in official duties?) With no sense of irony, Mellon later stated that he would not share Grusch’s contact information without permission. (Grusch refused to provide his phone number.)
 
Mellon’s private words are a marked contrast to his public face. In public, Mellon has been on board the alien train, endorsing Jacques Vallée’s Trinity crash claims and telling The Hill and other outlets that he believes aliens are buzzing American skies. In private, Mellon told Kirkpatrick about Grusch: “I […] have not claimed his claims are accurate. I’ve said he’s sincere and credible and his and other claims, which I expressly called “allegations,” warrant investigation. […] I’m not taking a position on […] the underlying claim of recovered materials.”
 
Overall, the documents paint a rather clear picture of Grusch throwing up one obstacle after another to avoid speaking with AARO, where he would be challenged on his assertions and asked for specific evidence, while he was busy making evidence-free claims to Congress and to UFO-friendly media, who asked for no proof. Mellon, too, comes across as playing both sides, wanting to appear as a neutral party while running interference for Grusch and attempting to find ways to promote pro-UFO narratives that blame AARO for the obvious lack of UFO evidence.