Final Product (FOIA 24-F-0250)

accordance
with
the
law, and
the tone of the
interview would
be
friendly and non-
confrontational, as are
all
AARO interviews.
F.
On
October
6
th
, 2023, AARO
staff
conducted
a
secure
call
and interview
with Interviewee
Wand
asked
that
he
also
encourage
Mr. Grusch
to
agree to
a
secure interview
so
that Mr.
I
's
claims might
be
introduced into
the
U.S. Government record
in
support
of
the
HRR.
Interviewee
's
known
to be
a
close associate
of
Mr. Grusch.
G.
During
the
previous several months, Director, AARO, asked
a
PSM
with the U.S.
Senate
Committee on Armed
Services to encourage Mr. Grusch to provide information
to
AARO duringan official interview.
H.
On November
10th,
2023,
Mr. Grusch contacted AARO, at the
urging
of
Congressional
StaffMembers, and agreed to
be
interviewed
in
Arlington,
VA on
November
14
1h
,
2024. AARO
provided Mr. Grusch
with
a
memorandum from
the
Director
of
Special
Access Programs,
Department
of
Defense that made
it
clear AARO
is
authorized to receive compartmented
information (Enclosure
1).
Mr. Grusch was
also told that AARO would obtain a similarmemorandum
from
the Director, Controlled Access Programs Office, Office
of
the
Director
ofNational Intelligence.
I.
On November
14
th
,
2023,
Mr. Grusch failed to
show
at
the
agreed upon location and time for
an
interview with AARO. Upon contacting Mr. Grusch,
he
stated that he is not convinced that
AARO
is
authorized
to
receive varying levels of
classified and sensitive information.
J.
On
November
19
th
,
2023, AARO, again contacted Mr. Grusch via email and stated,
"We
invite
you to speak to AARO regarding
any U.S. government programs
or activities related to
unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) dating back
to
1945.
In
accordance with the
James
M.
Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for
Fiscal
Year 2023, AARO
is
authorized to
receive any information related to UAP regardless
of
classification, and notwithstanding any
nondisclosure agreement you may
have signed. We would be glad to meet with you
in
a
SCIF
sothat you
could share information with us." This specific invitation was coordinated with the
Office
of
General Counsel, Department
of
Defense. Mr. Grusch, again, declined the invitation
despite previously agreeing
to an
interview. And, again, Mr. Grusch cited various security
concerns that AARO is authorized to receive information
of
any classification level regarding
UAP.
K.
On January
8th,
2024, AARO provided Mr. Grusch with a memorandum from the Director,
Controlled Access Programs Office, Office
of
the Director
of
National Intelligence that states
AARO
is
authorized to receive information which is subject to
a U.S. Government
Nondisclosure Agreement (Enclosure 2). AARO also informed Mr. Grusch that there
is
a
standing invitation to
be interviewed by AARO regarding his claims
of
UAP and U.S.
Government activity and events.
3. During interactions between AARO and Mr. Grusch from November 2023 to January 2024, it
became evident that Mr. Grusch had no intention of providing AARO with information regarding
his claims. This assessment stands despite the NDAA for FY 2023 and the enclosed
memorandums from the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National