Joseph Gradisher

Joseph Gradisher served as a spokesperson for the U.S. Navy, specifically representing the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, and attained the rank of Captain before his retirement. Throughout his naval career, he worked in strategic communications roles.

Gradisher played a pivotal role in the military's public acknowledgment of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). In September 2019, he officially confirmed that three Navy videos—FLIR1/Tic Tac, Gimbal, and GoFast—depicted genuine unidentified aerial phenomena, marking the first time the U.S. military officially acknowledged the videos and the phenomena they captured. In his official statements, Gradisher used the term UAP rather than UFO, declaring, "The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena."

Gradisher communicated directly with major media outlets including TIME, The Washington Post, and Politico regarding these incidents. He emphasized the seriousness of UAP incidents as aviation safety concerns and advocated for de-stigmatizing UAP discussions to encourage military personnel to report encounters. He clarified that the objects were neither hoaxes nor secret U.S. test aircraft and noted that investigations into the objects were ongoing.

His public statements significantly shifted the national conversation, helping transform the UAP discussion from fringe speculation to mainstream national security discourse, which prompted congressional briefings and official government investigations.