Douglas Kurth

Douglas "Cheeks" Kurth is a former United States Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel who served as Commanding Officer of Marine Hornet Squadron VMFA-232. He was the first officer directed to investigate the November 2004 Nimitz Carrier Strike Group UAP encounters off the California coast. Vectored toward the unidentified contact, he observed a visual disturbance in the water from his F/A-18 aircraft, though he did not visually observe the object itself.

In December 2007, Kurth joined Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) as a program manager, where he conducted interviews with witnesses and authored an initial report on the Nimitz events that initiated subsequent investigations. His testimony and documentation contributed significantly to early government UAP research programs.