Person

Susan Gough

Department of Defense spokesperson on UAP

2019–2025 · AARO and the Pentagon · Official

A Pentagon spokesperson, she was for years the official voice of the Department of Defense on UAP. In 2019 she stated that Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities in AATIP, while admitting that he had had contacts with the DIA office that ran the program, and in 2023 she said that AARO had found no verifiable information to support Grusch's allegations. In 2025 she acknowledged the “pranks” (“Yankee Blue”) described by AARO and announced a second volume of the historical report, not yet published.

Key claims

• Claimed that Elizondo had no assigned responsibilities in AATIP while he was at OUSD(I) (2019).
• Stated that AARO has not discovered verifiable information on programs for the possession or reverse engineering of extraterrestrial materials (2023).
• Said that the DoD has no record of any special access program called “Immaculate Constellation” (2024).

Controversies

• At a hearing (2024) Elizondo accused the Pentagon's single point of contact for UAP, without naming the person, of spreading misleading information; the sources consulted do not verify whom he was referring to or whether the accusation is well founded.
• The Pentagon's statements on Elizondo's role went from a statement of no responsibility (Sherwood, 2019) to one of no assigned responsibility (Gough), a change noted by The Black Vault.

Today

In June 2025 she announced volume 2 of AARO's historical report for late 2025, which as of October 31, 2026 does not appear to have been published; her role in 2026 is not documented in the sources consulted.

Documented authority

It measures how documented and verifiable what the person claims is, not their honesty. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 2.

Credentials 2/2

Her role as Department of Defense spokesperson is documented by multiple sources.

Direct access not applicable

She reports institutional positions, not personal knowledge.

Evidence provided not applicable

Not applicable: does not advance claims of their own on UAP facts.

Claims track record 1/2

Her statements are consistent with AARO's reports, but the volume 2 she announced has not come out.

Conflicts of interest not applicable

The sources consulted do not document financial interests tied to the topic.

Sources

1. Transcript of the November 13, 2024 hearing (PDF, House) (primary source)
2. Popular Mechanics (Tim McMillan), January 17, 2020: the Navy videos (press)
3. The War Zone, July 2023: the replies of Kirkpatrick and the Pentagon (press)
4. Straight Arrow News, October 9, 2024: “Immaculate Constellation” (press)
5. The Black Vault, June 14, 2019: the Pentagon reiterates its position on Elizondo (analysis)
6. Wikipedia – Yankee Blue (other)

On this site

Documents 1

• Senator Reid's letter asking to protect AATIP with a special access program Original available

Cases 3

• USS Omaha: a sphere seems to sink off California Unexplained
• Destroyers off California: swarms of objects and “pyramids” Explained
• USS Jackson 2023: the “Tic Tac” that, according to a petty officer, emerged from the sea Unexplained

Where the claims come from 1

• Counter-thesis: at least some of the accounts about retrieval programs originate from fake internal Air…

Timeline 1

• Jun 1, 2019: The Pentagon: Elizondo had no responsibilities in AATIP

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UAPgrade's entries are compiled with artificial intelligence (three verifiers with opposing roles) and checked against the sources listed above: how we work. Have a document that changes this entry? Bring it to the Investigations Unit.